patch 9.1.0559: translation of vim scripts can be improvedv9.1.0559

Problem:  translation of vim scripts can be improved
          (after v9.1.0509)
Solution: improve documentation, add tests, include missing
          libraries for the Windows CI
          (RestorerZ)

closes: #15100

Signed-off-by: RestorerZ <restorer@mail2k.ru>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org>

24 files changed, 609 insertions, 91 deletions

diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 1110665ec1..46eda8d7e0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -434,6 +434,9 @@ jobs:
       # SODIUM_MINGW_URL: https://download.libsodium.org/libsodium/releases/libsodium-%SODIUM_VER%-stable-mingw.tar.gz
       SODIUM_MINGW_URL: https://github.com/jedisct1/libsodium/releases/download/%SODIUM_VER%-RELEASE/libsodium-%SODIUM_VER%-mingw.tar.gz
       SODIUM_MINGW_VER: 26
+      # Gettext-tools, iconv and libraries
+      GETTEXT32_URL: https://github.com/mlocati/gettext-iconv-windows/releases/download/v0.21-v1.16/gettext0.21-iconv1.16-shared-32.zip
+      GETTEXT64_URL: https://github.com/mlocati/gettext-iconv-windows/releases/download/v0.21-v1.16/gettext0.21-iconv1.16-shared-64.zip
       # Escape sequences
       COL_RED: "\x1b[31m"
       COL_GREEN: "\x1b[32m"
@@ -501,6 +504,7 @@ jobs:
             echo "SODIUM_DIR_SLASH=${SODIUM_DIR_SLASH}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
           echo "SODIUM_DIR=${SODIUM_DIR}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "GETTEXT_PATH=D:\gettext${{ matrix.arch == 'x64' && '64' || '32' }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - uses: msys2/setup-msys2@v2
         if: matrix.toolchain == 'mingw'
@@ -522,6 +526,8 @@ jobs:
           echo %LUA_RELEASE%>> urls.txt
           echo %WINPTY_URL%>> urls.txt
           echo %SODIUM_VER%>> urls.txt
+          echo %GETTEXT32_URL%>> urls.txt
+          echo %GETTEXT64_URL%>> urls.txt
 
       - name: Cache downloaded files
         uses: actions/cache@v4
@@ -555,6 +561,12 @@ jobs:
             mklink %SODIUM_LIB%\libsodium.dll %SODIUM_LIB%\libsodium-%SODIUM_MINGW_VER%.dll
           )
 
+          echo %COL_GREEN%Download Gettext%COL_RESET%
+          call :downloadfile %GETTEXT${{ env.BITS }}_URL% downloads\gettext${{ env.BITS }}.zip
+          7z e -y downloads\gettext${{ env.BITS }}.zip -oD:\gettext${{ env.BITS }} > nul || exit 1
+          copy /y D:\gettext${{ env.BITS }}\libintl-8.dll src\ || exit 1
+          copy /y D:\gettext${{ env.BITS }}\libiconv-2.dll src\ || exit 1
+
           goto :eof
 
           :downloadfile
diff --git a/ci/appveyor.bat b/ci/appveyor.bat
index 5498769515..c77cee19d2 100644
--- a/ci/appveyor.bat
+++ b/ci/appveyor.bat
@@ -1,15 +1,20 @@
 @echo off
 :: Batch file for building/testing Vim on AppVeyor
 set target=%1
+set "GETTEXT_PATH=c:\gettext64\bin"
 
 setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
 cd %APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%
 
 :: Python3
-set PYTHON3_VER=311
-set PYTHON3_RELEASE=3.11.1
-set PYTHON3_URL=https://www.python.org/ftp/python/%PYTHON3_RELEASE%/python-%PYTHON3_RELEASE%-amd64.exe
-set PYTHON3_DIR=C:\python%PYTHON3_VER%-x64
+set "PYTHON3_VER=311"
+set "PYTHON3_RELEASE=3.11.1"
+set "PYTHON3_URL=https://www.python.org/ftp/python/%PYTHON3_RELEASE%/python-%PYTHON3_RELEASE%-amd64.exe"
+set "PYTHON3_DIR=C:\python%PYTHON3_VER%-x64"
+
+:: Gettext-tools, iconv and libraries
+set "GETTEXT64_URL=https://github.com/mlocati/gettext-iconv-windows/releases/download/v0.21-v1.16/gettext0.21-iconv1.16-shared-64.zip"
+set "GETTEXT64_DIR=c:\gettext64"
 
 set "VSWHERE=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe"
 
