GNU gettext tools, version 0.14.4

Native Language Support Library and Tools

Edition 0.14.4, 8 March 2005

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 The Purpose of GNU gettext
  • 1.2 I18n, L10n, and Such
  • 1.3 Aspects in Native Language Support
  • 1.4 Files Conveying Translations
  • 1.5 Overview of GNU gettext
• 2 PO Files and PO Mode Basics
  • 2.1 Completing GNU gettext Installation
  • 2.2 The Format of PO Files
  • 2.3 Main PO mode Commands
  • 2.4 Entry Positioning
  • 2.5 Normalizing Strings in Entries
• 3 Preparing Program Sources
  • 3.1 Triggering gettext Operations
  • 3.2 Preparing Translatable Strings
  • 3.3 How Marks Appear in Sources
  • 3.4 Marking Translatable Strings
  • 3.5 Special Comments preceding Keywords
  • 3.6 Special Cases of Translatable Strings
  • 3.7 Marking Proper Names for Translation
  • 3.8 Preparing Library Sources
• 4 Making the PO Template File
  • 4.1 Invoking the xgettext Program
    • 4.1.1 Input file location
    • 4.1.2 Output file location
    • 4.1.3 Choice of input file language
    • 4.1.4 Input file interpretation
    • 4.1.5 Operation mode
    • 4.1.6 Language specific options
    • 4.1.7 Output details
    • 4.1.8 Informative output
• 5 Creating a New PO File
  • 5.1 Invoking the msginit Program
    • 5.1.1 Input file location
    • 5.1.2 Output file location
    • 5.1.3 Input file syntax
    • 5.1.4 Output details
    • 5.1.5 Informative output
  • 5.2 Filling in the Header Entry
• 6 Updating Existing PO Files
  • 6.1 Invoking the msgmerge Program
    • 6.1.1 Input file location
    • 6.1.2 Operation mode
    • 6.1.3 Output file location
    • 6.1.4 Output file location in update mode
    • 6.1.5 Operation modifiers
    • 6.1.6 Input file syntax
    • 6.1.7 Output details
    • 6.1.8 Informative output
  • 6.2 Translated Entries
  • 6.3 Fuzzy Entries
  • 6.4 Untranslated Entries
  • 6.5 Obsolete Entries
  • 6.6 Modifying Translations
  • 6.7 Modifying Comments
  • 6.8 Details of Sub Edition
  • 6.9 C Sources Context
  • 6.10 Consulting Auxiliary PO Files
  • 6.11 Using Translation Compendia
    • 6.11.1 Creating Compendia
      • 6.11.1.1 Concatenate PO Files
      • 6.11.1.2 Extract a Message Subset from a PO File
    • 6.11.2 Using Compendia
      • 6.11.2.1 Initialize a New Translation File
      • 6.11.2.2 Update an Existing Translation File
• 7 Manipulating PO Files
  • 7.1 Invoking the msgcat Program
    • 7.1.1 Input file location
    • 7.1.2 Output file location
    • 7.1.3 Message selection
    • 7.1.4 Input file syntax
    • 7.1.5 Output details
    • 7.1.6 Informative output
  • 7.2 Invoking the msgconv Program
    • 7.2.1 Input file location
    • 7.2.2 Output file location
    • 7.2.3 Conversion target
    • 7.2.4 Input file syntax
    • 7.2.5 Output details
    • 7.2.6 Informative output
  • 7.3 Invoking the msggrep Program
    • 7.3.1 Input file location
    • 7.3.2 Output file location
    • 7.3.3 Message selection
    • 7.3.4 Input file syntax
    • 7.3.5 Output details
    • 7.3.6 Informative output
  • 7.4 Invoking the msgfilter Program
    • 7.4.1 Input file location
    • 7.4.2 Output file location
    • 7.4.3 The filter
    • 7.4.4 Useful filter-options when the filter is `sed´
    • 7.4.5 Input file syntax
    • 7.4.6 Output details
    • 7.4.7 Informative output
  • 7.5 Invoking the msguniq Program
    • 7.5.1 Input file location
    • 7.5.2 Output file location
    • 7.5.3 Message selection
    • 7.5.4 Input file syntax
    • 7.5.5 Output details
    • 7.5.6 Informative output
  • 7.6 Invoking the msgcomm Program
