README - external/liblouis-github - Git at Google

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 * Introduction

 Liblouis is an open-source braille translator and back-translator
 named in honor of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille][Louis Braille]]. It features support for computer and
 literary braille, supports contracted and uncontracted translation for
 [[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/tree/master/tables][many languages]] and has support for hyphenation. New languages can
 easily be added through tables that support a rule- or dictionary
 based approach. Tools for testing and debugging tables are also
 included. Liblouis also supports math braille (Nemeth and Marburg).

 Liblouis has features to support screen-reading programs. This has led
 to its use in two open-source screenreaders, [[http://www.nvda-project.org/][NVDA]] and [[http://live.gnome.org/Orca][Orca]]. It is also
 used in some commercial assistive technology applications for example
 by [[http://www.viewplus.com][ViewPlus]].

 Liblouis is based on the translation routines in the [[http://mielke.cc/brltty/][BRLTTY]]
 screenreader for Linux. It has, however, gone far beyond these
 routines. In Linux and Mac OSX it is a shared library, and in Windows
 it is a DLL.

 Liblouis is free software licensed under the [[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html][GNU LGPLv2.1+]] (see the
 file COPYING.LESSER).

 The command line tools, are licensed under the [[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html][GNU GPLv3+]] (see the
 file COPYING).

 * Documentation

 For documentation, see the [[http://www.liblouis.org/documentation/liblouis.html][liblouis documentation]] (either as info
 file, html, txt or pdf) in the doc directory. For examples of
 translation tables, see =en-us-g2.ctb=, =en-us-g1.ctb=,
 =chardefs.cti=, and whatever other files they may include in the
 tables directory. This directory contains tables for many languages.
 The Nemeth files will only work with the sister library [[http://www.liblouis.org/][liblouisutdml]].

 * Installation

 After unpacking the distribution tarball from [[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/releases][releases]] go to the
 directory it creates. You now have the choice to compile liblouis for
 either 16- or 32-bit unicode. By default it is compiled for the
 former. To get 32-bit Unicode run configure with =--enable-ucs4=.

 After running =./configure= run =make= and then =sudo make install=.
 As a final step you might have to run =sudo ldconfig=. For other ways
 of installation, see the file HACKING.

 This will produce the liblouis library and the programs =lou_allround=
 (for testing the library), =lou_checkhyphens=, =lou_checktable= (for
 checking translation tables), =lou_debug= (for debugging translation
 tables), =lou_translate= (for extensive testing of forward and
 backwards translation) and =lou_trace= (for tracing if individual
 translations). For more details see the liblouis documentation.

 If you wish to have man pages for the programs you might want to
 install =help2man= before running configure.

 If you want to run the test suite with =make check= you should install
 =libyaml= as that will enable extensive tests on the tables. If you
 want to skip those tests you can do so by running =configure
 --without-yaml=.

 * Participating

 You can contribute to Liblouis in several different ways:

 - If you have comments, questions, or want to use your knowledge to
   help others, come join the conversation on either the mailing list
   or on IRC. You can reach us at liblouis-liblouisxml@freelists.org or
   in channel #liblouis on irc:irc.oftc.net.
 - To report a problem or request a feature, please file an issue.
 - Of course, we welcome pull requests and patches.

 Finally, if you want to see what we have for the future and learn more
 about our release cycles, all this information is detailed on the [[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/wiki/Release-schedule][wiki]]

 * Release Notes

 For notes on the newest and older releases see the file NEWS.

 * History

 Liblouis was begun in 2002 largely as a business decision by [[http://www.viewplus.com][ViewPlus]].
 They believed that they could never have good braille except as part
 of an open source effort and knew that John Boyer was dying to start
 just such a project. So ViewPlus did start it on the agreement that
 they would give a small monthly stipend to John Boyer that allowed him
 to pay for sighted assistants. While ViewPlus has not contributed much
 to the coding, it certainly has contributed and continues to
 contribute to liblouis through that support of John Boyer.
	[[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/main.yml][https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg]]
	[[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/mingw.yml][https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/mingw.yml/badge.svg]]
	[[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/emscripten.yml][https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/actions/workflows/emscripten.yml/badge.svg]]

	* Introduction

	Liblouis is an open-source braille translator and back-translator
	named in honor of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille][Louis Braille]]. It features support for computer and
	literary braille, supports contracted and uncontracted translation for
	[[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/tree/master/tables][many languages]] and has support for hyphenation. New languages can
	easily be added through tables that support a rule- or dictionary
	based approach. Tools for testing and debugging tables are also
	included. Liblouis also supports math braille (Nemeth and Marburg).