@@ -43,6 +48,18 @@ if not exist %PYTHON3_DIR% (
       AssociateFiles=0 Shortcuts=0 Include_doc=0 Include_launcher=0 ^
       InstallLauncherAllUsers=0
 )
+:: GETTEXT
+if not exist %GETTEXT64_DIR% (
+  mkdir %GETTEXT64_DIR%
+  call :downloadfile %GETTEXT64_URL% downloads\gettext64.zip
+  cmd /c powershell.exe -NoLogo -NoProfile -Command ^
+    Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem'; ^
+    [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory^('downloads\gettext64.zip', ^
+    '%GETTEXT64_DIR%'^)
+    copy /y %GETTEXT64_DIR%\bin\libintl-8.dll C:\projects\vim\src\ || exit 1
+    copy /y %GETTEXT64_DIR%\bin\libiconv-2.dll C:\projects\vim\src\ || exit 1
+)
+
 @echo off
 goto :eof
 
@@ -92,7 +109,7 @@ goto :eof
 @echo on
 cd src/testdir
 :: Testing with MSVC gvim
-path %PYTHON3_DIR%;%PATH%
+path %PYTHON3_DIR%;%GETTEXT_PATH%;%PATH%
 nmake -f Make_mvc.mak VIMPROG=..\gvim
 nmake -f Make_mvc.mak clean
 :: Testing with MSVC console version
diff --git a/runtime/doc/builtin.txt b/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
index 9c3d7a91f8..f3baf2470a 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*builtin.txt*	For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 09
+*builtin.txt*	For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 11
 
 
 		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Bram Moolenaar
@@ -1226,7 +1226,7 @@ bindtextdomain({package}, {path})			*bindtextdomain()*
 		Bind a specific {package} to a {path} so that the
 		|gettext()| function can be used to get language-specific
 		translations for a package.  {path} is the directory name
-		for the translations. See |package-create|.
+		for the translations. See |package-translation|.
 
 		Return type: none
 
@@ -5005,17 +5005,18 @@ gettagstack([{winnr}])					*gettagstack()*
 
 gettext({text} [, {package}])				*gettext()*
 		Translate String {text} if possible.
-		This is mainly for use in the distributed Vim scripts.  When
-		generating message translations the {text} is extracted by
-		xgettext, the translator can add the translated message in the
-		.po file and Vim will lookup the translation when gettext() is
-		called.
+		This is intended for use in Vim scripts.  When generating
+		message translations the {text} is extracted by `xgettext`,
+		the translator can add translated messages into the .po file
+		and Vim will lookup the translation when gettext() is called.
 		For {text} double quoted strings are preferred, because
-		xgettext does not understand escaping in single quoted
-		strings.
+		`xgettext` does not support single quoted escaped text.
+
 		When the {package} is specified, the translation is looked up
-		for that specific package. You need to specify the path to
-		look for translations with the |bindtextdomain()| function.
+		for that specific package.  This is mainly required for
+		third-party Vim scripts.  You need to specify a path to the
+		translations with the |bindtextdomain()| function before
+		using the gettext() function.
 
 		Return type: |String|
 
diff --git a/runtime/doc/mlang.txt b/runtime/doc/mlang.txt
index 82c9772a72..9a15bdfb56 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/mlang.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/mlang.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*mlang.txt*     For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2022 Sep 17
+*mlang.txt*     For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 11
 
 
 		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@ use of "-" and "_".
 :lan[guage] tim[e] {name}
 :lan[guage] col[late] {name}
 			Set the current language (aka locale) to {name}.
-			The locale {name} must be a valid locale on your
+			The POSIX format of {name} is: >
+				language[_territory][.encoding]
+<			The locale {name} must be a valid locale on your
 			system.  Some systems accept aliases like "en" or
 			"en_US", but some only accept the full specification
 			like "en_US.ISO_8859-1".  On Unix systems you can use
diff --git a/runtime/doc/options.txt b/runtime/doc/options.txt
index e28f185aa8..2dc08e2573 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/options.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/options.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*options.txt*	For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 09
+*options.txt*	For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 11
 
