.. -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

======================

 gadict HACKING guide

======================

.. contents::

   :local:

Versioning rules

================

We use **major.minor** schema.

Until we reach 5000 words **major** is 0. **minor** updated from time to time.

Getting sources

===============

Cloning repository::

  $ hg clone http://hg.defun.work/gadict gadict

  $ hg clone http://hg.code.sf.net/p/gadict/code gadict-hg

Pushing changes::

  $ hg push ssh://$USER@hg.defun.work/gadict

  $ hg push ssh://$USER@hg.code.sf.net/p/gadict/code

  $ hg push https://$USER:$PASS@hg.code.sf.net/p/gadict/code

Browsing sources online

=======================

  http://hg.defun.work/gadict

    hgweb at home page.

  http://hg.code.sf.net/p/gadict/code

    hgweb at old home page (but supported as mirror).

  https://sourceforge.net/p/gadict/code/

    Sourceforge Allure interface (not primary, a mirror).

Dictionary file name convention

===============================

BNF form::

  FILE ::= "gadict_" NAME ".gadict"

``NAME`` may have form ``ISOCODE "-" ISOCODE``, like ``en-ru``, where

``ISOCODE`` is ISO 639-1 language (2 letter) code

``NAME`` may be a dictionary abbreviation name.

During dictionaries compilation and releases ``".gadict"`` suffix changed to

appropriated but base name should be preserved as ``"gadict_" NAME``.

Dictionary source file format

=============================

gadict project uses dictd C5 source file format in the past. C5 format have

several issues:

 * C5 is not structural format. So producing another forms and conversion to

   other formats is not possible.

 * C5 have no markup for links neither for any other markups.

Before that project used dictd TAB file format which require placing article in

a single long line. That format is not for human editing at all.

Other dictionary source file formats are considered as choice, like TEI, ISO,

xdxf, MDF. XML like formats also are not for human editing. Also XML lack of

syntax locality and full file should be scanned to validate local changes...

Note that StarDict, AbbyLinguo, Babylon, dictd formats are not considered

because they all about a presentation but not a structure. They are target

formats for compilation.

Fancy looking analog to MDF + C5 was developed.

Beginning of file describe dictionary information.

Each article separated by ``\n__\n\n`` and consists of two parts:

 * word variations with pronunciation

 * word translations, with supplementary information like part of speach,

   synonyms, antonyms, example of usage

*Word variation* are:

* *singularity* or *number*: ``s`` - single, ``pl`` - plural.

* *verb voice* or *verb tense*: ``v1`` - infinitive, ``v2`` - past tense,

  ``v3`` past participle tense.

* *gender*: ``male`` or ``female``

* *comparison*: ``comp`` - comparative or ``super`` - superlative

*Parts of speech* are:

* ``n`` - noun

* ``pron`` - pronoun

* ``adj`` - adjective

* ``v`` - verb

* ``adv`` - adverb

* ``prep`` - preposition

* ``conj`` - conjunction

* ``num`` - numeral

* ``int`` - interjection

Each meaning may refer to topics, like:

* ``sci`` - about science

* ``body`` - part of body

* ``math`` - mathematics

* ``chem`` - chemicals

* ``bio`` - biology

* ``music``

* ``meal``, ``office``, etc

* ``size``, ``shape``, ``age``, ``color``

Synonyms marked by ``syn:``, antonyms marked by ``ant:``.

Translation marked by lowercase ISO 639-1 code, like:

* ``en:`` - English

* ``ru:`` - Russian

* ``uk:`` - Ukrainian

* ``la:`` - Latin

Pronunciation variants marked by ``Am`` - American, ``Br`` - Great Britain,

``Au`` - Australia.

C5 dictionary source file format

================================

For source file format used dictd C5 file format. See::

  $ man 1 dictfmt

Shortly:

 * Headwords was preceded by 5 or more underscore characters ``_`` and a blank

   line.

 * Article may have several headwords, in that case they are placed in one line

   and separated by ``;<SPACE>``.

 * All text until the next headword is considered as the definition.

 * Any leading ``@`` characters are stripped out, but the file is otherwise

   unchanged.

 * UTF-8 encoding is supported at least by Goldendict.

gadict project used C5 format in the past but switched to own format.

TODO convention

===============

Entries or parts of text that was not completed marked by keywords:

  TODO

    incomplete

  XXX

    urgent incomplete

Makefile rules ``todo`` find this occurrence in sources::

  $ make todo

World wide dictionary formats and standards

===========================================

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_writing_system

                Dictionary writing system

  http://www.sil.org/computing/shoebox/mdf.html

                Multi-Dictionary Formatter (MDF). It defines about 100 data

                field markers.

  http://fieldworks.sil.org/flex/

                FieldWorks Language Explorer (or FLEx, for short) is designed

                to help field linguists perform many common language

                documentation and analysis tasks.

  http://code.google.com/p/lift-standard/

                LIFT (Lexicon Interchange FormaT) is an XML format for storing

                lexical information, as used in the creation of dictionaries.

                It's not necessarily the format for your lexicon.

  http://www.lexiquepro.com/

                Lexique Pro is an interactive lexicon viewer and editor, with

                hyperlinks between entries, category views, dictionary

                reversal, search, and export tools. It's designed to display

                your data in a user-friendly format so you can distribute it

                to others.

  http://deb.fi.muni.cz/index.php

                DEBII — Dictionary Editor and Browser

Register gadict dictionaries for dictd under Debian

===================================================

::

  $ su

  $ cat >>etc/dictd/dictd.order <<EOF

  gadict-dictabbr

  /home/user/usr/share/dictd/

  $ dictdconfig --write

  $ /etc/init.d/dictd restart

  $ ^D

  $ dictdconfig --list

  $ dict -d gadict-dictabbr v

Typing IPA chars in Emacs

=========================

For entering IPA chars use IPA input method. To enable it type::

  C-u C-\ ipa <enter>

All chars from alphabet typed as usual. To type special IPA chars use next key

bindings (or read help in Emacs by ``M-x describe-input-method`` or ``C-h I``).

For vowel::

  æ  ae

  ɑ  o| or A

  ɒ  |o  or /A

  ʊ  U

  ɛ  /3 or E

  ɔ  /c

  ə  /e

  ʌ  /v

  ɪ  I

For consonant::

  θ  th

  ð  dh

  ʃ  sh

  ʧ  tsh

  ʒ  zh or 3

  ŋ  ng

  ɡ  g

  ɹ  /r

Special chars::

  ː  : (semicolon)

  ˈ  ' (quote)

  ˌ  ` (back quote)

Alternatively use ``ipa-x-sampa`` or ``ipa-kirshenbaum`` input method (for help

type: ``C-h I ipa-x-sampa RET`` or ``C-h I ipa-kirshenbaum RET``).