Re: if writing "gettext -s 'message'", msginit does not include the message in the POT file

[Bruno Haible]

Hi,

Didier Spaier wrote:
> Using gettext-0.21, language: shell
> 
> this line:
> gettext "this is a line"
> gives in the pot file:
> msgid "write:"
> 
> But this line:
> gettext "this is a line"
> only gives a line like
> #: <source filename>:<line number>
> instead
> 
> What do I miss?

Thanks for the report. This is a documented limitation:
https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/gettext-Invocation.html
says
"Note: xgettext supports only the one-argument form of the gettext invocation,
 where no options are present and the textdomain is implicit, from the
 environment."

> I ask as I'd rather avoid, to append a <newline> to the message, to write 
> instead :
> gettext "this is a line"; echo

Adding a final newline to the message is indeed not the best approach,
because it requires translator attention.

But transforming, at the source-code level,
  gettext -s msgid
to
  { gettext msgid; echo; }
is something you can do, in any location of any shell script.
That would be my favourite approach.

Bruno