 
 		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Bram Moolenaar
@@ -6753,7 +6753,7 @@ A jump table for the options with a short description can be found at |Q_op|.
 	  import/	files that are found by `:import`
 	  indent/	indent scripts |indent-expression|
 	  keymap/	key mapping files |mbyte-keymap|
-	  lang/		menu translations |:menutrans|
+	  lang/		message translations |:menutrans| and |multi-lang|
 	  menu.vim	GUI menus |menu.vim|
 	  pack/		packages |:packadd|
 	  plugin/	plugin scripts |write-plugin|
diff --git a/runtime/doc/repeat.txt b/runtime/doc/repeat.txt
index 0bfb1177c2..f2ba03f90b 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/repeat.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/repeat.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*repeat.txt*    For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jun 20
+*repeat.txt*    For Vim version 9.1.  Last change: 2024 Jul 11
 
 
 		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar
@@ -735,7 +735,7 @@ Your directory layout would be like this:
    start/foobar/autoload/foo.vim	" loaded when foo command used
    start/foobar/doc/foo.txt		" help for foo.vim
    start/foobar/doc/tags		" help tags
-   start/foobar/lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES/foo.po
+   start/foobar/lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES/foobar.mo
 					" messages for the plugin in the
 					" <lang_id> language.  These files are
 					" optional.
@@ -748,53 +748,345 @@ This allows for the user to do: >
 	mkdir ~/.vim/pack
 	cd ~/.vim/pack
 	git clone https://github.com/you/foobar.git myfoobar
-
+<
 Here "myfoobar" is a name that the user can choose, the only condition is that
 it differs from other packages.
 
 In your documentation you explain what the plugins do, and tell the user how
 to load the optional plugin: >
 	:packadd! fooextra
-
+<
 You could add this packadd command in one of your plugins, to be executed when
 the optional plugin is needed.
 
