Re: [RFC] Interest in contributing to Linux Kernel documentation (French translation)

[Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>]

Dewey <thawentha4@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello everyone,
> My name is Dewey, I am a software enthusiast with an interest in the
> Linux kernel. I am reaching out to the list to see if there is any
> interest or an established process for improving the documentation by
> adding or maintaining translations, specifically for French.
> I understand that the official documentation is maintained in English
> and that keeping translations in sync is a significant challenge.
> However, I would like to offer my time to help, whether it involves
> translating specific sections or helping with the automation of
> documentation generation.
> Could you let me know if there are any current initiatives regarding
> translations, or if there is a preferred way to contribute in this
> area?

There are a number of active translation efforts; you can find them all
under Documentation/translations/.  There is currently no French
translation, though.

Starting a new translation is not a small effort; it requires a
significant commitment of time to keep up as the documentation evolves.
This is generally not a project that a single person can be expected to
sustain over a long period.  I do not want to discourage you too
severely, but I do want you to be aware that this would not be a
drive-by project.

"Automation of documentation generation" is a bit of a worrisome phrase
here.  Kernel documentation is for humans, and I don't see much value in
shoveling a lot of LLM output into the kernel tree.  If your plan is to
upstream a bunch of machine-generated translations, I would suggest
looking for another project.

Thanks,

jon