OASIS XML Localisation Interchange File Format TC 

The original Call For Participation for this TC may be found at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/200112/msg00000.html

The charter for this TC was modified on 5 December 2005; this change was announced at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/200512/msg00002.html

The charter for this TC was previously modified on 24 July 2002; this change was announced at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/200207/msg00005.html

The charter for this TC is as follows.

Name

OASIS XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF) TC

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define, through extensible XML vocabularies, and promote the adoption of, a specification for the interchange of localisable software and document based objects and related metadata. To date, the committee has published two specifications - XLIFF 1.0 and XLIFF 1.1 - that define how to mark up and capture localisable data that will interoperate with different processes or phases without loss of information. The specifications are tool-neutral, support the entire localization process, and support common software and document data formats and mark-up languages. The specifications provide an extensibility mechanism to allow the development of tools compatible with an implementer's data formats and workflow requirements. The extensibility mechanism provides controlled inclusion of information not defined in the specification.

The state of 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 was simplified. Using proprietary and/or non-standard resource formats force either the source provider or the localisation service provider to implement costly and inefficient pre-processing of localisable content. For publishers with many proprietary or non-standard 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 for any point in the lifecycle which can be exchanged between a variety of commercial and open-source tools.

The first phase, completed 31 October 2003, created a 1.1 version committee specification that concentrated on software UI resource file localisable data 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 an official OASIS standard, and revising the XLIFF spec to 1.2 version to support document based content segmentation and alignment requirements. To encourage adoption of XLIFF, the TC will define and publish implementation guides for some of the most commonly used resource formats (HTML, Java Resource Bundles, and gettext PO Files).

XLIFF TC work and deliverables adhere to OASIS IPR policy.

List of Deliverables

XLIFF 1.2 Specification and XSD to support for Segmentation & Alignment Content - June 2006
Supporting non-normative Implementation Guides: 
XLIFF 1.2 XHTML/HTML Representation Guides - May 2006
XLIFF 1.2 Java Resource Bundle Representation Guide - May 2006
XLIFF 1.2 PO File Representation Guide - May 2006

Submit XLIFF 1.12 for public review and consideration as OASIS Standard - June 2006 

In addition, the XLIFF TC will endeavour to deliver the following as time and resources permit:
XLIFF 1.2 ResX Representation Guide 
XLIFF 1.2 RTF Represenation Guide
XLIFF 1.2 XML Representation guide
XLIFF 1.2 Windows Resources Representation Guide