+					*package-doc* *package-documentation*
 Run the `:helptags` command to generate the doc/tags file.  Including this
 generated file in the package means that the user can drop the package in the
 pack directory and the help command works right away.  Don't forget to re-run
 the command after changing the plugin help: >
 	:helptags path/start/foobar/doc
 	:helptags path/opt/fooextra/doc
-
-The messages that are in the lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES/foo.po file need to be
-translated to a format that the |gettext()| function understands by running the
-msgfmt program. This will result in a lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES/foo.mo
-file. See |multilang| on how to specify languages.
-
-In your plugin, you need to call the |bindtextdomain()| function as follows.
-This assumes that the directory structure is as above: >
-	:call bindtextdomain("foo", fnamemodify(expand("<script>"), ':p:h')
-	 .. '/../lang/')
 <
-You only need to do this once. After this call, you can use: >
-	:echo gettext("Hello", "foo")
+							*package-translation*
+In order for a plugin to display translated messages, a few steps are
+required.
+The author of the plugin who likes to translate messages must define the name
+of the package and the location of the directory where the translations can be
+found using the |bindtextdomain()| function: >
+	:call bindtextdomain("foobar",
+	\ fnamemodify(expand("<script>"), ':p:h') .. '/../lang/')
+<
+Where:
+  "foobar"	is the unique package identifier by which the |gettext()|
+		function will later search for translation strings for this
+		plugin.
+  "lang/"	is the relative or absolute path to the directory structure
+		where the translation file is located.
+
+The directory structure where the message translation files should be placed
+is (from the top-level directory of the package):
+"lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES". For the format of <lang_id> see |multi-lang|.
+This function needs to be called only once during the initialization of the
+plugin.
+Once this is done, the |gettext()| function can be used to retrieve translated
+messages: >
+	:echo gettext("Hello", "foobar")
+<
+Where:
+  "Hello"	the message "Hello" to be translated into the user's language |:lang|
+  "foobar"	the package identifier, which was previously defined using the
+		|bindtextdomain()| function.
+
+After that you need to create a template file for translation - POT-file.
+To do this, execute the following commands (using the Vim repository): >
+	cd ~/forkvim/src/po
+	make -f Makefile "PLUGPACKAGE={package}" \
+	"PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST={path/to/scripts-that-need-translations.vim}" \
+	["POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH={path/where/to/write/{package}.pot}" \]
+	["VIMPROG={path/to/vim} \]
+	{package}.pot
+<
+Where:
+PLUGPACKAGE		A variable containing the name of the package that we
+			specified in the |bindtextdomain()| and
+			|gettext()| functions, for example, "foobar".
+PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST	A variable containing scripts that have strings
+			to translate, i.e. where we specified the |gettext()|
+			function. Scripts are specified with an absolute
+			or relative path. Example: start/foobar/plugin/bar.vim
+			use blanks to separate scripts.
+POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH	A variable containing the directory where the prepared
+			POT file will be saved. This is not a required variable,
+			if no directory is specified, then the POT file will
+			be placed in the "src/po" directory.
+VIMPROG			A variable containing a directory with a working Vim.
+			If the Vim editor is already built and installed, and
+			is contained in the $PATH environment variable,
+			then you can specify just the name of the vim
+			executable.
+{package}.pot		This is the Target. It is specified as the name of
+			the package, for example, "foobar" with the addition
+			of the .pot extension.
+Once a POT file is created, its contents are copied into separate PO files for
+each language for which the translation will be prepared.
+
+When the translation is finished, it is necessary to convert the PO files into
+binary MO-files format and place these MO-files into the "lang/" directory, the
+structure of which we created earlier.
+To do this, run the following commands:
+>
+	cd ~/forkvim/src/po
+	make -f Makefile "PLUGPACKAGE={package}" \
+	"PO_PLUGPACKAGE={path/to/{lang}.po}" \
+	["MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH={path/to/lang/<lang_id>/LC_MESSAGES}" \]
+	{package}.mo
+<
+Where:
+PLUGPACKAGE		A variable containing the name of the package that we
+			specified in the |bindtextdomain()| and |gettext()|
+			functions, for example, "foobar".
+PO_PLUGPACKAGE		A variable containing a PO file. The file is specified
+			with an absolute or relative path. For example,
+			"~/myproject/translate/en.po"
+MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH	A variable containing the structure of the "lang/"
+			directory, where the file with translations will be
+			placed, for example, "foobar.mo". This is not
+			a required variable, if the directory is not specified,
+			the MO file will be saved in the "src/po" directory.
+{package}.mo		This is the Target. It is specified as the name of
+			the package, for example, "foobar" with the addition
+			of the .mo extension.
+
+						*package-translate_example*
+Let's show it all on some concrete example and translate the
+"ftplugin/aap.vim" file into Russian and German.
+
+First, let's prepare the "aap.vim" file, specifying |bindtextdomain()| and
+|gettext()| function calls in it.
+>
+ " Only do this when not done yet for this buffer
+ if exists("b:did_ftplugin")
+     finish
+ endif
+
+ " Don't load another plugin for this buffer
+ let b:did_ftplugin = 1
+ call bindtextdomain("aap", fnamemodify(expand("<script>"), ':p:h') .. '/../lang/')
+
+ " Reset 'formatoptions', 'comments', 'commentstring' and 'expandtab' to undo
+ " this plugin.
+ let b:undo_ftplugin = "setl fo< com< cms< et<"
+
+ " Set 'formatoptions' to break comment lines but not other lines,
+ " and insert the comment leader when hitting <CR> or using "o".
+ setlocal fo-=t fo+=croql
+
+ " Set 'comments' to format dashed lists in comments.
+ setlocal comments=s:#\ -,m:#\ \ ,e:#,n:#,fb:-
+ setlocal commentstring=#\ %s
+
+ " Expand tabs to spaces to avoid trouble.
+ setlocal expandtab
+
+ if (has("gui_win32") || has("gui_gtk")) && !exists("b:browsefilter")
+ let b:browsefilter = gettext("Aap Recipe Files (*.aap)\t*.aap\n", "aap")
+ if has("win32")
+     let b:browsefilter ..= gettext("All Files (*.*)\t*\n", "aap")
+ else
+     let b:browsefilter ..= gettext("All Files (*)\t*\n", "aap")
+ endif
+ let b:undo_ftplugin ..= " | unlet! b:browsefilter"
+ endif
+<
+Now let's create a POT file for it (example uses Windows paths):
+>
+	cd /d f:\forkvim\src\po
+ (the following command must be entered in one line, here it is separated for example)
+	nmake.exe -f Make_mvc.mak "PLUGPACKAGE=aap"
+		    "PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST=d:\Programs\vim\vim91\ftplugin\aap.vim"
+		    "POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH=e:\project\translate\plugins"
+		    "VIMPROG=d:\Programs\vim\vim91\vim.exe"
