Quick FAQ

Are you in hurry and just don't have time to read Translation HOWTO? Well, I recommend you to read it, but if you feel time is running short for you and want quick help, then read below.

Thanks to Mashrab Kuvatov <kmashrab_AT_sat.physik.uni-bremen.de> for helping me to improve this document and correct spelling errors.

Questions

• I'm the new coordinator of Xyz team. What resources the l10n.kde.org server can give ?
• I see that the site use PHP. Can I use it in my site space ?
• Can I put my team collaborative application on this server ?
• Can I have access to the MySQL server ?
• What are the steps to have site hosted on l10n.kde.org server ?
• How to make a crypted password ?
• I cannot login to SVN with provided username and password. Why ?

Answers

I'm the new coordinator of Xyz team. What resources the l10n.kde.org server can give ?

At the moment we can offer you:

• team information publishing (a.k.a KDE Translators Center)
• web space for your team updated using SVN as vehicle (this imply you will be provided an SVN account or more if needed)
• site accessed in form http://www.xyz.l10n.kde.org, http://xyz.l10n.kde.org, and http://l10n.kde.org/teams/xyz/
• FTP space with 50 MBytes quota addressed in form of ftp://ftp.l10n.kde.org/pub/xyz/ and ftp://ftp.xyz.l10n.kde.org/pub/xyz/
• mailing list in form of xyz@l10n.kde.org

[Up to Questions]

I see that the site use PHP. Can I use it in my site space ?

Yes, but only if you're very knowledgeable about PHP scripting and web security in general. Please refrain from using PHP other than as a mechanism for easy templating. Server is short in computing resources. Again, this is not a place to try learning PHP as you build the site, so if you're not strong stick with the old but good plain HTML.

[Up to Questions]

Can I put my team collaborative application on this server ?

Generally, no. But, if your app consider bellow conditions, may be a chance:

• should have no security and functional bugs; must be clean coded
• must not duplicate another application on the l10n.kde.org or other KDE site
• is related to KDE translating work
• must be easy to install and maintain; the documentation is also necessary
• server have already resources to keep it and the application will not put significantly load on the server

[Up to Questions]

Can I have access to the MySQL server ?

See the above response.

[Up to Questions]

What are the steps to have site hosted on l10n.kde.org server ?

To have a site hosted on l10n.kde.org, you first need to contact the administrator of this site, to know if your request can be agreed. Then, you should have a look to the following pages, respectively to create a SVN account in the official KDE SVN repository (which contains tree of l10n.kde.org website), and maybe use the KDE PHP framework :

• Get a contributor account

[Up to Questions]

How to make a crypted password ?

There are many ways to accomplish this task. First, please not that the password must be generated by plain crypt() system function. Modern Linux/UNIX systems generate MD5 or SHA1 password. These are not good. Here are some ways to crypt the password "secret". DO NOT USE THE EXAMPLE PASSWORD "secret"!:

• Using htpasswd utility if you have Apache installed:

  clau@computer:clau$ htpasswd -c dummyfile johndoe
  New password:
  Re-type new password:
  Adding password for user johndoe
  clau@computer:clau$ cat dummyfile
  johndoe:we048XR4KcSoo
  

• Using perl (note that we is the "salt" and you can use any two alphanumeric characters):

  clau@computer:clau$ perl -e "print crypt('secret','we')" ; echo
  we048XR4KcSoo
  

[Up to Questions]

I cannot login to SVN with provided username and password. Why ?

May be the're more reasons. One common thing not known about new l10n.kde.org new users is that the account for managing team information on Translation Center is different from KDE SVN account. These are different things. Same situation with your l10n.kde.org FTP account if you have one.

Usually you have no restrictions to request a web account on l10n.kde.org server (a.k.a KTC account) if you want to subscribe to web services provided (none, as of 01-31-2006). However with team coordinator privileges you can modify team information data. Also if your team coordinator allow, then you may request KDE SVN account to maintain your team site hosted on this server. If you have binaries and archives which are not allowed to put under SVN control, then you may request an FTP account.

Other trivial reasons for login failure: trying to use web account password instead of SVN one or Caps Lock key is on.

[Up to Questions]