GNU gettext tools, version 0.19.8

Native Language Support Library and Tools

Edition 0.19.8, 30 March 2016

• 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 The User's View
  • 2.1 Operating System Installation
  • 2.2 Setting the Locale Used by GUI Programs
  • 2.3 Setting the Locale through Environment Variables
    • 2.3.1 Locale Names
    • 2.3.2 Locale Environment Variables
    • 2.3.3 Specifying a Priority List of Languages
  • 2.4 Installing Translations for Particular Programs
• 3 The Format of PO Files
• 4 Preparing Program Sources
  • 4.1 Importing the gettext declaration
  • 4.2 Triggering gettext Operations
  • 4.3 Preparing Translatable Strings
  • 4.4 How Marks Appear in Sources
  • 4.5 Marking Translatable Strings
  • 4.6 Special Comments preceding Keywords
  • 4.7 Special Cases of Translatable Strings
  • 4.8 Letting Users Report Translation Bugs
  • 4.9 Marking Proper Names for Translation
  • 4.10 Preparing Library Sources
• 5 Making the PO Template File
  • 5.1 Invoking the xgettext Program
    • 5.1.1 Input file location
    • 5.1.2 Output file location
    • 5.1.3 Choice of input file language
    • 5.1.4 Input file interpretation
    • 5.1.5 Operation mode
    • 5.1.6 Language specific options
    • 5.1.7 Output details
    • 5.1.8 Informative output
• 6 Creating a New PO File
  • 6.1 Invoking the msginit Program
    • 6.1.1 Input file location
    • 6.1.2 Output file location
    • 6.1.3 Input file syntax
    • 6.1.4 Output details
    • 6.1.5 Informative output
  • 6.2 Filling in the Header Entry
• 7 Updating Existing PO Files
  • 7.1 Invoking the msgmerge Program
    • 7.1.1 Input file location
    • 7.1.2 Operation mode
    • 7.1.3 Output file location
    • 7.1.4 Output file location in update mode
    • 7.1.5 Operation modifiers
    • 7.1.6 Input file syntax
    • 7.1.7 Output details
    • 7.1.8 Informative output
• 8 Editing PO Files
  • 8.1 KDE's PO File Editor
  • 8.2 GNOME's PO File Editor
  • 8.3 Emacs's PO File Editor
    • 8.3.1 Completing GNU gettext Installation
    • 8.3.2 Main PO mode Commands
    • 8.3.3 Entry Positioning
    • 8.3.4 Normalizing Strings in Entries
    • 8.3.5 Translated Entries
    • 8.3.6 Fuzzy Entries
    • 8.3.7 Untranslated Entries
    • 8.3.8 Obsolete Entries
    • 8.3.9 Modifying Translations
    • 8.3.10 Modifying Comments
    • 8.3.11 Details of Sub Edition
    • 8.3.12 C Sources Context
    • 8.3.13 Consulting Auxiliary PO Files
  • 8.4 Using Translation Compendia
    • 8.4.1 Creating Compendia
      • 8.4.1.1 Concatenate PO Files
      • 8.4.1.2 Extract a Message Subset from a PO File
    • 8.4.2 Using Compendia
      • 8.4.2.1 Initialize a New Translation File
      • 8.4.2.2 Update an Existing Translation File
• 9 Manipulating PO Files
  • 9.1 Invoking the msgcat Program
    • 9.1.1 Input file location
    • 9.1.2 Output file location
    • 9.1.3 Message selection
    • 9.1.4 Input file syntax
    • 9.1.5 Output details
    • 9.1.6 Informative output
  • 9.2 Invoking the msgconv Program
    • 9.2.1 Input file location
    • 9.2.2 Output file location
    • 9.2.3 Conversion target
    • 9.2.4 Input file syntax
    • 9.2.5 Output details
    • 9.2.6 Informative output
  • 9.3 Invoking the msggrep Program
    • 9.3.1 Input file location
    • 9.3.2 Output file location
    • 9.3.3 Message selection
    • 9.3.4 Input file syntax
    • 9.3.5 Output details
    • 9.3.6 Informative output
    • 9.3.7 Examples
  • 9.4 Invoking the msgfilter Program
    • 9.4.1 Input file location
    • 9.4.2 Output file location
    • 9.4.3 The filter
    • 9.4.4 Useful filter-options when the filter is ‘sed’
    • 9.4.5 Built-in filters
    • 9.4.6 Input file syntax
    • 9.4.7 Output details
    • 9.4.8 Informative output
    • 9.4.9 Examples
  • 9.5 Invoking the msguniq Program
    • 9.5.1 Input file location
    • 9.5.2 Output file location
    • 9.5.3 Message selection
    • 9.5.4 Input file syntax
    • 9.5.5 Output details
    • 9.5.6 Informative output
  • 9.6 Invoking the msgcomm Program
    • 9.6.1 Input file location
    • 9.6.2 Output file location
    • 9.6.3 Message selection
    • 9.6.4 Input file syntax
    • 9.6.5 Output details