+		    aap.pot
+<
+After the POT file of our package is created, go to the directory where we
+saved it and perform the translation.
+>
+	cd /d e:\project\translate\plugins
+	copy aap.pot ru.po
+	copy aap.pot de.po
+<
+We have prepared a PO file with a translation into Russian:
+    # Test plugins translate ~
+    # ~
+    msgid "" ~
+    msgstr "" ~
+    "Project-Id-Version: aap\n" ~
+    "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" ~
+    "POT-Creation-Date: 2024-06-23 14:58+0300\n" ~
+    "PO-Revision-Date: 2024-06-23 14:58+0300\n" ~
+    "Last-Translator: Restorer\n" ~
+    "Language-Team: RuVim\n" ~
+    "Language: ru\n" ~
+    "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" ~
+    "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" ~
+    "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" ~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:32 ~
+    msgid "Aap Recipe Files (*.aap)\t*.aap\n" ~
+    msgstr "Файлы инструкций Aap (*.aap)\t*.aap\n" ~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:34 ~
+    msgid "All Files (*.*)\t*\n" ~
+    msgstr "Все файлы (*.*)\t*\n" ~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:36 ~
+    msgid "All Files (*)\t*\n" ~
+    msgstr "Все файлы (*)\t*\n" ~
+
+And the PO file in German:
+    # Test plugins translate~
+    #~
+    msgid ""~
+    msgstr ""~
+    "Project-Id-Version: aap\n"~
+    "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"~
+    "POT-Creation-Date: 2024-06-23 14:58+0300\n"~
+    "PO-Revision-Date: 2024-06-24 13:11+0300\n"~
+    "Last-Translator: Restorer\n"~
+    "Language-Team: German\n"~
+    "Language: de\n"~
+    "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"~
+    "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"~
+    "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:32~
+    msgid "Aap Recipe Files (*.aap)\t*.aap\n"~
+    msgstr "Aap-Rezeptdateien (*.aap)\t*.aap\n"~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:34~
+    msgid "All Files (*.*)\t*\n"~
+    msgstr "Alle Dateien (*.*)\t*.*\n"~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/ftplugin/aap.vim:36~
+    msgid "All Files (*)\t*\n"~
+    msgstr "Alle Dateien (*)\t*\n"~
+
+Now convert these files into MO files so that |gettext()| can display message
+translations. Note that since this is not a specialized plugin package, we
+will put the MO files in the "lang/" directory of the Vim editor.
+Type the following commands:
+>
+	cd /d f:\forkvim\src\po
+ (the following command must be entered in one line, here it is separated for example)
+ For Russian:
+	nmake.exe -f Make_mvc.mak "PLUGPACKAGE=aap"
+	"PO_PLUGPACKAGE=e:\project\translate\plugins\ru.po"
+	"MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH=d:\Programs\vim\vim91\lang\ru\LC_MESSAGES"
+	aap.mo
+ For German:
+	nmake.exe -f Make_mvc.mak "PLUGPACKAGE=aap"
+	"PO_PLUGPACKAGE=e:\project\translate\plugins\de.po"
+	"MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH=d:\Programs\vim\vim91\lang\de\LC_MESSAGES"
+	aap.mo
+<
+That's it, the translations are ready and you can see the plugin's messages
+in your native language.
+
+Let's also try to translate a plugin package. For example, when a package
+contains several scripts containing strings that need to be translated.
+For example, let's translate the "netrw" package into Japanese.
+For this example, we will translate only a few lines from this package.
+Let's prepare the scripts where we need to translate the message strings.
+
+The file "autoload\netrw.vim":
+>
+ " Load Once:
+ if &cp || exists("g:loaded_netrw")
+   finish
+ endif
+ call bindtextdomain("netrw", fnamemodify(expand("<script>"), ':p:h') .. '/../lang/')
+
+ " Check that vim has patches that netrw requires.
+ " Patches needed for v7.4: 1557, and 213.
+ " (netrw will benefit from vim's having patch#656, too)
+ let s:needspatches=[1557,213]
+ if exists("s:needspatches")
+  for ptch in s:needspatches
+   if v:version < 704 || (v:version == 704 && !has("patch".ptch))
+    if !exists("s:needpatch{ptch}")
+     unsilent echomsg gettext("***sorry*** this version of netrw requires vim v7.4 with patch#", "netrw") .. ptch
+    endif
+    let s:needpatch{ptch}= 1
+    finish
+   endif
+  endfor
+ endif
+<
+The file "autoload\netrwSettings.vim":
+>
+ " Load Once:
+ if exists("g:loaded_netrwSettings") || &cp
+   finish
+ endif
+ call bindtextdomain("netrw", fnamemodify(expand("<script>"), ':p:h') .. '/../lang/')
+ let g:loaded_netrwSettings = "v18"
+ if v:version < 700
+  echohl WarningMsg
+  echo gettext("***warning*** this version of netrwSettings needs vim 7.0", "netrw")
+  echohl Normal
+  finish
+ endif
+<
+Now we will prepare a POT file for further translation of messages.
+Execute the following commands:
+>
+	cd ~/forkvim/src/po
+	make -f Makefile "VIMPROG=/usr/local/bin/vim" "PLUGPACKAGE=netrw" \
+	"POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH=~/project/translate/plugins" \
+	"PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST=../../runtime/autoload/netrw.vim
+	../../runtime/autoload/netrwSettings.vim" \
+	netrw.pot
+<
+Go to the directory with the POT file and make the translation:
+>
+	cd ~/project/translate/plugins
+	cp ./netrw.pot ja.po
 <
-to get the text "Hello" translated to the user's preferred language (if the
-plugin messages have been translated to this language).
-
-To create the foo.po file, you need to create a foo.pot file first. The
-entries in this file need to be translated to the language(s) you want to be
-supported by your plugin.
-
-To create the foo.pot file, run the following command: >
-	cd ~/.vim/pack/start/foobar
-	make -f ~/src/vim/src/po/Makefile PACKAGE=foo \
-	PO_BASEDIR=~/src/vim/src/po PO_INPUTLIST= \
-	PO_VIM_JSLIST="plugin__foo.js plugin__bar.js \
-	autoload__foo.js" \
-	PO_VIM_INPUTLIST="plugin/foo.vim plugin/bar.vim autoload/foo.vim" \
-	foo.pot
+When we have the translation ready in the "ja.po" file:
+    # Test plugins translate ~
+    # ~
+    msgid "" ~
+    msgstr "" ~
+    "Project-Id-Version: netrw\n" ~
+    "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" ~
+    "POT-Creation-Date: 2024-06-23 17:14+0300\n" ~
+    "PO-Revision-Date: 2024-06-23 17:14+0300\n" ~
+    "Last-Translator: Restorer\n" ~
+    "Language-Team: Japanese\n" ~
+    "Language: ja\n" ~
+    "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" ~
+    "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" ~
+    "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" ~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/autoload/netrw.vim:51 ~
+    msgid "***sorry*** this version of netrw requires vim v7.4 with patch#" ~
+    msgstr "" ~
+    "***申し訳ありません***このバージョンのnetrwには、パッチ付きのvim v7.4が必要です#" ~
+
+    #: ../../runtime/autoload/netrwSettings.vim:28 ~
+    msgid "***warning*** this version of netrwSettings needs vim 7.0" ~
+    msgstr "***警告***このバージョンのnetrwSettingsにはvim7.0が必要です" ~
+
+Convert ja.po to a MO file:
+>
+	cd ~/forkvim/src/po
+	make -f Makefile "PLUGPACKAGE=netrw" \
+	"PO_PLUGPACKAGE=~/project/translate/plugins/ja.po" \
+	"MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH=/usr/local/share/vim/vim91/lang/ja/LC_MESSAGES" \
+	netrw.mo
 <
+Executing those steps will allow you to get translation of any third-party
+plug-in packages.
 
