This is gettext.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.3 from gettext.texi. INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU Gettext Utilities START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * gettext: (gettext). GNU gettext utilities. * autopoint: (gettext)autopoint Invocation. Copy gettext infrastructure. * gettextize: (gettext)gettextize Invocation. Prepare a package for gettext. * msgattrib: (gettext)msgattrib Invocation. Select part of a PO file. * msgcat: (gettext)msgcat Invocation. Combine several PO files. * msgcmp: (gettext)msgcmp Invocation. Compare a PO file and template. * msgcomm: (gettext)msgcomm Invocation. Match two PO files. * msgconv: (gettext)msgconv Invocation. Convert PO file to encoding. * msgen: (gettext)msgen Invocation. Create an English PO file. * msgexec: (gettext)msgexec Invocation. Process a PO file. * msgfilter: (gettext)msgfilter Invocation. Pipe a PO file through a filter. * msgfmt: (gettext)msgfmt Invocation. Make MO files out of PO files. * msggrep: (gettext)msggrep Invocation. Select part of a PO file. * msginit: (gettext)msginit Invocation. Create a fresh PO file. * msgmerge: (gettext)msgmerge Invocation. Update a PO file from template. * msgunfmt: (gettext)msgunfmt Invocation. Uncompile MO file into PO file. * msguniq: (gettext)msguniq Invocation. Unify duplicates for PO file. * xgettext: (gettext)xgettext Invocation. Extract strings into a PO file. * ISO639: (gettext)Language Codes. ISO 639 language codes. * ISO3166: (gettext)Country Codes. ISO 3166 country codes. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file provides documentation for GNU `gettext' utilities. It also serves as a reference for the free Translation Project. Copyright (C) 1995-1998, 2001-2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the Foundation.  File: gettext.info, Node: Information Flow, Next: Prioritizing messages, Prev: Organization, Up: Translators Information Flow ================ There will surely be some discussion about this messages after the packages are finally released. If people now send you some proposals for better messages, how do you proceed? Jim, please note that right now, as I put forward nearly a dozen of localizable programs, I receive both the translations and the coordination concerns about them. If I put one of my things to pretest, Ulrich receives the announcement and passes it on to the German team, who make last minute revisions. Then he submits the translation files to me _as the maintainer_. For free packages I do not maintain, I would not even hear about it. This scheme could be made to work for the whole Translation Project, I think. For security reasons, maybe Ulrich (national coordinators, in fact) should update central registry kept at the Translation Project (Jim, me, or Len's recruits) once in a while. In December/January, I was aggressively ready to internationalize all of GNU, giving myself the duty of one small GNU package per week or so, taking many weeks or months for bigger packages. But it does not work this way. I first did all the things I'm responsible for. I've nothing against some missionary work on other maintainers, but I'm also loosing a lot of energy over it--same debates over again. And when the first localized packages are released we'll get a lot of responses about ugly translations :-). Surely, and we need to have beforehand a fairly good idea about how to handle the information flow between the national teams and the package maintainers. Please start saving somewhere a quick history of each PO file. I know for sure that the file format will change, allowing for comments. It would be nice that each file has a kind of log, and references for those who want to submit comments or gripes, or otherwise contribute. I sent a proposal for a fast and flexible format, but it is not receiving acceptance yet by the GNU deciders. I'll tell you when I have more information about this.  File: gettext.info, Node: Prioritizing messages, Prev: Information Flow, Up: Translators Prioritizing messages: How to determine which messages to translate first ========================================================================= A translator sometimes has only a limited amount of time per week to spend on a package, and some packages have quite large message catalogs (over 1000 messages). Therefore she wishes to translate the messages first that are the most visible to the user, or that occur most frequently. This section describes how to determine these "most urgent" messages. It also applies to determine the "next most urgent" messages after the message catalog has already been partially translated. In a first step, she uses the programs like a user would do. While she does this, the GNU `gettext' library logs into a file the not yet translated messages for which a translation was requested from the program. In a second step, she uses the PO mode to translate precisely this set of messages. Here a more details. The GNU `libintl' library (but not the corresponding functions in GNU `libc') supports an environment variable `GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED'. The GNU `libintl' library will log into this file the messages for which `gettext()' and related functions couldn't find the translation. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created as needed. On systems with GNU `libc' a shared library `preloadable_libintl.so' is provided that can be used with the ELF `LD_PRELOAD' mechanism. So, in the first step, the translator uses these commands on systems with GNU `libc': $ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/lib/preloadable_libintl.so $ export LD_PRELOAD $ GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED=$HOME/gettextlogused $ export GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED and these commands on other systems: $ GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED=$HOME/gettextlogused $ export GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED Then she uses and peruses the programs. (It is a good and recommended practice to use the programs for which you provide translations: it gives you the needed context.) When done, she removes the environment variables: $ unset LD_PRELOAD $ unset GETTEXT_LOG_UNTRANSLATED The second step starts with removing duplicates: $ msguniq $HOME/gettextlogused > missing.po The result is a PO file, but needs some preprocessing before the Emacs PO mode can be used with it. First, it is a multi-domain PO file, containing messages from many translation domains. Second, it lacks all translator comments and source references. Here is how to get a list of the affected translation domains: $ sed -n -e 's,^domain "\(.