(gettext.info)Top


GNU ‘gettext’ utilities
***********************

   This manual documents the GNU gettext tools and the GNU libintl
library, version 0.21.

Introduction: Introduction
Users: The User’s View
PO Files: The Format of PO Files
Sources: Preparing Program Sources
Template: Making the PO Template File
Creating: Creating a New PO File
Updating: Updating Existing PO Files
Editing: Editing PO Files
Manipulating: Manipulating PO Files
Binaries: Producing Binary MO Files
Programmers: The Programmer’s View
Translators: The Translator’s View
Maintainers: The Maintainer’s View
Installers: The Installer’s and Distributor’s View
Programming Languages: Other Programming Languages
Data Formats: Other Data Formats
Conclusion: Concluding Remarks
Language Codes: ISO 639 language codes
Country Codes: ISO 3166 country codes
Licenses: Licenses
Program Index: Index of Programs
Option Index: Index of Command-Line Options
Variable Index: Index of Environment Variables
PO Mode Index: Index of Emacs PO Mode Commands
Autoconf Macro Index: Index of Autoconf Macros
Index: General Index

— The Detailed Node Listing — Introduction

Why: The Purpose of GNU ‘gettext’
Concepts: I18n, L10n, and Such
Aspects: Aspects in Native Language Support
Files: Files Conveying Translations
Overview: Overview of GNU ‘gettext’

The User’s View

System Installation: Questions During Operating System Installation
Setting the GUI Locale: How to Specify the Locale Used by GUI Programs
Setting the POSIX Locale: How to Specify the Locale According to POSIX
Working in a Windows console: Obtaining good output in a Windows console
Installing Localizations: How to Install Additional Translations

Setting the Locale through Environment Variables

Locale Names: How a Locale Specification Looks Like
Locale Environment Variables: Which Environment Variable Specfies What
The LANGUAGE variable: How to Specify a Priority List of Languages

Preparing Program Sources

Importing: Importing the ‘gettext’ declaration
Triggering: Triggering ‘gettext’ Operations
Preparing Strings: Preparing Translatable Strings
Mark Keywords: How Marks Appear in Sources
Marking: Marking Translatable Strings
c-format Flag: Telling something about the following string
Special cases: Special Cases of Translatable Strings
Bug Report Address: Letting Users Report Translation Bugs
Names: Marking Proper Names for Translation
Libraries: Preparing Library Sources

Making the PO Template File

xgettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘xgettext’ Program

Creating a New PO File

msginit Invocation: Invoking the ‘msginit’ Program
Header Entry: Filling in the Header Entry

Updating Existing PO Files

msgmerge Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgmerge’ Program

Editing PO Files

KBabel: KDE’s PO File Editor
Gtranslator: GNOME’s PO File Editor
PO Mode: Emacs’s PO File Editor
Compendium: Using Translation Compendia

Emacs’s PO File Editor

Installation: Completing GNU ‘gettext’ Installation
Main PO Commands: Main Commands
Entry Positioning: Entry Positioning
Normalizing: Normalizing Strings in Entries
Translated Entries: Translated Entries
Fuzzy Entries: Fuzzy Entries
Untranslated Entries: Untranslated Entries
Obsolete Entries: Obsolete Entries
Modifying Translations: Modifying Translations
Modifying Comments: Modifying Comments
Subedit: Mode for Editing Translations
C Sources Context: C Sources Context
Auxiliary: Consulting Auxiliary PO Files

Using Translation Compendia

Creating Compendia: Merging translations for later use
Using Compendia: Using older translations if they fit

Manipulating PO Files

msgcat Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgcat’ Program
msgconv Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgconv’ Program
msggrep Invocation: Invoking the ‘msggrep’ Program
msgfilter Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgfilter’ Program
msguniq Invocation: Invoking the ‘msguniq’ Program
msgcomm Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgcomm’ Program
msgcmp Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgcmp’ Program
msgattrib Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgattrib’ Program
msgen Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgen’ Program
msgexec Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgexec’ Program
Colorizing: Highlighting parts of PO files
Other tools: Other tools for manipulating PO files
libgettextpo: Writing your own programs that process PO files