 Dependencies between plugins ~
 							*packload-two-steps*
diff --git a/runtime/doc/tags b/runtime/doc/tags
index adbc145859..1238a9c8af 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/tags
+++ b/runtime/doc/tags
@@ -9308,6 +9308,10 @@ out_timeout	channel.txt	/*out_timeout*
 p	change.txt	/*p*
 pack-add	repeat.txt	/*pack-add*
 package-create	repeat.txt	/*package-create*
+package-doc	repeat.txt	/*package-doc*
+package-documentation	repeat.txt	/*package-documentation*
+package-translate_example	repeat.txt	/*package-translate_example*
+package-translation	repeat.txt	/*package-translation*
 packages	repeat.txt	/*packages*
 packload-two-steps	repeat.txt	/*packload-two-steps*
 page-down	intro.txt	/*page-down*
diff --git a/src/po/Make_all.mak b/src/po/Make_all.mak
index c3e6459164..ac1122863d 100644
--- a/src/po/Make_all.mak
+++ b/src/po/Make_all.mak
@@ -189,8 +189,8 @@ PO_VIM_INPUTLIST = \
 	../../runtime/defaults.vim
 
 PO_VIM_JSLIST = \
-	________runtime__optwin.js \
-	________runtime__defaults.js
+	optwin.js \
+	defaults.js
 