*\)"$,\1,p' < missing.po | sort | uniq Then the translator can handle the domains one by one. For simplicity, let's use environment variables to denote the language, domain and source package. $ lang=nl # your language $ domain=coreutils # the name of the domain to be handled $ package=/usr/src/gnu/coreutils-4.5.4 # the package where it comes from She takes the latest copy of `$lang.po' from the Translation Project, or from the package (in most cases, `$package/po/$lang.po'), or creates a fresh one if she's the first translator (see *Note Creating::). She then uses the following commands to mark the not urgent messages as "obsolete". (This doesn't mean that these messages - translated and untranslated ones - will go away. It simply means that Emacs PO mode will ignore them in the following editing session.) $ msggrep --domain=$domain missing.po | grep -v '^domain' \ > $domain-missing.po $ msgattrib --set-obsolete --ignore-file $domain-missing.po $domain.$lang.po \ > $domain.$lang-urgent.po The she translates `$domain.$lang-urgent.po' by use of Emacs PO mode. (FIXME: I don't know whether `KBabel' and `gtranslator' also preserve obsolete messages, as they should.) Finally she restores the not urgent messages (with their earlier translations, for those which were already translated) through this command: $ msgmerge --no-fuzzy-matching $domain.$lang-urgent.po $package/po/$domain.pot \ > $domain.$lang.po Then she can submit `$domain.$lang.po' and proceed to the next domain.  File: gettext.info, Node: Maintainers, Next: Programming Languages, Prev: Translators, Up: Top The Maintainer's View ********************* The maintainer of a package has many responsibilities. One of them is ensuring that the package will install easily on many platforms, and that the magic we described earlier (*note Users::) will work for installers and end users. Of course, there are many possible ways by which GNU `gettext' might be integrated in a distribution, and this chapter does not cover them in all generality. Instead, it details one possible approach which is especially adequate for many free software distributions following GNU standards, or even better, Gnits standards, because GNU `gettext' is purposely for helping the internationalization of the whole GNU project, and as many other good free packages as possible. So, the maintainer's view presented here presumes that the package already has a `configure.in' file and uses GNU Autoconf. Nevertheless, GNU `gettext' may surely be useful for free packages not following GNU standards and conventions, but the maintainers of such packages might have to show imagination and initiative in organizing their distributions so `gettext' work for them in all situations. There are surely many, out there. Even if `gettext' methods are now stabilizing, slight adjustments might be needed between successive `gettext' versions, so you should ideally revise this chapter in subsequent releases, looking for changes. * Menu: * 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.in' * CVS Issues:: Integrating with CVS  File: gettext.info, Node: Flat and Non-Flat, Next: Prerequisites, Prev: Maintainers, Up: Maintainers Flat or Non-Flat Directory Structures ===================================== Some free software packages are distributed as `tar' files which unpack in a single directory, these are said to be "flat" distributions. Other free software packages have a one level hierarchy of subdirectories, using for example a subdirectory named `doc/' for the Texinfo manual and man pages, another called `lib/' for holding functions meant to replace or complement C libraries, and a subdirectory `src/' for holding the proper sources for the package. These other distributions are said to be "non-flat". We cannot say much about flat distributions. A flat directory structure has the disadvantage of increasing the difficulty of updating to a new version of GNU `gettext'. Also, if you have many PO files, this could somewhat pollute your single directory. Also, GNU `gettext''s libintl sources consist of C sources, shell scripts, `sed' scripts and complicated Makefile rules, which don't fit well into an existing flat structure. For these reasons, we recommend to use non-flat approach in this case as well. Maybe because GNU `gettext' itself has a non-flat structure, we have more experience with this approach, and this is what will be described in the remaining of this chapter. Some maintainers might use this as an opportunity to unflatten their package structure.  File: gettext.info, Node: Prerequisites, Next: gettextize Invocation, Prev: Flat and Non-Flat, Up: Maintainers Prerequisite Works ================== There are some works which are required for using GNU `gettext' in one of your package. These works have some kind of generality that escape the point by point descriptions used in the remainder of this chapter. So, we describe them here. * Before attempting to use `gettextize' you should install some other packages first. Ensure that recent versions of GNU `m4', GNU Autoconf and GNU `gettext' are already installed at your site, and if not, proceed to do this first. If you get to install these things, beware that GNU `m4' must be fully installed before GNU Autoconf is even _configured_. To further ease the task of a package maintainer the `automake' package was designed and implemented. GNU `gettext' now uses this tool and the `Makefile's in the `intl/' and `po/' therefore know about all the goals necessary for using `automake' and `libintl' in one project. Those four packages