I promised to add multilingual support. Now that time has come. However, while diving into the code, I also rewrote a couple of system modules. That's how release 3.6.6 turned into a triple update: multilingual support, interface fixes, and a new plugin.
🌐 Full Multilingual Support
Starting from this version, the interface and system dialogs can be displayed in multiple languages. English remains the default, but I've included a Russian language pack with the distribution.
I extracted over 4000 strings from the interface for the English pack. The switching mechanism relies on user settings and loads the appropriate language file, which is a set of PHP variables like $lang1234 = “SOME TEXT”.
🛠 Lang Editor Plugin for Managing Translations
Editing 4000 strings manually is insane, so I built a special plugin. It can:
- Create and copy language packs.
- Edit variables directly from the interface.
- Automatically generate ready-to-use PHP code (plain or with echo for HTML/JS).
- Make third-party plugins multilingual.
How it works:
type the text, press Enter — the variable is created, and the ready-made code is already in your clipboard. You can click variable names on the left to copy them, or use buttons on the right for complete constructs. It's incredibly convenient.
🧩 Updated Plugin Architecture
To make multilingual support work seamlessly, I had to revisit the plugins. Now the architecture correctly loads language files in any existing plugin (except the Template one).
🔧 System Module Fixes
While translating the interface, I decided to fix some old issues:
Disk Manager: Fixed mounting issues with LVM volumes and editing /etc/fstab.
LVM Manager: Rewrote the mounting logic and synchronization with fstab.
RAID Manager: System disks are no longer shown in the list of available devices, preventing fatal errors.
Mount Manager: Completely reworked the logic for mount/unmount operations.
Hostname & Domain: Fixed the hostname editing function. Values are now correctly written to /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts without duplicates.
📝 About the Translation
Translating 4000 strings manually would be crazy. I fed the text to an AI, and voila — a complete translation in minutes. It's machine translation, so there might be minor inaccuracies. However, you can easily fix any text using the Lang Editor directly in the web interface. Found a weird phrase? Open the plugin, find the variable, fix it — done.
How to Switch the Language?
For new installations: language selection appears at the first step of the installer.
For updates: change the language in the system settings under the interface section.
What's Next?
I remember mentioning support for new OS versions. It looks like I have more work to do. I'd appreciate it if you report any bugs or translation errors.
*Useful Links:
*
Forum section for languages: https://mini-bucket.ru/community/community/languages/
If you already have Mini Bucket installed, the update is available in the interface under the Update section.
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