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

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

[Dewey]

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?
Thank you for your time and guidance.
Best regards,
Dewey

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

[Jonathan Corbet]

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