    • 7.6.1 Input file location
    • 7.6.2 Output file location
    • 7.6.3 Message selection
    • 7.6.4 Input file syntax
    • 7.6.5 Output details
    • 7.6.6 Informative output
  • 7.7 Invoking the msgcmp Program
    • 7.7.1 Input file location
    • 7.7.2 Operation modifiers
    • 7.7.3 Input file syntax
    • 7.7.4 Informative output
  • 7.8 Invoking the msgattrib Program
    • 7.8.1 Input file location
    • 7.8.2 Output file location
    • 7.8.3 Message selection
    • 7.8.4 Attribute manipulation
    • 7.8.5 Input file syntax
    • 7.8.6 Output details
    • 7.8.7 Informative output
  • 7.9 Invoking the msgen Program
    • 7.9.1 Input file location
    • 7.9.2 Output file location
    • 7.9.3 Input file syntax
    • 7.9.4 Output details
    • 7.9.5 Informative output
  • 7.10 Invoking the msgexec Program
    • 7.10.1 Input file location
    • 7.10.2 Input file syntax
    • 7.10.3 Informative output
  • 7.11 Writing your own programs that process PO files
• 8 Producing Binary MO Files
  • 8.1 Invoking the msgfmt Program
    • 8.1.1 Input file location
    • 8.1.2 Operation mode
    • 8.1.3 Output file location
    • 8.1.4 Output file location in Java mode
    • 8.1.5 Output file location in C# mode
    • 8.1.6 Output file location in Tcl mode
    • 8.1.7 Input file syntax
    • 8.1.8 Input file interpretation
    • 8.1.9 Output details
    • 8.1.10 Informative output
  • 8.2 Invoking the msgunfmt Program
    • 8.2.1 Operation mode
    • 8.2.2 Input file location
    • 8.2.3 Input file location in Java mode
    • 8.2.4 Input file location in C# mode
    • 8.2.5 Input file location in Tcl mode
    • 8.2.6 Output file location
    • 8.2.7 Output details
    • 8.2.8 Informative output
  • 8.3 The Format of GNU MO Files
• 9 The User's View
  • 9.1 The Current `ABOUT-NLS´ Matrix
  • 9.2 Magic for Installers
  • 9.3 Magic for End Users
• 10 The Programmer's View
  • 10.1 About catgets
    • 10.1.1 The Interface
    • 10.1.2 Problems with the catgets Interface?!
  • 10.2 About gettext
    • 10.2.1 The Interface
    • 10.2.2 Solving Ambiguities
    • 10.2.3 Locating Message Catalog Files
    • 10.2.4 How to specify the output character set gettext uses
    • 10.2.5 Additional functions for plural forms
    • 10.2.6 How to use gettext in GUI programs
    • 10.2.7 Optimization of the *gettext functions
  • 10.3 Comparing the Two Interfaces
  • 10.4 Using libintl.a in own programs
  • 10.5 Being a gettext grok
  • 10.6 Temporary Notes for the Programmers Chapter
    • 10.6.1 Temporary - Two Possible Implementations
    • 10.6.2 Temporary - About catgets
    • 10.6.3 Temporary - Why a single implementation
    • 10.6.4 Temporary - Notes
• 11 The Translator's View
  • 11.1 Introduction 0
  • 11.2 Introduction 1
  • 11.3 Discussions
  • 11.4 Organization
    • 11.4.1 Central Coordination
    • 11.4.2 National Teams
      • 11.4.2.1 Sub-Cultures
      • 11.4.2.2 Organizational Ideas
    • 11.4.3 Mailing Lists
  • 11.5 Information Flow
  • 11.6 Prioritizing messages: How to determine which messages to translate first
• 12 The Maintainer's View
  • 12.1 Flat or Non-Flat Directory Structures
  • 12.2 Prerequisite Works
  • 12.3 Invoking the gettextize Program
  • 12.4 Files You Must Create or Alter
    • 12.4.1 `POTFILES.in´ in `po/´
    • 12.4.2 `LINGUAS´ in `po/´
    • 12.4.3 `Makevars´ in `po/´
    • 12.4.4 `configure.in´ at top level
    • 12.4.5 `config.guess´, `config.sub´ at top level
    • 12.4.6 `mkinstalldirs´ at top level
    • 12.4.7 `aclocal.m4´ at top level
    • 12.4.8 `acconfig.h´ at top level