Highlighting parts of PO files

The --color option: Triggering colorized output
The TERM variable: The environment variable ‘TERM’
The --style option: The ‘--style’ option
Style rules: Style rules for PO files
Customizing less: Customizing ‘less’ for viewing PO files

Producing Binary MO Files

msgfmt Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgfmt’ Program
msgunfmt Invocation: Invoking the ‘msgunfmt’ Program
MO Files: The Format of GNU MO Files

The Programmer’s View

catgets: About ‘catgets’
gettext: About ‘gettext’
Comparison: Comparing the two interfaces
Using libintl.a: Using libintl.a in own programs
gettext grok: Being a ‘gettext’ grok
Temp Programmers: Temporary Notes for the Programmers Chapter

About ‘catgets’

Interface to catgets: The interface
Problems with catgets: Problems with the ‘catgets’ interface?!

About ‘gettext’

Interface to gettext: The interface
Ambiguities: Solving ambiguities
Locating Catalogs: Locating message catalog files
Charset conversion: How to request conversion to Unicode
Contexts: Solving ambiguities in GUI programs
Plural forms: Additional functions for handling plurals
Optimized gettext: Optimization of the *gettext functions

Temporary Notes for the Programmers Chapter

Temp Implementations: Temporary - Two Possible Implementations
Temp catgets: Temporary - About ‘catgets’
Temp WSI: Temporary - Why a single implementation
Temp Notes: Temporary - Notes

The Translator’s View

Trans Intro 0: Introduction 0
Trans Intro 1: Introduction 1
Discussions: Discussions
Organization: Organization
Information Flow: Information Flow
Translating plural forms: How to fill in ‘msgstr[0]’, ‘msgstr[1]’
Prioritizing messages: How to find which messages to translate first

Organization

Central Coordination: Central Coordination
National Teams: National Teams
Mailing Lists: Mailing Lists

National Teams

Sub-Cultures: Sub-Cultures
Organizational Ideas: Organizational Ideas

The Maintainer’s View

Flat and Non-Flat: Flat or Non-Flat Directory Structures
Prerequisites: Prerequisite Works
gettextize Invocation: Invoking the ‘gettextize’ Program
Adjusting Files: Files You Must Create or Alter
autoconf macros: Autoconf macros for use in ‘configure.ac’
Version Control Issues
Release Management: Creating a Distribution Tarball

Files You Must Create or Alter

po/POTFILES.in: ‘POTFILES.in’ in ‘po/’
po/LINGUAS: ‘LINGUAS’ in ‘po/’
po/Makevars: ‘Makevars’ in ‘po/’
po/Rules-*: Extending ‘Makefile’ in ‘po/’
configure.ac: ‘configure.ac’ at top level
config.guess: ‘config.guess’, ‘config.sub’ at top level
mkinstalldirs: ‘mkinstalldirs’ at top level
aclocal: ‘aclocal.m4’ at top level
config.h.in: ‘config.h.in’ at top level
Makefile: ‘Makefile.in’ at top level
src/Makefile: ‘Makefile.in’ in ‘src/’
lib/gettext.h: ‘gettext.h’ in ‘lib/’

Autoconf macros for use in ‘configure.ac’

AM_GNU_GETTEXT: AM_GNU_GETTEXT in ‘gettext.m4’
AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION in ‘gettext.m4’
AM_GNU_GETTEXT_NEED: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_NEED in ‘gettext.m4’
AM_PO_SUBDIRS: AM_PO_SUBDIRS in ‘po.m4’
AM_XGETTEXT_OPTION: AM_XGETTEXT_OPTION in ‘po.m4’
AM_ICONV: AM_ICONV in ‘iconv.m4’

Integrating with Version Control Systems

Distributed Development: Avoiding version mismatch in distributed development
Files under Version Control: Files to put under version control
Translations under Version Control: Put PO Files under Version Control
autopoint Invocation: Invoking the ‘autopoint’ Program

Other Programming Languages

Language Implementors: The Language Implementor’s View
Programmers for other Languages: The Programmer’s View
Translators for other Languages: The Translator’s View
Maintainers for other Languages: The Maintainer’s View
List of Programming Languages: Individual Programming Languages