are only needed by you, as a maintainer; the installers of your own package and end users do not really need any of GNU `m4', GNU Autoconf, GNU `gettext', or GNU `automake' for successfully installing and running your package, with messages properly translated. But this is not completely true if you provide internationalized shell scripts within your own package: GNU `gettext' shall then be installed at the user site if the end users want to see the translation of shell script messages. * Your package should use Autoconf and have a `configure.in' or `configure.ac' file. If it does not, you have to learn how. The Autoconf documentation is quite well written, it is a good idea that you print it and get familiar with it. * Your C sources should have already been modified according to instructions given earlier in this manual. *Note Sources::. * Your `po/' directory should receive all PO files submitted to you by the translator teams, each having `LL.po' as a name. This is not usually easy to get translation work done before your package gets internationalized and available! Since the cycle has to start somewhere, the easiest for the maintainer is to start with absolutely no PO files, and wait until various translator teams get interested in your package, and submit PO files. It is worth adding here a few words about how the maintainer should ideally behave with PO files submissions. As a maintainer, your role is to authenticate the origin of the submission as being the representative of the appropriate translating teams of the Translation Project (forward the submission to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' in case of doubt), to ensure that the PO file format is not severely broken and does not prevent successful installation, and for the rest, to merely put these PO files in `po/' for distribution. As a maintainer, you do not have to take on your shoulders the responsibility of checking if the translations are adequate or complete, and should avoid diving into linguistic matters. Translation teams drive themselves and are fully responsible of their linguistic choices for the Translation Project. Keep in mind that translator teams are _not_ driven by maintainers. You can help by carefully redirecting all communications and reports from users about linguistic matters to the appropriate translation team, or explain users how to reach or join their team. The simplest might be to send them the `ABOUT-NLS' file. Maintainers should _never ever_ apply PO file bug reports themselves, short-cutting translation teams. If some translator has difficulty to get some of her points through her team, it should not be an option for her to directly negotiate translations with maintainers. Teams ought to settle their problems themselves, if any. If you, as a maintainer, ever think there is a real problem with a team, please never try to _solve_ a team's problem on your own.  File: gettext.info, Node: gettextize Invocation, Next: Adjusting Files, Prev: Prerequisites, Up: Maintainers Invoking the `gettextize' Program ================================= The `gettextize' program is an interactive tool that helps the maintainer of a package internationalized through GNU `gettext'. It is used for two purposes: * As a wizard, when a package is modified to use GNU `gettext' for the first time. * As a migration tool, for upgrading the GNU `gettext' support in a package from a previous to a newer version of GNU `gettext'. This program performs the following tasks: * It copies into the package some files that are consistently and identically needed in every package internationalized through GNU `gettext'. * It performs as many of the tasks mentioned in the next section *Note Adjusting Files:: as can be performed automatically. * It removes obsolete files and idioms used for previous GNU `gettext' versions to the form recommended for the current GNU `gettext' version. * It prints a summary of the tasks that ought to be done manually and could not be done automatically by `gettextize'. It can be invoked as follows: gettextize [ OPTION... ] [ DIRECTORY ] and accepts the following options: `-c' `--copy' Copy the needed files instead of making symbolic links. Using links would allow the package to always use the latest `gettext' code available on the system, but it might disturb some mechanism the maintainer is used to apply to the sources. Because running `gettextize' is easy there shouldn't be problems with using copies. `-f' `--force' Force replacement of files which already exist. `--intl' Install the libintl sources in a subdirectory named `intl/'. This libintl will be used to provide internationalization on systems that don't have GNU libintl installed. If this option is omitted, the call to `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' in `configure.in' should read: `AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])', and internationalization will not be enabled on systems lacking GNU gettext. `--no-changelog' Don't update or create ChangeLog files. By default, `gettextize' logs all changes (file additions, modifications and removals) in a file called `ChangeLog' in each affected directory. `-n' `--dry-run' Print modifications but don't perform them. All actions that `gettextize' would normally execute are inhibited and instead only listed on standard output. `--help' Display this help and exit. `--version' Output version information and exit. If DIRECTORY is given, this is the top level directory of a package to prepare for using GNU `gettext'. If not given, it is assumed that the current directory is the top level directory of such a package. The program `gettextize' provides the following files. However, no existing file will be replaced unless the option `--force' (`-f') is specified. 1. The `ABOUT-NLS' file is copied in the main directory of your package, the one being at the top level. This file gives the main indications about how to install and use the Native Language Support features of your program. You might elect to use a more recent copy of this `ABOUT-NLS' file than the one provided through `gettextize', if you have one handy. You may also fetch a more recent copy of file `ABOUT-NLS' from Translation Project sites, and from most GNU archive sites. 