    • 9.6.6 Informative output
  • 9.7 Invoking the msgcmp Program
    • 9.7.1 Input file location
    • 9.7.2 Operation modifiers
    • 9.7.3 Input file syntax
    • 9.7.4 Informative output
  • 9.8 Invoking the msgattrib Program
    • 9.8.1 Input file location
    • 9.8.2 Output file location
    • 9.8.3 Message selection
    • 9.8.4 Attribute manipulation
    • 9.8.5 Input file syntax
    • 9.8.6 Output details
    • 9.8.7 Informative output
  • 9.9 Invoking the msgen Program
    • 9.9.1 Input file location
    • 9.9.2 Output file location
    • 9.9.3 Input file syntax
    • 9.9.4 Output details
    • 9.9.5 Informative output
  • 9.10 Invoking the msgexec Program
    • 9.10.1 Input file location
    • 9.10.2 Input file syntax
    • 9.10.3 Informative output
  • 9.11 Highlighting parts of PO files
    • 9.11.1 The --color option
    • 9.11.2 The environment variable TERM
    • 9.11.3 The --style option
    • 9.11.4 Style rules for PO files
    • 9.11.5 Customizing less for viewing PO files
  • 9.12 Writing your own programs that process PO files
• 10 Producing Binary MO Files
  • 10.1 Invoking the msgfmt Program
    • 10.1.1 Input file location
    • 10.1.2 Operation mode
    • 10.1.3 Output file location
    • 10.1.4 Output file location in Java mode
    • 10.1.5 Output file location in C# mode
    • 10.1.6 Output file location in Tcl mode
    • 10.1.7 Desktop Entry mode operations
    • 10.1.8 XML mode operations
    • 10.1.9 Input file syntax
    • 10.1.10 Input file interpretation
    • 10.1.11 Output details
    • 10.1.12 Informative output
  • 10.2 Invoking the msgunfmt Program
    • 10.2.1 Operation mode
    • 10.2.2 Input file location
    • 10.2.3 Input file location in Java mode
    • 10.2.4 Input file location in C# mode
    • 10.2.5 Input file location in Tcl mode
    • 10.2.6 Output file location
    • 10.2.7 Output details
    • 10.2.8 Informative output
  • 10.3 The Format of GNU MO Files
• 11 The Programmer's View
  • 11.1 About catgets
    • 11.1.1 The Interface
    • 11.1.2 Problems with the catgets Interface?!
  • 11.2 About gettext
    • 11.2.1 The Interface
    • 11.2.2 Solving Ambiguities
    • 11.2.3 Locating Message Catalog Files
    • 11.2.4 How to specify the output character set gettext uses
    • 11.2.5 Using contexts for solving ambiguities
    • 11.2.6 Additional functions for plural forms
    • 11.2.7 Optimization of the *gettext functions
  • 11.3 Comparing the Two Interfaces
  • 11.4 Using libintl.a in own programs
  • 11.5 Being a gettext grok
  • 11.6 Temporary Notes for the Programmers Chapter
    • 11.6.1 Temporary - Two Possible Implementations
    • 11.6.2 Temporary - About catgets
    • 11.6.3 Temporary - Why a single implementation
    • 11.6.4 Temporary - Notes
• 12 The Translator's View
  • 12.1 Introduction 0
  • 12.2 Introduction 1
  • 12.3 Discussions
  • 12.4 Organization
    • 12.4.1 Central Coordination
    • 12.4.2 National Teams
      • 12.4.2.1 Sub-Cultures
      • 12.4.2.2 Organizational Ideas
    • 12.4.3 Mailing Lists
  • 12.5 Information Flow
  • 12.6 Translating plural forms
  • 12.7 Prioritizing messages: How to determine which messages to translate first
• 13 The Maintainer's View
  • 13.1 Flat or Non-Flat Directory Structures
  • 13.2 Prerequisite Works
  • 13.3 Invoking the gettextize Program
  • 13.4 Files You Must Create or Alter
    • 13.4.1 ‘POTFILES.in’ in ‘po/’
    • 13.4.2 ‘LINGUAS’ in ‘po/’
    • 13.4.3 ‘Makevars’ in ‘po/’
    • 13.4.4 Extending ‘Makefile’ in ‘po/’
    • 13.4.5 ‘configure.ac’ at top level
    • 13.4.6 ‘config.guess’, ‘config.sub’ at top level
    • 13.4.7 ‘mkinstalldirs’ at top level
    • 13.4.8 ‘aclocal.m4’ at top level
    • 13.4.9 ‘acconfig.h’ at top level
    • 13.4.10 ‘config.h.in’ at top level
    • 13.4.11 ‘Makefile.in’ at top level
    • 13.4.12 ‘Makefile.in’ in ‘src/’
    • 13.4.13 ‘gettext.h’ in ‘lib/’
  • 13.5 Autoconf macros for use in ‘configure.ac’
    • 13.5.1 AM_GNU_GETTEXT in ‘gettext.m4’
    • 13.5.2 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION in ‘gettext.m4’
    • 13.5.3 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_NEED in ‘gettext.m4’
    • 13.5.4 AM_GNU_GETTEXT_INTL_SUBDIR in ‘intldir.m4’