	Liblouis has features to support screen-reading programs. This has led
	to its use in two open-source screenreaders, [[http://www.nvda-project.org/][NVDA]] and [[http://live.gnome.org/Orca][Orca]]. It is also
	used in some commercial assistive technology applications for example
	by [[http://www.viewplus.com][ViewPlus]].

	Liblouis is based on the translation routines in the [[http://mielke.cc/brltty/][BRLTTY]]
	screenreader for Linux. It has, however, gone far beyond these
	routines. In Linux and Mac OSX it is a shared library, and in Windows
	it is a DLL.

	Liblouis is free software licensed under the [[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html][GNU LGPLv2.1+]] (see the
	file COPYING.LESSER).

	The command line tools, are licensed under the [[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html][GNU GPLv3+]] (see the
	file COPYING).

	* Documentation

	For documentation, see the [[http://www.liblouis.org/documentation/liblouis.html][liblouis documentation]] (either as info
	file, html, txt or pdf) in the doc directory. For examples of
	translation tables, see =en-us-g2.ctb=, =en-us-g1.ctb=,
	=chardefs.cti=, and whatever other files they may include in the
	tables directory. This directory contains tables for many languages.
	The Nemeth files will only work with the sister library [[http://www.liblouis.org/][liblouisutdml]].

	* Installation

	After unpacking the distribution tarball from [[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/releases][releases]] go to the
	directory it creates. You now have the choice to compile liblouis for
	either 16- or 32-bit unicode. By default it is compiled for the
	former. To get 32-bit Unicode run configure with =--enable-ucs4=.

	After running =./configure= run =make= and then =sudo make install=.
	As a final step you might have to run =sudo ldconfig=. For other ways
	of installation, see the file HACKING.

	This will produce the liblouis library and the programs =lou_allround=
	(for testing the library), =lou_checkhyphens=, =lou_checktable= (for
	checking translation tables), =lou_debug= (for debugging translation
	tables), =lou_translate= (for extensive testing of forward and
	backwards translation) and =lou_trace= (for tracing if individual
	translations). For more details see the liblouis documentation.

	If you wish to have man pages for the programs you might want to
	install =help2man= before running configure.

	If you want to run the test suite with =make check= you should install
	=libyaml= as that will enable extensive tests on the tables. If you
	want to skip those tests you can do so by running =configure
	--without-yaml=.

	* Participating

	You can contribute to Liblouis in several different ways:

	- If you have comments, questions, or want to use your knowledge to
	help others, come join the conversation on either the mailing list
	or on IRC. You can reach us at liblouis-liblouisxml@freelists.org or
	in channel #liblouis on irc:irc.oftc.net.
	- To report a problem or request a feature, please file an issue.
	- Of course, we welcome pull requests and patches.

	Finally, if you want to see what we have for the future and learn more
	about our release cycles, all this information is detailed on the [[https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/wiki/Release-schedule][wiki]]

	* Release Notes

	For notes on the newest and older releases see the file NEWS.

	* History

	Liblouis was begun in 2002 largely as a business decision by [[http://www.viewplus.com][ViewPlus]].
	They believed that they could never have good braille except as part
	of an open source effort and knew that John Boyer was dying to start
	just such a project. So ViewPlus did start it on the agreement that
	they would give a small monthly stipend to John Boyer that allowed him
	to pay for sighted assistants. While ViewPlus has not contributed much
	to the coding, it certainly has contributed and continues to
	contribute to liblouis through that support of John Boyer.