 # Arguments for xgettext to pick up messages to translate from the source code.
 XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS = --keyword=_ --keyword=N_ --keyword=NGETTEXT:1,2 --keyword=PLURAL_MSG:2,4
diff --git a/src/po/Make_mvc.mak b/src/po/Make_mvc.mak
index d56adb0f42..174908ae54 100644
--- a/src/po/Make_mvc.mak
+++ b/src/po/Make_mvc.mak
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ VIMRUNTIME = ..\..\runtime
 PACKAGE = vim
 # Correct the following line for the where executeable file vim is
 # installed.  Please do not put the path in quotes.
+!IFNDEF VIMPROG
 VIMPROG = ..\vim.exe
+!ENDIF
 
 # Correct the following line for the directory where gettext et al is
 # installed.  Please do not put the path in quotes.
@@ -498,25 +500,26 @@ files: $(PO_INPUTLIST)
 first_time: files
 	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S tojavascript.vim $(LANGUAGE).po \
 		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
+	@ copy /a .\files+.\vim_to_js .\allfiles
 	set OLD_PO_FILE_INPUT=yes
 	set OLD_PO_FILE_OUTPUT=yes
 	$(XGETTEXT) --default-domain=$(LANGUAGE) --add-comments $(XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS) \
-		--files-from=.\files $(PO_VIM_JSLIST)
+		--files-from=.\allfiles
 	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S fixfilenames.vim $(LANGUAGE).po \
 		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
-	$(RM) *.js
+	$(RM) *.js .\vim_to_js
 
 $(PACKAGE).pot: files
 	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S tojavascript.vim $(PACKAGE).pot \
 		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
+	@ copy /a .\files+.\vim_to_js .\allfiles
 	set OLD_PO_FILE_INPUT=yes
 	set OLD_PO_FILE_OUTPUT=yes
-	$(XGETTEXT) --default-domain=$(PACKAGE) --add-comments $(XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS) \
-		--files-from=.\files $(PO_VIM_JSLIST)
-	$(MV) $(PACKAGE).po $(PACKAGE).pot
+	$(XGETTEXT) --default-domain=$(PACKAGE) --output=$(PACKAGE).pot \
+		--add-comments $(XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS) --files-from=.\allfiles
 	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S fixfilenames.vim $(PACKAGE).pot \
 		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
-	$(RM) *.js
+	$(RM) *.js .\vim_to_js
 
 # Only original translations with default encoding should be updated.
 # The files that are converted to a different encoding clearly state "DO NOT EDIT".
@@ -546,11 +549,34 @@ cleanup-po: $(LANGUAGE).po
 cleanup-po-all: $(POFILES)
 	!"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE -e -X -S cleanup.vim -c wq $**
 
+#######
+# For translations of plug-ins
+#######
+
+# Preparing the POT file of the plug-in package
+POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH = $(MAKEDIR)
+$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot : $(PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST)
+	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S tojavascript.vim \
+		$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot $**
+	$(XGETTEXT) --from-code=UTF-8 --default-domain=$(PLUGPACKAGE) \
+		--package-name=$(PLUGPACKAGE) \
+		--output-dir="$(POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH)" \
+		--output=$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot --files-from=.\vim_to_js
+	"$(VIMPROG)" -u NONE --not-a-term -S fixfilenames.vim \
+		"$(POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH)\$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot" $**
+	$(RM) *.js .\vim_to_js
+
+# Converting the PO file of the plug-in package to the binary format of the MO file
+MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH = $(MAKEDIR)
+$(PLUGPACKAGE).mo : $(PO_PLUGPACKAGE)
+	$(MSGFMT) -o $(MO_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH)\$@ $?
+
+
 clean: checkclean
 	$(RM) *.mo
 	$(RM) *.pot
 	$(RM) *.orig
-	$(RM) files
+	$(RM) files allfiles
 	$(RM) sjiscorr.obj sjiscorr.exe
 #	$(RM) big5corr.obj big5corr.exe
 
diff --git a/src/po/Makefile b/src/po/Makefile
index eebb7ed64e..0f7f85dd17 100644
--- a/src/po/Makefile
+++ b/src/po/Makefile
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
 # Makefile for the Vim message translations.
-PO_BASEDIR = .
 
