Re: Using gettext for runtime translations

[Bruno Haible]

Hello,

Torsten Bronger wrote:
> For Texinfo (actually makeinfo), we need to translate things like
> "see section" or "node" to various languages.  The language is *not*
> determined by the locale but by a parameter in the input file.  The
> best way would be (for German as an example)
>
> translation = super_gettext("see ", "de");
>
> However, this doesn't exist (yet?).

You are already aware of
  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-texinfo/2003-12/msg00023.html
and
  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-utils/2004-09/msg00057.html

Something like this will be supported in gettext 0.15:

  gl_locale_t locale = gl_newlocale ("de_DE", NULL);
  translation = gl_dgettext ("texinfo", "see ", locale);

But meanwhile:

> So I have to set the locale manually.  Using "setenv",

Yes.

> Is this also true if one uses setlocale()?  Is setenv better than
> setlocale for some reason?

If you use setlocale() without using setenv(), code that uses gettext()
will not work on non-glibc platforms.

> And most importantly: What is a reliable way to know the language's
> name?  For example, German is "de", but this doesn't work.  Instead,
> it has to be "de_DE".  Does "ll_CC" work everywhere and always,
> given that the translations are properly installed?

When you use gettext(), "ll_CC" works on all non-glibc systems, and on all
glibc systems on which the "ll_CC" locale is actually installed.

With the gettext 0.15 API gl_dgettext(), "ll_CC" will work on all systems,
regardless whether a "ll_CC" locale is installed.

"de" alone doesn't work as a locale name. The only place where it works
is in the LANGUAGE environment variable.

> Is there a decent fallback mechanism or do I have to mimic one?

I don't understand. What do you mean exactly?

Bruno