Okapi tools on OSX...

In my "Okapi tools for Mono" post, last November, I discussed the possibility to use Okapi on OSX without installing Parallels/VMWare/WhateverVirtualSolutionYouPrefer and Windows and .NET... Which in the end makes Okapi a very expensive free tool...

Okapi has recently been released to work on Mono, the free (as a bird) version of .NET and I've promised myself to install everything and try the package as soon as I'd have a job requiring it.

This job has come. At last. It is a small set of InDesign files (that will eventually end up being Illustrator files) that are part of a much bigger translation package...

So, at the time of writing, here is the procedure you need to follow to get everything to work:

(Beware, Okapi for mono does not come with a graphical interface and everything must be done in the Terminal, at the command line. It is not terribly hard but not super trivial either for the translator who is not used to that. For people who need an introduction to working with the Terminal on OSX, check this link.)

1. Download Mono (1.2.6 at the time of the post):
   
   http://www.go-mono.com/mono-downloads/download.html


2. Install it by clicking on the package file and following the instructions.


3. Download Okapi for Mono (R00020 at the time of the post):
   
   http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=42949
   


4. Unzip/untar the package and read the ReadMe_ForMono.htm file found in the Tikal folder


5. Do what the file says under "Using the Okapi tools"
   
   (for some reason, I am yet unable to properly set the path to Okapi...)

When this is done, you'll need to take a look at the Mono for OSX page to know how to use the beast.

Basically, it comes down to opening the Terminal and typing:

$ mono ~/bin/OkapiMono/Tikal/Tikal.exe

Here, I've left my path to Tikal because I could not set it properly in the install step. But a proper install should accept:

$ mono Tikal.exe

Running only Tikal.exe without any arguments will have the application display its basic help where you'll see what you need to type to do a few basic things, like:

$ mono Tikal.exe -lf
to list the available filters.

Just for your information, since you can find that on the Okapi help pages too, here are the filters that are directly available from the Mono command line:

• okf_po (Okapi PO Filter)


• okf_properties (Okapi Properties Filter)


• okf_script (Okapi Script Filter)


• okf_netres (Okapi NETRes Filter)


• okf_rc (Okapi RC Filter)


• okf_xml (Okapi XML Filter)


• okf_wordfast (Okapi Wordfast Filter)


• okf_tradostext (Okapi Trados Text Filter)


• okf_illustrator (Okapi Illustrator Filter)


• okf_table (Okapi Table Filter)


• okf_inx (Okapi INX Filter)


• okf_html (Okapi HTML Filter (ALPHA TEST ONLY)
)

• okf_json (Okapi JSON Filter)

If you use the parameter -lu you'll get a list of available utilities:

• oku_set01:extraction


• oku_set01:merging


• oku_set01:rewriting


• oku_set01:encodingconversion


• oku_set01:lbconversion


• oku_set01:bomconversion


• oku_set02:qualitycheck


• oku_set02:update


• oku_set02:rtfconversion


• oku_set02:xsltransformation


• oku_set02:twbanalysis


• oku_set02:rtfsplitting


• oku_set02:alignment


• oku_set02:rtftotmx


• oku_set03:alignment


• oku_set04:dnllistedit


• oku_set04:xliffsplitting


• oku_set04:xliffconcatenation


• oku_set04:tmxsplittingdup


• oku_set04:xliffconversion


• oku_set04:proofreading


• oku_set04:searchandreplace


• oku_set04:uriconversion


• oku_set04:cdataconversion


• oku_set04:xmlpruning


• oku_set04:ttx2tmx


• oku_set04:xmlpartitioning

All the filters and utilities etc require specific parameters to run. Check the Okapi for Mono manual that comes with the download to know how to use all that.

Don't forget that Okapi has a very nice user group managed by Yves Savourel, the developer. It is possible to access the archives without having to subscribe to it.

Et voilà ! That is pretty much everything you need to know to get started... I hope that helped !