2. A `po/' directory is created for eventually holding all translation files, but initially only containing the file `po/Makefile.in.in' from the GNU `gettext' distribution (beware the double `.in' in the file name) and a few auxiliary files. If the `po/' directory already exists, it will be preserved along with the files it contains, and only `Makefile.in.in' and the auxiliary files will be overwritten. 3. Only if `--intl' has been specified: A `intl/' directory is created and filled with most of the files originally in the `intl/' directory of the GNU `gettext' distribution. Also, if option `--force' (`-f') is given, the `intl/' directory is emptied first. 4. The files `config.rpath' and `mkinstalldirs' are copied into the directory containing configuration support files. It is needed by the `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' autoconf macro. 5. Only if the project is using GNU `automake': A set of `autoconf' macro files is copied into the package's `autoconf' macro repository, usually in a directory called `m4/'. If your site support symbolic links, `gettextize' will not actually copy the files into your package, but establish symbolic links instead. This avoids duplicating the disk space needed in all packages. Merely using the `-h' option while creating the `tar' archive of your distribution will resolve each link by an actual copy in the distribution archive. So, to insist, you really should use `-h' option with `tar' within your `dist' goal of your main `Makefile.in'. Furthermore, `gettextize' will update all `Makefile.am' files in each affected directory, as well as the top level `configure.in' or `configure.ac' file. It is interesting to understand that most new files for supporting GNU `gettext' facilities in one package go in `intl/', `po/' and `m4/' subdirectories. One distinction between `intl/' and the two other directories is that `intl/' is meant to be completely identical in all packages using GNU `gettext', while the other directories will mostly contain package dependent files. The `gettextize' program makes backup files for all files it replaces or changes, and also write ChangeLog entries about these changes. This way, the careful maintainer can check after running `gettextize' whether its changes are acceptable to him, and possibly adjust them. An exception to this rule is the `intl/' directory, which is added or replaced or removed as a whole. It is important to understand that `gettextize' can not do the entire job of adapting a package for using GNU `gettext'. The amount of remaining work depends on whether the package uses GNU `automake' or not. But in any case, the maintainer should still read the section *Note Adjusting Files:: after invoking `gettextize'. It is also important to understand that `gettextize' is not part of the GNU build system, in the sense that it should not be invoked automatically, and not be invoked by someone who doesn't assume the responsibilities of a package maintainer. For the latter purpose, a separate tool is provided, see *Note autopoint Invocation::.  File: gettext.info, Node: Adjusting Files, Next: autoconf macros, Prev: gettextize Invocation, Up: Maintainers Files You Must Create or Alter ============================== Besides files which are automatically added through `gettextize', there are many files needing revision for properly interacting with GNU `gettext'. If you are closely following GNU standards for Makefile engineering and auto-configuration, the adaptations should be easier to achieve. Here is a point by point description of the changes needed in each. So, here comes a list of files, each one followed by a description of all alterations it needs. Many examples are taken out from the GNU `gettext' 0.12.1 distribution itself, or from the GNU `hello' distribution (`http://www.franken.de/users/gnu/ke/hello' or `http://www.gnu.franken.de/ke/hello/') You may indeed refer to the source code of the GNU `gettext' and GNU `hello' packages, as they are intended to be good examples for using GNU gettext functionality. * Menu: * po/POTFILES.in:: `POTFILES.in' in `po/' * po/LINGUAS:: `LINGUAS' in `po/' * po/Makevars:: `Makefile' pieces in `po/' * configure.in:: `configure.in' at top level * config.guess:: `config.guess', `config.sub' at top level * mkinstalldirs:: `mkinstalldirs' at top level * aclocal:: `aclocal.m4' at top level * acconfig:: `acconfig.h' 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/'  File: gettext.info, Node: po/POTFILES.in, Next: po/LINGUAS, Prev: Adjusting Files, Up: Adjusting Files `POTFILES.in' in `po/' ---------------------- The `po/' directory should receive a file named `POTFILES.in'. This file tells which files, among all program sources, have marked strings needing translation. Here is an example of such a file: # List of source files containing translatable strings. # Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc. # Common library files lib/error.c lib/getopt.c lib/xmalloc.c # Package source files src/gettext.c src/msgfmt.c src/xgettext.c Hash-marked comments and white lines are ignored. All other lines list those source files containing strings marked for translation (*note Mark Keywords::), in a notation relative to the top level of your whole distribution, rather than the location of the `POTFILES.in' file itself. When a C file is automatically generated by a tool, like `flex' or `bison', that doesn't introduce translatable strings by itself, it is recommended to list in `po/POTFILES.in' the real source file (ending in `.l' in the case of `flex', or in `.y' in the case of `bison'), not the generated C file.  