The Translator’s View

c-format: C Format Strings
objc-format: Objective C Format Strings
python-format: Python Format Strings
java-format: Java Format Strings
csharp-format: C# Format Strings
javascript-format: JavaScript Format Strings
scheme-format: Scheme Format Strings
lisp-format: Lisp Format Strings
elisp-format: Emacs Lisp Format Strings
librep-format: librep Format Strings
ruby-format: Ruby Format Strings
sh-format: Shell Format Strings
awk-format: awk Format Strings
lua-format: Lua Format Strings
object-pascal-format: Object Pascal Format Strings
smalltalk-format: Smalltalk Format Strings
qt-format: Qt Format Strings
qt-plural-format: Qt Plural Format Strings
kde-format: KDE Format Strings
kde-kuit-format: KUIT Format Strings
boost-format: Boost Format Strings
tcl-format: Tcl Format Strings
perl-format: Perl Format Strings
php-format: PHP Format Strings
gcc-internal-format: GCC internal Format Strings
gfc-internal-format: GFC internal Format Strings
ycp-format: YCP Format Strings

Individual Programming Languages

C: C, C++, Objective C
Python: Python
Java: Java
C#: C#
JavaScript: JavaScript
Scheme: GNU guile - Scheme
Common Lisp: GNU clisp - Common Lisp
clisp C: GNU clisp C sources
Emacs Lisp: Emacs Lisp
librep: librep
Ruby: Ruby
sh: sh - Shell Script
bash: bash - Bourne-Again Shell Script
gawk: GNU awk
Lua: Lua
Pascal: Pascal - Free Pascal Compiler
Smalltalk: GNU Smalltalk
Vala: Vala
wxWidgets: wxWidgets library
Tcl: Tcl - Tk’s scripting language
Perl: Perl
PHP: PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
Pike: Pike
GCC-source: GNU Compiler Collection sources
YCP: YCP - YaST2 scripting language

sh - Shell Script

Preparing Shell Scripts: Preparing Shell Scripts for Internationalization
gettext.sh: Contents of ‘gettext.sh’
gettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘gettext’ program
ngettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘ngettext’ program
envsubst Invocation: Invoking the ‘envsubst’ program
eval_gettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘eval_gettext’ function
eval_ngettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘eval_ngettext’ function
eval_pgettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘eval_pgettext’ function
eval_npgettext Invocation: Invoking the ‘eval_npgettext’ function

Perl

General Problems: General Problems Parsing Perl Code
Default Keywords: Which Keywords Will xgettext Look For?
Special Keywords: How to Extract Hash Keys
Quote-like Expressions: What are Strings And Quote-like Expressions?
Interpolation I: Invalid String Interpolation
Interpolation II: Valid String Interpolation
Parentheses: When To Use Parentheses
Long Lines: How To Grok with Long Lines
Perl Pitfalls: Bugs, Pitfalls, and Things That Do Not Work

Other Data Formats

Internationalizable Data: Internationalizable Data Formats
Localized Data: Localized Data Formats

Internationalizable Data Formats

POT: POT - Portable Object Template
RST: Resource String Table
Glade: Glade - GNOME user interface description
GSettings: GSettings - GNOME user configuration schema
AppData: AppData - freedesktop.org application description
Preparing ITS Rules: Preparing Rules for XML Internationalization

Localized Data Formats

Editable Message Catalogs: Editable Message Catalogs
Compiled Message Catalogs: Compiled Message Catalogs
Desktop Entry: Desktop Entry files
XML: XML files

Editable Message Catalogs

PO: PO - Portable Object
Java .properties: Java .properties
GNUstep .strings: NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings

Compiled Message Catalogs

MO: MO - Machine Object
Java ResourceBundle: Java ResourceBundle
C# Satellite Assembly: C# Satellite Assembly
C# Resource: C# Resource
Tcl message catalog: Tcl message catalog
Qt message catalog: Qt message catalog

Concluding Remarks

History: History of GNU ‘gettext’
The original ABOUT-NLS: Historical introduction
References: Related Readings

Language Codes

Usual Language Codes: Two-letter ISO 639 language codes
Rare Language Codes: Three-letter ISO 639 language codes

Licenses

GNU GPL: GNU General Public License
GNU LGPL: GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU FDL: GNU Free Documentation License