    • 13.5.5 AM_PO_SUBDIRS in ‘po.m4’
    • 13.5.6 AM_XGETTEXT_OPTION in ‘po.m4’
    • 13.5.7 AM_ICONV in ‘iconv.m4’
  • 13.6 Integrating with Version Control Systems
    • 13.6.1 Avoiding version mismatch in distributed development
    • 13.6.2 Files to put under version control
    • 13.6.3 Put PO Files under Version Control
    • 13.6.4 Invoking the autopoint Program
      • 13.6.4.1 Options
      • 13.6.4.2 Informative output
  • 13.7 Creating a Distribution Tarball
• 14 The Installer's and Distributor's View
• 15 Other Programming Languages
  • 15.1 The Language Implementor's View
  • 15.2 The Programmer's View
  • 15.3 The Translator's View
    • 15.3.1 C Format Strings
    • 15.3.2 Objective C Format Strings
    • 15.3.3 Shell Format Strings
    • 15.3.4 Python Format Strings
    • 15.3.5 Lisp Format Strings
    • 15.3.6 Emacs Lisp Format Strings
    • 15.3.7 librep Format Strings
    • 15.3.8 Scheme Format Strings
    • 15.3.9 Smalltalk Format Strings
    • 15.3.10 Java Format Strings
    • 15.3.11 C# Format Strings
    • 15.3.12 awk Format Strings
    • 15.3.13 Object Pascal Format Strings
    • 15.3.14 YCP Format Strings
    • 15.3.15 Tcl Format Strings
    • 15.3.16 Perl Format Strings
    • 15.3.17 PHP Format Strings
    • 15.3.18 GCC internal Format Strings
    • 15.3.19 GFC internal Format Strings
    • 15.3.20 Qt Format Strings
    • 15.3.21 Qt Format Strings
    • 15.3.22 KDE Format Strings
    • 15.3.23 KUIT Format Strings
    • 15.3.24 Boost Format Strings
    • 15.3.25 Lua Format Strings
    • 15.3.26 JavaScript Format Strings
  • 15.4 The Maintainer's View
  • 15.5 Individual Programming Languages
    • 15.5.1 C, C++, Objective C
    • 15.5.2 sh - Shell Script
      • 15.5.2.1 Preparing Shell Scripts for Internationalization
      • 15.5.2.2 Contents of gettext.sh
      • 15.5.2.3 Invoking the gettext program
      • 15.5.2.4 Invoking the ngettext program
      • 15.5.2.5 Invoking the envsubst program
      • 15.5.2.6 Invoking the eval_gettext function
      • 15.5.2.7 Invoking the eval_ngettext function
    • 15.5.3 bash - Bourne-Again Shell Script
    • 15.5.4 Python
    • 15.5.5 GNU clisp - Common Lisp
    • 15.5.6 GNU clisp C sources
    • 15.5.7 Emacs Lisp
    • 15.5.8 librep
    • 15.5.9 GNU guile - Scheme
    • 15.5.10 GNU Smalltalk
    • 15.5.11 Java
    • 15.5.12 C#
    • 15.5.13 GNU awk
    • 15.5.14 Pascal - Free Pascal Compiler
    • 15.5.15 wxWidgets library
    • 15.5.16 YCP - YaST2 scripting language
    • 15.5.17 Tcl - Tk's scripting language
    • 15.5.18 Perl
      • 15.5.18.1 General Problems Parsing Perl Code
      • 15.5.18.2 Which keywords will xgettext look for?
      • 15.5.18.3 How to Extract Hash Keys
      • 15.5.18.4 What are Strings And Quote-like Expressions?
      • 15.5.18.5 Invalid Uses Of String Interpolation
      • 15.5.18.6 Valid Uses Of String Interpolation
      • 15.5.18.7 When To Use Parentheses
      • 15.5.18.8 How To Grok with Long Lines
      • 15.5.18.9 Bugs, Pitfalls, And Things That Do Not Work
    • 15.5.19 PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
    • 15.5.20 Pike
    • 15.5.21 GNU Compiler Collection sources
    • 15.5.22 Lua
    • 15.5.23 JavaScript
    • 15.5.24 Vala
  • 15.6 Internationalizable Data
    • 15.6.1 POT - Portable Object Template
    • 15.6.2 Resource String Table
    • 15.6.3 Glade - GNOME user interface description
    • 15.6.4 GSettings - GNOME user configuration schema
    • 15.6.5 AppData - freedesktop.org application description
    • 15.6.6 Preparing Rules for XML Internationalization
      • 15.6.6.1 Two Use-cases of Translated Strings in XML
• 16 Concluding Remarks
  • 16.1 History of GNU gettext
  • 16.2 Related Readings
• A Language Codes
  • A.1 Usual Language Codes
  • A.2 Rare Language Codes
• B Country Codes
• C Licenses
  • C.1 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
  • C.2 GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
  • C.3 GNU Free Documentation License
• Program Index
• Option Index
• Variable Index
• PO Mode Index
• Autoconf Macro Index
• General Index

This document was generated on 9 June 2016 using the texi2html translator version 1.52b.