File: gettext.info, Node: po/LINGUAS, Next: po/Makevars, Prev: po/POTFILES.in, Up: Adjusting Files `LINGUAS' in `po/' ------------------ The `po/' directory should also receive a file named `LINGUAS'. This file contains the list of available translations. It is a whitespace separated list. Hash-marked comments and white lines are ignored. Here is an example file: # Set of available languages. de fr This example means that German and French PO files are available, so that these languages are currently supported by your package. If you want to further restrict, at installation time, the set of installed languages, this should not be done by modifying the `LINGUAS' file, but rather by using the `LINGUAS' environment variable (*note Installers::). It is recommended that you add the "languages" `en@quot' and `en@boldquot' to the `LINGUAS' file. `en@quot' is a variant of English message catalogs (`en') which uses real quotation marks instead of the ugly looking asymmetric ASCII substitutes ``' and `''. `en@boldquot' is a variant of `en@quot' that additionally outputs quoted pieces of text in a bold font, when used in a terminal emulator which supports the VT100 escape sequences (such as `xterm' or the Linux console, but not Emacs in `M-x shell' mode). These extra message catalogs `en@quot' and `en@boldquot' are constructed automatically, not by translators; to support them, you need the files `Rules-quot', `quot.sed', `boldquot.sed', `en@quot.header', `en@boldquot.header', `insert-header.sin' in the `po/' directory. You can copy them from GNU gettext's `po/' directory; they are also installed by running `gettextize'.  File: gettext.info, Node: po/Makevars, Next: configure.in, Prev: po/LINGUAS, Up: Adjusting Files `Makefile' pieces in `po/' -------------------------- The `po/' directory also has a file named `Makevars'. It can be left unmodified if your package has a single message domain and, accordingly, a single `po/' directory. Only packages which have multiple `po/' directories at different locations need to adjust the three variables defined in `Makevars'. `po/Makevars' gets inserted into the `po/Makefile' when the latter is created. At the same time, all files called `Rules-*' in the `po/' directory get appended to the `po/Makefile'. They present an opportunity to add rules for special PO files to the Makefile, without needing to mess with `po/Makefile.in.in'. GNU gettext comes with a `Rules-quot' file, containing rules for building catalogs `en@quot.po' and `en@boldquot.po'. The effect of `en@quot.po' is that people who set their `LANGUAGE' environment variable to `en@quot' will get messages with proper looking symmetric Unicode quotation marks instead of abusing the ASCII grave accent and the ASCII apostrophe for indicating quotations. To enable this catalog, simply add `en@quot' to the `po/LINGUAS' file. The effect of `en@boldquot.po' is that people who set `LANGUAGE' to `en@boldquot' will get not only proper quotation marks, but also the quoted text will be shown in a bold font on terminals and consoles. This catalog is useful only for command-line programs, not GUI programs. To enable it, similarly add `en@boldquot' to the `po/LINGUAS' file.  File: gettext.info, Node: configure.in, Next: config.guess, Prev: po/Makevars, Up: Adjusting Files `configure.in' at top level --------------------------- `configure.in' or `configure.ac' - this is the source from which `autoconf' generates the `configure' script. 1. Declare the package and version. This is done by a set of lines like these: PACKAGE=gettext VERSION=0.12.1 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(PACKAGE, "$PACKAGE") AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(VERSION, "$VERSION") AC_SUBST(PACKAGE) AC_SUBST(VERSION) or, if you are using GNU `automake', by a line like this: AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(gettext, 0.12.1) Of course, you replace `gettext' with the name of your package, and `0.12.1' by its version numbers, exactly as they should appear in the packaged `tar' file name of your distribution (`gettext-0.12.1.tar.gz', here). 2. Check for internationalization support. Here is the main `m4' macro for triggering internationalization support. Just add this line to `configure.in': AM_GNU_GETTEXT This call is purposely simple, even if it generates a lot of configure time checking and actions. If you have suppressed the `intl/' subdirectory by calling `gettextize' without `--intl' option, this call should read AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]) 3. Have output files created. The `AC_OUTPUT' directive, at the end of your `configure.in' file, needs to be modified in two ways: AC_OUTPUT([EXISTING CONFIGURATION FILES intl/Makefile po/Makefile.in], [EXISTING ADDITIONAL ACTIONS]) The modification to the first argument to `AC_OUTPUT' asks for substitution in the `intl/' and `po/' directories. Note the `.in' suffix used for `po/' only. This is because the distributed file is really `po/Makefile.in.in'. If you have suppressed the `intl/' subdirectory by calling `gettextize' without `--intl' option, then you don't need to add `intl/Makefile' to the `AC_OUTPUT' line.  File: gettext.info, Node: config.guess, Next: mkinstalldirs, Prev: configure.in, Up: Adjusting Files `config.guess', `config.sub' at top level ----------------------------------------- If you haven't suppressed the `intl/' subdirectory, you need to add the GNU `config.guess' and `config.sub' files to your distribution. They are needed because the `intl/' directory has platform dependent support for determining the locale's character encoding and therefore needs to identify the platform. You can obtain the newest version of `config.guess' and `config.sub' from `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/config/'. Less recent versions are also contained in the GNU `automake' and GNU `libtool' packages. Normally, `config.guess' and `config.sub' are put at the top level of a distribution. But it is also possible to put them in a subdirectory, altogether with other configuration support files like `install-sh', `ltconfig', `ltmain.sh', `mkinstalldirs' or `missing'. All you need to do, other than moving the files, is to add the following line to your `configure.in'. AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([SUBDIR])  File: gettext.info, Node: mkinstalldirs, Next: aclocal, Prev: config.guess, Up: Adjusting Files `mkinstalldirs' at top level ---------------------------- If `gettextize' has not already done it, you need to add the