FreeDict HOWTO - TOC

From freedict

Written by Peter Gossner and Michael Bunk (2004-2005) (see the details).

Contents 1 Table of Contents 2 List of Tables 3 About the document 4 Epigram

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Part I. Basic Requirements

  This part describes the basic requirements for inclusion in the FreeDict Project. Before we can accept a dictionary, we ask that it meets a common set of specifications. This section gives an overview of those requirements. Essentially, a dictionary must meet clear copyright and licensing guidelines and must be presented in a particular XML format.

  • 1. Licensing and Copyright
  • 2. XML Markup
  • 3. Unicode
• Part II. Constructing a translating dictionary
  • 4. Installing the TEI DTDs
  • 5. Writing a FreeDict Dictionary
  • 6. Writing Text Encoding Initiative XML files
  • 7. The Dictd Approach
• Part III. FreeDict Build System and Submitting New Dictionaries

  Having a dictionary database fulfilling the requirements for inclusion into FreeDict, here you find the background and the steps to get your dictionary into FreeDict.

  • 8. FreeDict Build System
  • 9. FreeDict Version Control
  • 10. FreeDict Build Tree
• Part IV. Developer's toolkit

  Here we outline the tools needed or useful for building, editing and maintaining translating dictionaries.

  Most scripts and stylesheets mentioned in the following chapters can be found in the tools module in the CVS repository of the FreeDict project.

  • 11. Editing the TEI XML files directly
  • 12. Validating TEI format files
  • 13. Converting into TEI format
  • 14. Supported and Unsupported Platforms
  • 15. Stylesheets

List of Tables

• 5.1. Part of Speech Typology (recommended contents of the pos element)
• 13.1. The 'Woordenboek' table structure
• 14.1. Timing comparison of c5 and xmltei2xmldict.pl conversion styles

About the document

This document describes how to build, install and improve FreeDict project dictionaries. It is aimed at developers rather than end users and was written from the point of view of a GNU/Linux based platform. Generally the information should be portable across any open operating system. The approach is reasonably comprehensive. Information is given on installation issues, XML basics, editor selection/setup, developer tools etc.

Epigram

The bait is the means to get the fish where you want it,
catch the fish and you forget the bait.
The snare is the means to get the rabbit where you want it,
catch the rabbit and forget the snare.
Words are the means to get the idea where you want it,
catch on to the idea and you forget about the words.

Where shall I find a man who forgets about words, and have a word with him?

Chuang Tzu