    • 12.4.9 `config.h.in´ at top level
    • 12.4.10 `Makefile.in´ at top level
    • 12.4.11 `Makefile.in´ in `src/´
    • 12.4.12 `gettext.h´ in `lib/´
  • 12.5 Autoconf macros for use in `configure.in´
    • 12.5.1 AM_GNU_GETTEXT in `gettext.m4´
    • 12.5.2 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION in `gettext.m4´
    • 12.5.3 AM_PO_SUBDIRS in `po.m4´
    • 12.5.4 AM_ICONV in `iconv.m4´
  • 12.6 Integrating with CVS
    • 12.6.1 Avoiding version mismatch in distributed development
    • 12.6.2 Files to put under CVS version control
    • 12.6.3 Invoking the autopoint Program
      • 12.6.3.1 Options
      • 12.6.3.2 Informative output
  • 12.7 Creating a Distribution Tarball
• 13 Other Programming Languages
  • 13.1 The Language Implementor's View
  • 13.2 The Programmer's View
  • 13.3 The Translator's View
    • 13.3.1 C Format Strings
    • 13.3.2 Objective C Format Strings
    • 13.3.3 Shell Format Strings
    • 13.3.4 Python Format Strings
    • 13.3.5 Lisp Format Strings
    • 13.3.6 Emacs Lisp Format Strings
    • 13.3.7 librep Format Strings
    • 13.3.8 Scheme Format Strings
    • 13.3.9 Smalltalk Format Strings
    • 13.3.10 Java Format Strings
    • 13.3.11 C# Format Strings
    • 13.3.12 awk Format Strings
    • 13.3.13 Object Pascal Format Strings
    • 13.3.14 YCP Format Strings
    • 13.3.15 Tcl Format Strings
    • 13.3.16 Perl Format Strings
    • 13.3.17 PHP Format Strings
    • 13.3.18 GCC internal Format Strings
    • 13.3.19 Qt Format Strings
  • 13.4 The Maintainer's View
  • 13.5 Individual Programming Languages
    • 13.5.1 C, C++, Objective C
    • 13.5.2 sh - Shell Script
      • 13.5.2.1 Preparing Shell Scripts for Internationalization
      • 13.5.2.2 Contents of gettext.sh
      • 13.5.2.3 Invoking the gettext program
      • 13.5.2.4 Invoking the ngettext program
      • 13.5.2.5 Invoking the envsubst program
      • 13.5.2.6 Invoking the eval_gettext function
      • 13.5.2.7 Invoking the eval_ngettext function
    • 13.5.3 bash - Bourne-Again Shell Script
    • 13.5.4 Python
    • 13.5.5 GNU clisp - Common Lisp
    • 13.5.6 GNU clisp C sources
    • 13.5.7 Emacs Lisp
    • 13.5.8 librep
    • 13.5.9 GNU guile - Scheme
    • 13.5.10 GNU Smalltalk
    • 13.5.11 Java
    • 13.5.12 C#
    • 13.5.13 GNU awk
    • 13.5.14 Pascal - Free Pascal Compiler
    • 13.5.15 wxWindows library
    • 13.5.16 YCP - YaST2 scripting language
    • 13.5.17 Tcl - Tk's scripting language
    • 13.5.18 Perl
      • 13.5.18.1 General Problems Parsing Perl Code
      • 13.5.18.2 Which keywords will xgettext look for?
      • 13.5.18.3 How to Extract Hash Keys
      • 13.5.18.4 What are Strings And Quote-like Expressions?
      • 13.5.18.5 Invalid Uses Of String Interpolation
      • 13.5.18.6 Valid Uses Of String Interpolation
      • 13.5.18.7 When To Use Parentheses
      • 13.5.18.8 How To Grok with Long Lines
      • 13.5.18.9 Bugs, Pitfalls, And Things That Do Not Work
    • 13.5.19 PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
    • 13.5.20 Pike
    • 13.5.21 GNU Compiler Collection sources
  • 13.6 Internationalizable Data
    • 13.6.1 POT - Portable Object Template
    • 13.6.2 Resource String Table
    • 13.6.3 Glade - GNOME user interface description
• 14 Concluding Remarks
  • 14.1 History of GNU gettext
  • 14.2 Related Readings
• A Language Codes
• B Country Codes
• Program Index
• Option Index
• Variable Index
• PO Mode Index
• Autoconf Macro Index
• General Index

This document was generated on 11 April 2005 using the texi2html translator version 1.52a.