GNU `mkinstalldirs' script to your distribution. It is needed because `mkdir -p' is not portable enough. You find this script in the GNU `automake' distribution. Normally, `mkinstalldirs' is put at the top level of a distribution. But it is also possible to put it in a subdirectory, altogether with other configuration support files like `install-sh', `ltconfig', `ltmain.sh' or `missing'. All you need to do, other than moving the files, is to add the following line to your `configure.in'. AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([SUBDIR])  File: gettext.info, Node: aclocal, Next: acconfig, Prev: mkinstalldirs, Up: Adjusting Files `aclocal.m4' at top level ------------------------- If you do not have an `aclocal.m4' file in your distribution, the simplest is to concatenate the files `codeset.m4', `gettext.m4', `glibc21.m4', `iconv.m4', `intdiv0.m4', `inttypes.m4', `inttypes_h.m4', `inttypes-pri.m4', `isc-posix.m4', `lcmessage.m4', `lib-ld.m4', `lib-link.m4', `lib-prefix.m4', `progtest.m4', `stdint_h.m4', `uintmax_t.m4', `ulonglong.m4' from GNU `gettext''s `m4/' directory into a single file. If you have suppressed the `intl/' directory, only `gettext.m4', `iconv.m4', `lib-ld.m4', `lib-link.m4', `lib-prefix.m4', `progtest.m4' need to be concatenated. If you already have an `aclocal.m4' file, then you will have to merge the said macro files into your `aclocal.m4'. Note that if you are upgrading from a previous release of GNU `gettext', you should most probably _replace_ the macros (`AM_GNU_GETTEXT', etc.), as they usually change a little from one release of GNU `gettext' to the next. Their contents may vary as we get more experience with strange systems out there. If you are using GNU `automake' 1.5 or newer, it is enough to put these macro files into a subdirectory named `m4/' and add the line ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 to your top level `Makefile.am'. These macros check for the internationalization support functions and related informations. Hopefully, once stabilized, these macros might be integrated in the standard Autoconf set, because this piece of `m4' code will be the same for all projects using GNU `gettext'.  File: gettext.info, Node: acconfig, Next: config.h.in, Prev: aclocal, Up: Adjusting Files `acconfig.h' at top level ------------------------- Earlier GNU `gettext' releases required to put definitions for `ENABLE_NLS', `HAVE_GETTEXT' and `HAVE_LC_MESSAGES', `HAVE_STPCPY', `PACKAGE' and `VERSION' into an `acconfig.h' file. This is not needed any more; you can remove them from your `acconfig.h' file unless your package uses them independently from the `intl/' directory.  File: gettext.info, Node: config.h.in, Next: Makefile, Prev: acconfig, Up: Adjusting Files `config.h.in' at top level -------------------------- The include file template that holds the C macros to be defined by `configure' is usually called `config.h.in' and may be maintained either manually or automatically. If it is maintained automatically, by use of the `autoheader' program, you need to do nothing about it. This is the case in particular if you are using GNU `automake'. If it is maintained manually, and if `gettextize' has created an `intl/' directory, you should switch to using `autoheader'. The list of C macros to be added for the sake of the `intl/' directory is just too long to be maintained manually; it also changes between different versions of GNU `gettext'. If it is maintained manually, and if on the other hand you have suppressed the `intl/' directory by calling `gettextize' without `--intl' option, then you can get away by adding the following lines to `config.h.in': /* Define to 1 if translation of program messages to the user's native language is requested. */ #undef ENABLE_NLS  File: gettext.info, Node: Makefile, Next: src/Makefile, Prev: config.h.in, Up: Adjusting Files `Makefile.in' at top level -------------------------- Here are a few modifications you need to make to your main, top-level `Makefile.in' file. 1. Add the following lines near the beginning of your `Makefile.in', so the `dist:' goal will work properly (as explained further down): PACKAGE = @PACKAGE@ VERSION = @VERSION@ 2. Add file `ABOUT-NLS' to the `DISTFILES' definition, so the file gets distributed. 3. Wherever you process subdirectories in your `Makefile.in', be sure you also process the subdirectories `intl' and `po'. Special rules in the `Makefiles' take care for the case where no internationalization is wanted. If you are using Makefiles, either generated by automake, or hand-written so they carefully follow the GNU coding standards, the effected goals for which the new subdirectories must be handled include `installdirs', `install', `uninstall', `clean', `distclean'. Here is an example of a canonical order of processing. In this example, we also define `SUBDIRS' in `Makefile.in' for it to be further used in the `dist:' goal. SUBDIRS = doc intl lib src po Note that you must arrange for `make' to descend into the `intl' directory before descending into other directories containing code which make use of the `libintl.h' header file. For this reason, here we mention `intl' before `lib' and `src'. 4. A delicate point is the `dist:' goal, as both `intl/Makefile' and `po/Makefile' will later assume that the proper directory has been set up from the main `Makefile'. Here is an example at what the `dist:' goal might look like: distdir = $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION) dist: Makefile rm -fr $(distdir) mkdir $(distdir) chmod 777 $(distdir) for file in $(DISTFILES); do \ ln $$file $(distdir) 2>/dev/null || cp -p $$file $(distdir); \ done for subdir in $(SUBDIRS); do \ mkdir $(distdir)/$$subdir || exit 1; \ chmod 777 $(distdir)/$$subdir; \ (cd $$subdir && $(MAKE) $@) || exit 1; \ done tar chozf $(distdir).tar.gz $(distdir) rm -fr $(distdir) Note that if you are using GNU `automake', `Makefile.in' is automatically generated from `Makefile.am', and all needed changes to `Makefile.am' are already made by running `gettextize'.  