Reviewed charter

Name

XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF)

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define, through XML vocabularies, and promote the adoption of, an extensible specification for the interchange of localization information. To date, the committee has published two specifications - XLIFF 1.0 and XLIFF 1.1 - that define how to mark up and capture localizable data and interoperate with different processes or phases without loss of information. The vocabularies are tool-neutral, support the localization-related aspects of internationalization and the entire localization process. The vocabularies support common software and content data formats. The specifications provide an extensibility mechanism to allow the development of tools compatible with an implementer's own proprietary data formats and workflow requirements.

The state of affairs in software and documentation localisation before XLIFF was that a software or documentation provider delivered their localisable resources to a localisation service provider in a number of disparate file formats. Once software providers and technical communicators commenced implementing XLIFF, the task of interchanging localisation data became simpler. Using proprietary and nonstandard resource formats force either the source provider or the localisation service provider to implement a costly and inefficient bespoke process for localising their content. For publishers with many proprietary or nonstandard formats, this requirement becomes a major hurdle when attempting to localise their software. For software developers and technical communicators employing enterprise localisation tools and processes, XLIFF defines a standard but extensible vocabulary that captures relevant metadata at any point of the lifecycle which can be exchanged between a variety of commercial and open-source tools.

The state of affairs in software localisation before XLIFF was that a software provider delivered their localisable resources to a localisation service provider in a number of disparate file formats. Once software providers commenced implementing XLIFF, the task of interchanging localisation data became simpler. Using proprietary and nonstandard resource formats force either the software provider or the localisation service provider to implement a costly and inefficient bespoke process for localising their content. For a software publishers with many proprietary or nonstandard formats, this requirement becomes a major hurdle when attempting to localise their software. For software developers employing enterprise localisation tools and processes, XLIFF defines a standard but extensible vocabulary that captures relevant metadata at any point of the lifecycle which can be exchanged between a variety of commercial and open-source tools.

<>The first phase, now completed, created a committee specification that concentrated on software UI file requirements. The next phase consists of promoting the adoption of XLIFF throughout the industry through additional collateral and specifications, continuing to advance the committee specification towards a full OASIS standard, contributing to the development of standard localisation directives tag library and consuming it when available, and defining and publishing an implementation guide for document based content that addresses segmentation and alignment requirements. To encourage adoption of XLIFF, the TC will define and publish implementation guides for the most commonly used resource formats (HTML, RTF, Window Resources, Java Resource Bundles, .NET), and will include reference implementations of XLIFF 1.1.

XLIFF 1.0 included work done prior to the formation of the Oasis TC and was submitted with the following intellectual property rights statement:

Each of the submitting companies, referenced in section (vii), below, agrees to offer a license, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, to use any patent claim it owns or controls and which is necessarily infringed by use of the XLIFF format described in this submission or any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon. Such a license will be for the limited purpose of implementing the XLIFF format described in this submission or in any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon, and may be conditioned on the licensee's agreement to grant a reciprocal license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to use any patent claim it owns or controls and which is necessarily infringed by use of the XLIFF format described in this submission or in any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon.

All subsequent work is covered by OASIS IPR policy.

The archive for previous discussions can be found at the following URL:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DataDefinition

The white paper, the specification, and the DTD and can be found at this URL:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DataDefinition/files/Final

List of Deliverables

XLIFF 1.1 XHTML/HTML Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
XLIFF 1.1 RTF Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
XLIFF 1.1 .NET Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
XLIFF 1.1 Java Resource Bundle Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
XLIFF 1.1 Windows Resources Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
XLIFF 1.1 PO File Representation Guide – April 22, 2005
Submit XLIFF 1.1 for consideration as OASIS Standard – April 22, 2005

In addition we will also endeavour to provide the following:

XLIFF 1.1 Reference Implementation (as Open Source? In collaboration with Trans-WS?)
XLIFF 1.1 Document-based Content Implementation Guide (Segmentation & Alignment)
Review and input to development of Standard Localisation Directives Tag Library
XLIFF 1.1: Consume / Implement Standard Localisation Directives Tag Library

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