 # Include stuff found by configure.
-include $(PO_BASEDIR)/../auto/config.mk
+include ../auto/config.mk
 
 # Get LANGUAGES, MOFILES, MOCONVERTED and others.
-include $(PO_BASEDIR)/Make_all.mak
+include Make_all.mak
 
 # Note: ja.sjis, *.cp1250 and zh_CN.cp936 are only for MS-Windows, they are
 # not installed on Unix.
 
 PACKAGE = vim
 SHELL = /bin/sh
-VIMPROG = $(PO_BASEDIR)/../vim
+VIMPROG = ../vim
 
 # MacOS sed is locale aware, set $LANG to avoid problems.
 SED = LANG=C sed
@@ -41,8 +40,8 @@ converted: $(MOCONVERTED)
 	$(MSGFMTCMD) -o $@ $<
 
 .po.ck:
-	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --noplugins -e -s -X --cmd "set enc=utf-8" -S check.vim \
-		-c "if error == 0 | q | else | num 2 | cq | endif" $<
+	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --noplugins -e -s -X --cmd "set enc=utf-8" \
+		-S check.vim -c "if error == 0 | q | else | num 2 | cq | endif" $<
 	touch $@
 
 check: $(CHECKFILES)
@@ -242,6 +241,7 @@ prefixcheck:
 clean: checkclean
 	rm -f core core.* *.old.po *.mo *.pot sjiscorr
 	rm -f LINGUAS vim.desktop gvim.desktop tmp_*desktop
+	rm -f ./allfiles
 #	rm -f big5corr
 
 distclean: clean
@@ -262,21 +262,25 @@ PO_INPUTLIST = \
 
 $(PACKAGE).pot: $(PO_INPUTLIST) $(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
 	# Convert the Vim scripts to (what looks like) Javascript.
-	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --not-a-term -S $(PO_BASEDIR)/tojavascript.vim $(PACKAGE).pot $(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
+	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --not-a-term -S tojavascript.vim $(PACKAGE).pot \
+		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
+	@ echo ${PO_INPUTLIST} | tr ' ' '\n' > ./allfiles
+	@ cat ./vim_to_js >> ./allfiles
 	# Create vim.pot.
-	$(XGETTEXT) --default-domain=$(PACKAGE) --add-comments \
-		$(XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS) $(PO_INPUTLIST) $(PO_VIM_JSLIST)
-	mv -f $(PACKAGE).po $(PACKAGE).pot
+	$(XGETTEXT) --default-domain=$(PACKAGE) --output=$(PACKAGE).pot \
+		--add-comments $(XGETTEXT_KEYWORDS) --files-from=./allfiles
 	# Fix Vim scripts names, so that "gf" works.
-	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --not-a-term -S $(PO_BASEDIR)/fixfilenames.vim $(PACKAGE).pot $(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
+	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --not-a-term -S fixfilenames.vim $(PACKAGE).pot \
+		$(PO_VIM_INPUTLIST)
 	# Delete the temporary files.
-	rm *.js
+	rm -f *.js ./vim_to_js
 
 vim.desktop: vim.desktop.in $(POFILES)
 	echo $(LANGUAGES) | tr " " "\n" |$(SED) -e '/\./d' | sort > LINGUAS
 	$(MSGFMT) --desktop -d . --template vim.desktop.in -o tmp_vim.desktop
 	rm -f LINGUAS
-	if command -v desktop-file-validate; then desktop-file-validate tmp_vim.desktop; fi
+	if command -v desktop-file-validate; \
+		then desktop-file-validate tmp_vim.desktop; fi
 	mv tmp_vim.desktop vim.desktop
 
 # The dependency on vim.desktop is only to avoid the two targets are build at
@@ -285,7 +289,8 @@ gvim.desktop: gvim.desktop.in $(POFILES) vim.desktop
 	echo $(LANGUAGES) | tr " " "\n" |$(SED) -e '/\./d' | sort > LINGUAS
 	$(MSGFMT) --desktop -d . --template gvim.desktop.in -o tmp_gvim.desktop
 	rm -f LINGUAS
-	if command -v desktop-file-validate; then desktop-file-validate tmp_gvim.desktop; fi
+	if command -v desktop-file-validate; \
+		then desktop-file-validate tmp_gvim.desktop; fi
 	mv tmp_gvim.desktop gvim.desktop
 
 # Only original translations with default encoding should be updated.
@@ -302,3 +307,28 @@ $(LANGUAGES):
 	else \
 	    echo "msgmerge for $@.po failed!"; mv $@.po.old $@.po; \
 	fi
+
+
+#######
+# For translations of plug-ins
+#######
+
+# Preparing the POT file of the plug-in package
+POT_PLUGPACKAGE_PATH != pwd
+$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot: $(PO_PLUG_INPUTLIST)
+	$(VIMPROG) -u NONE --not-a-term -S tojavascript.vim \
+		$(PLUGPACKAGE).pot $?
+	$(XGETTEXT) --from-code=UTF-8 --default-domain=$(PLUGPACKAGE) \
+		--package-name=$(PLUGPACKAGE) \
+		-