File: gettext.info, Node: src/Makefile, Next: lib/gettext.h, Prev: Makefile, Up: Adjusting Files `Makefile.in' in `src/' ----------------------- Some of the modifications made in the main `Makefile.in' will also be needed in the `Makefile.in' from your package sources, which we assume here to be in the `src/' subdirectory. Here are all the modifications needed in `src/Makefile.in': 1. In view of the `dist:' goal, you should have these lines near the beginning of `src/Makefile.in': PACKAGE = @PACKAGE@ VERSION = @VERSION@ 2. If not done already, you should guarantee that `top_srcdir' gets defined. This will serve for `cpp' include files. Just add the line: top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@ 3. You might also want to define `subdir' as `src', later allowing for almost uniform `dist:' goals in all your `Makefile.in'. At list, the `dist:' goal below assume that you used: subdir = src 4. The `main' function of your program will normally call `bindtextdomain' (see *note Triggering::), like this: bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR); textdomain (PACKAGE); To make LOCALEDIR known to the program, add the following lines to Makefile.in: datadir = @datadir@ localedir = $(datadir)/locale DEFS = -DLOCALEDIR=\"$(localedir)\" @DEFS@ Note that `@datadir@' defaults to `$(prefix)/share', thus `$(localedir)' defaults to `$(prefix)/share/locale'. 5. You should ensure that the final linking will use `@LIBINTL@' or `@LTLIBINTL@' as a library. `@LIBINTL@' is for use without `libtool', `@LTLIBINTL@' is for use with `libtool'. An easy way to achieve this is to manage that it gets into `LIBS', like this: LIBS = @LIBINTL@ @LIBS@ In most packages internationalized with GNU `gettext', one will find a directory `lib/' in which a library containing some helper functions will be build. (You need at least the few functions which the GNU `gettext' Library itself needs.) However some of the functions in the `lib/' also give messages to the user which of course should be translated, too. Taking care of this, the support library (say `libsupport.a') should be placed before `@LIBINTL@' and `@LIBS@' in the above example. So one has to write this: LIBS = ../lib/libsupport.a @LIBINTL@ @LIBS@ 6. You should also ensure that directory `intl/' will be searched for C preprocessor include files in all circumstances. So, you have to manage so both `-I../intl' and `-I$(top_srcdir)/intl' will be given to the C compiler. 7. Your `dist:' goal has to conform with others. Here is a reasonable definition for it: distdir = ../$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir) dist: Makefile $(DISTFILES) for file in $(DISTFILES); do \ ln $$file $(distdir) 2>/dev/null || cp -p $$file $(distdir); \ done  File: gettext.info, Node: lib/gettext.h, Prev: src/Makefile, Up: Adjusting Files `gettext.h' in `lib/' --------------------- Internationalization of packages, as provided by GNU `gettext', is optional. It can be turned off in two situations: * When the installer has specified `./configure --disable-nls'. This can be useful when small binaries are more important than features, for example when building utilities for boot diskettes. It can also be useful in order to get some specific C compiler warnings about code quality with some older versions of GCC (older than 3.0). * When the package does not include the `intl/' subdirectory, and the libintl.h header (with its associated libintl library, if any) is not already installed on the system, it is preferrable that the package builds without internationalization support, rather than to give a compilation error. A C preprocessor macro can be used to detect these two cases. Usually, when `libintl.h' was found and not explicitly disabled, the `ENABLE_NLS' macro will be defined to 1 in the autoconf generated configuration file (usually called `config.h'). In the two negative situations, however, this macro will not be defined, thus it will evaluate to 0 in C preprocessor expressions. `gettext.h' is a convenience header file for conditional use of `', depending on the `ENABLE_NLS' macro. If `ENABLE_NLS' is set, it includes `'; otherwise it defines no-op substitutes for the libintl.h functions. We recommend the use of `"gettext.h"' over direct use of `', so that portability to older systems is guaranteed and installers can turn off internationalization if they want to. In the C code, you will then write #include "gettext.h" instead of #include The location of `gettext.h' is usually in a directory containing auxiliary include files. In many GNU packages, there is a directory `lib/' containing helper functions; `gettext.h' fits there. In other packages, it can go into the `src' directory. Do not install the `gettext.h' file in public locations. Every package that needs it should contain a copy of it on its own.  File: gettext.info, Node: autoconf macros, Next: CVS Issues, Prev: Adjusting Files, Up: Maintainers Autoconf macros for use in `configure.in' ========================================= GNU `gettext' installs macros for use in a package's `configure.in' or `configure.ac'. *Note Introduction: (autoconf)Top. The primary macro is, of course, `AM_GNU_GETTEXT'. * Menu: * AM_GNU_GETTEXT:: AM_GNU_GETTEXT in `gettext.m4' * AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION:: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION in `gettext.m4' * AM_PO_SUBDIRS:: AM_PO_SUBDIRS in `po.m4' * AM_ICONV:: AM_ICONV in `iconv.m4'  File: gettext.info, Node: AM_GNU_GETTEXT, Next: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION, Prev: autoconf macros, Up: autoconf macros AM_GNU_GETTEXT in `gettext.m4' ------------------------------ The `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' macro tests for the presence of the GNU gettext function family in either the C library or a separate `libintl' library (shared or static libraries are both supported) or in the package's `intl/' directory. It also invokes `AM_PO_SUBDIRS', thus preparing the `po/' directories of the package for building. `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' accepts up to three optional arguments. The general syntax is AM_GNU_GETTEXT([INTLSYMBOL], [NEEDSYMBOL], [INTLDIR]) INTLSYMBOL can be `external' or `no-libtool'. The