GNU gettext?

Sithrandel · Post by **Sithrandel** » June 30th, 2004, 12:44 pm

Having just looked through the GNU gettext pages I am a little concerned and hope that someone can put my fears to rest...

My take on what I read is that it isn't a true localisation system, but merely swaps embedded strings at compile time meaning that the resulting binary is not actually internationalised.

The current system is based on runtime internationalisation and therefore is a proper system.

If this is correct (and I'm really hoping someone will correct me) then the implications are:

1. Packagers will need to compile a separate binary for each language!?!

2. Users will have to download a separate binary for each language they use !?!

So the current situation where I am logged onto my computer in English and my daughter is simultaneously logged in in French and we can both use the same program and see it in the respective language will be lost?

If this is the case, then surely adopting gettext would be a huge step backwards?

Post by **Ayin** » June 30th, 2004, 6:02 pm

You're wrong :)

gettext does not swap embedded strings at compile time: it uses translation files, that are substituted at runtime.

So, no worry

Sithrandel · Post by **Sithrandel** » June 30th, 2004, 9:01 pm

Ayin wrote:You're wrong

Perfect... sometimes I love being wrong

Ayin wrote: gettext does not swap embedded strings at compile time: it uses translation files, that are substituted at runtime.

So, no worry

Sounds perfect then. Maybe someday I'll actually understand it, thanks for correcting my misunderstanding... and doing so politely

Post by **Boucman** » June 30th, 2004, 9:05 pm

gettext being the officiall GNU translation method, and being integrated in so many programs, I would have been very suprised if translation was done at link time... imagine the mess for linux ddistributions

Sithrandel · Post by **Sithrandel** » June 30th, 2004, 9:43 pm

Boucman wrote:gettext being the officiall GNU translation method, and being integrated in so many programs, I would have been very suprised if translation was done at link time... imagine the mess for linux ddistributions

I wouldn't know... never used Linux

ZX81/Spectrum/Atari800 -> AtariST/E -> PC (Dos / Win 3.1/98/2000/NT/XP)-> Mac (OS 6+) & Computer heaven

Post by **Darth Fool** » June 30th, 2004, 9:57 pm

Sithrandel wrote:
Boucman wrote:gettext being the officiall GNU translation method, and being integrated in so many programs, I would have been very suprised if translation was done at link time... imagine the mess for linux ddistributions
I wouldn't know... never used Linux

ZX81/Spectrum/Atari800 -> AtariST/E -> PC (Dos / Win 3.1/98/2000/NT/XP)-> Mac (OS 6+) & Computer heaven

Wait, isn't the last one, computer heaven, linux?

Post by **yann** » July 1st, 2004, 7:34 am

We curently seem to have a little problem with gettext on macosx. crimson_penguin tried to build the branch_gettext1 cvs branch, and got warnings at link-time about symbols duplicated between system's libintl and libiconv. This is maybe a first thing to investigate.

Then something does not work as expected. When changing language throught the UI it seems that the gettext-level language switch does not work. I'd need someone to run it as "strace -e file wesnoth" or similar so that we can see if it's trying to open the message catalog, and if yes why it fails.

Remember: currently there are only gettext-level translations available for 2 strings, and only in French. Those strings are the "Tutorial" button (which switches to "Tutoriel" then, mind the difference), and its help string. Other translated strings just come from the current i18n framework, which was not disabled yet.