GNU gettext utilities

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GNU gettext utilities

This manual documents the GNU gettext tools and the GNU libintl library, version 0.19.8.1.

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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/ 

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_GNU_GETTEXT_INTL_SUBDIR:  AM_GNU_GETTEXT_INTL_SUBDIR in intldir.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
• List of Data Formats:  Internationalizable Data 

The Translator’s View
• c-format:  C Format Strings
• objc-format:  Objective C Format Strings
• sh-format:  Shell Format Strings
• python-format:  Python Format Strings
• lisp-format:  Lisp Format Strings
• elisp-format:  Emacs Lisp Format Strings
• librep-format:  librep Format Strings
• scheme-format:  Scheme Format Strings
• smalltalk-format:  Smalltalk Format Strings
• java-format:  Java Format Strings
• csharp-format:  C# Format Strings
• awk-format:  awk Format Strings
• object-pascal-format:  Object Pascal Format Strings
• ycp-format:  YCP 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
• qt-format:  Qt Format Strings
• qt-plural-format:  Qt Plural Format Strings
• kde-format:  KDE Format Strings
• boost-format:  Boost Format Strings
• lua-format:  Lua Format Strings
• javascript-format:  JavaScript Format Strings 

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

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 

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 

Internationalizable Data
• 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 

Concluding Remarks
• History:  History of GNU gettext
• 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

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