default (if it is not specified or empty) is `no-libtool'. INTLSYMBOL should be `external' for packages with no `intl/' directory, and `no-libtool' for packages with an `intl/' directory. In the latter case, a static library `$(top_builddir)/intl/libintl.a' will be created. If NEEDSYMBOL is specified and is `need-ngettext', then GNU gettext implementations (in libc or libintl) without the `ngettext()' function will be ignored. If NEEDSYMBOL is specified and is `need-formatstring-macros', then GNU gettext implementations that don't support the ISO C 99 `' formatstring macros will be ignored. Only one NEEDSYMBOL can be specified. To specify more than one requirement, just specify the strongest one among them. The hierarchy among the various alternatives is as follows: `need-formatstring-macros' implies `need-ngettext'. INTLDIR is used to find the intl libraries. If empty, the value `$(top_builddir)/intl/' is used. The `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' macro determines whether GNU gettext is available and should be used. If so, it sets the `USE_NLS' variable to `yes'; it defines `ENABLE_NLS' to 1 in the autoconf generated configuration file (usually called `config.h'); it sets the variables `LIBINTL' and `LTLIBINTL' to the linker options for use in a Makefile (`LIBINTL' for use without libtool, `LTLIBINTL' for use with libtool); it adds an `-I' option to `CPPFLAGS' if necessary. In the negative case, it sets `USE_NLS' to `no'; it sets `LIBINTL' and `LTLIBINTL' to empty and doesn't change `CPPFLAGS'. The complexities that `AM_GNU_GETTEXT' deals with are the following: * Some operating systems have `gettext' in the C library, for example glibc. Some have it in a separate library `libintl'. GNU `libintl' might have been installed as part of the GNU `gettext' package. * GNU `libintl', if installed, is not necessarily already in the search path (`CPPFLAGS' for the include file search path, `LDFLAGS' for the library search path). * Except for glibc, the operating system's native `gettext' cannot exploit the GNU mo files, doesn't have the necessary locale dependency features, and cannot convert messages from the catalog's text encoding to the user's locale encoding. * GNU `libintl', if installed, is not necessarily already in the run time library search path. To avoid the need for setting an environment variable like `LD_LIBRARY_PATH', the macro adds the appropriate run time search path options to the `LIBINTL' and `LTLIBINTL' variables. This works on most systems, but not on some operating systems with limited shared library support, like SCO. * GNU `libintl' relies on POSIX/XSI `iconv'. The macro checks for linker options needed to use iconv and appends them to the `LIBINTL' and `LTLIBINTL' variables.  File: gettext.info, Node: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION, Next: AM_PO_SUBDIRS, Prev: AM_GNU_GETTEXT, Up: autoconf macros AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION in `gettext.m4' -------------------------------------- The `AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION' macro declares the version number of the GNU gettext infrastructure that is used by the package. The use of this macro is optional; only the `autopoint' program makes use of it (*note CVS Issues::).  File: gettext.info, Node: AM_PO_SUBDIRS, Next: AM_ICONV, Prev: AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION, Up: autoconf macros AM_PO_SUBDIRS in `po.m4' ------------------------ The `AM_PO_SUBDIRS' macro prepares the `po/' directories of the package for building. This macro should be used in internationalized programs written in other programming languages than C, C++, Objective C, for example `sh', `Python', `Lisp'. See *Note Programming Languages:: for a list of programming languages that support localization through PO files. The `AM_PO_SUBDIRS' macro determines whether internationalization should be used. If so, it sets the `USE_NLS' variable to `yes', otherwise to `no'. It also determines the right values for Makefile variables in each `po/' directory.  File: gettext.info, Node: AM_ICONV, Prev: AM_PO_SUBDIRS, Up: autoconf macros AM_ICONV in `iconv.m4' ---------------------- The `AM_ICONV' macro tests for the presence of the POSIX/XSI `iconv' function family in either the C library or a separate `libiconv' library. If found, it sets the `am_cv_func_iconv' variable to `yes'; it defines `HAVE_ICONV' to 1 in the autoconf generated configuration file (usually called `config.h'); it defines `ICONV_CONST' to `const' or to empty, depending on whether the second argument of `iconv()' is of type `const char **' or `char **'; it sets the variables `LIBICONV' and `LTLIBICONV' to the linker options for use in a Makefile (`LIBICONV' for use without libtool, `LTLIBICONV' for use with libtool); it adds an `-I' option to `CPPFLAGS' if necessary. If not found, it sets `LIBICONV' and `LTLIBICONV' to empty and doesn't change `CPPFLAGS'. The complexities that `AM_ICONV' deals with are the following: * Some operating systems have `iconv' in the C library, for example glibc. Some have it in a separate library `libiconv', for example OSF/1 or FreeBSD. Regardless of the operating system, GNU `libiconv' might have been installed. In that case, it should be used instead of the operating system's native `iconv'. * GNU `libiconv', if installed, is not necessarily already in the search path (`CPPFLAGS' for the include file search path, `LDFLAGS' for the library search path). * GNU `libiconv' is binary incompatible with some operating system's native `iconv', for example on FreeBSD. Use of an `iconv.h' and `libiconv.so' that don't fit together would produce program crashes. * GNU `libiconv', if installed, is not necessarily already in the run time library search path. To avoid the need for setting an environment variable like `LD_LIBRARY_PATH', the macro adds the appropriate run time search path options to the `LIBICONV' variable. This works on most systems, but not on some operating systems with limited shared library support, like SCO. `iconv.m4' is distributed with the GNU gettext package because `gettext.m4' relies on it.