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 8.3.13 Consulting Auxiliary PO Files
 ------------------------------------
 
 PO mode is able to help the knowledgeable translator, being fluent in
 many languages, at taking advantage of translations already achieved in
 other languages she just happens to know.  It provides these other
 language translations as additional context for her own work.  Moreover,
 it has features to ease the production of translations for many
 languages at once, for translators preferring to work in this way.
 
    An "auxiliary" PO file is an existing PO file meant for the same
 package the translator is working on, but targeted to a different mother
 tongue language.  Commands exist for declaring and handling auxiliary
 PO files, and also for showing contexts for the entry under work.
 
    Here are the auxiliary file commands available in PO mode.
 
 `a'
      Seek auxiliary files for another translation for the same entry
      (`po-cycle-auxiliary').
 
 `C-c C-a'
      Switch to a particular auxiliary file (`po-select-auxiliary').
 
 `A'
      Declare this PO file as an auxiliary file
      (`po-consider-as-auxiliary').
 
 `M-A'
      Remove this PO file from the list of auxiliary files
      (`po-ignore-as-auxiliary').
 
 
    Command `A' (`po-consider-as-auxiliary') adds the current PO file to
 the list of auxiliary files, while command `M-A'
 (`po-ignore-as-auxiliary' just removes it.
 
    The command `a' (`po-cycle-auxiliary') seeks all auxiliary PO files,
 round-robin, searching for a translated entry in some other language
 having an `msgid' field identical as the one for the current entry.
 The found PO file, if any, takes the place of the current PO file in
 the display (its window gets on top).  Before doing so, the current PO
 file is also made into an auxiliary file, if not already.  So, `a' in
 this newly displayed PO file will seek another PO file, and so on, so
 repeating `a' will eventually yield back the original PO file.
 
    The command `C-c C-a' (`po-select-auxiliary') asks the translator
 for her choice of a particular auxiliary file, with completion, and
 then switches to that selected PO file.  The command also checks if the
 selected file has an `msgid' field identical as the one for the current
 entry, and if yes, this entry becomes current.  Otherwise, the cursor
 of the selected file is left undisturbed.
 
    For all this to work fully, auxiliary PO files will have to be
 normalized, in that way that `msgid' fields should be written _exactly_
 the same way.  It is possible to write `msgid' fields in various ways
 for representing the same string, different writing would break the
 proper behaviour of the auxiliary file commands of PO mode.  This is not
 expected to be much a problem in practice, as most existing PO files
 have their `msgid' entries written by the same GNU `gettext' tools.
 
    However, PO files initially created by PO mode itself, while marking
 strings in source files, are normalised differently.  So are PO files
 resulting of the `M-x normalize' command.  Until these discrepancies
 between PO mode and other GNU `gettext' tools get fully resolved, the
 translator should stay aware of normalisation issues.
 
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