1<HTML> 2<HEAD> 3<!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.52b 4 from gettext.texi on 27 November 2006 --> 5 6<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> 7<TITLE>GNU gettext utilities - 2 The User's View</TITLE> 8</HEAD> 9<BODY> 10Go to the <A HREF="gettext_1.html">first</A>, <A HREF="gettext_1.html">previous</A>, <A HREF="gettext_3.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_25.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>. 11<P><HR><P> 12 13 14<H1><A NAME="SEC7" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC7">2 The User's View</A></H1> 15 16<P> 17When GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> will truly have reached its goal, average users 18should feel some kind of astonished pleasure, seeing the effect of 19that strange kind of magic that just makes their own native language 20appear everywhere on their screens. As for naive users, they would 21ideally have no special pleasure about it, merely taking their own 22language for <EM>granted</EM>, and becoming rather unhappy otherwise. 23 24</P> 25<P> 26So, let's try to describe here how we would like the magic to operate, 27as we want the users' view to be the simplest, among all ways one 28could look at GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>. All other software engineers: 29programmers, translators, maintainers, should work together in such a 30way that the magic becomes possible. This is a long and progressive 31undertaking, and information is available about the progress of the 32Translation Project. 33 34</P> 35<P> 36When a package is distributed, there are two kinds of users: 37<EM>installers</EM> who fetch the distribution, unpack it, configure 38it, compile it and install it for themselves or others to use; and 39<EM>end users</EM> that call programs of the package, once these have 40been installed at their site. GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> is offering magic 41for both installers and end users. 42 43</P> 44 45 46 47<H2><A NAME="SEC8" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC8">2.1 The Current <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> Matrix</A></H2> 48<P> 49<A NAME="IDX39"></A> 50<A NAME="IDX40"></A> 51<A NAME="IDX41"></A> 52 53</P> 54<P> 55Languages are not equally supported in all packages using GNU 56<CODE>gettext</CODE>. To know if some package uses GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>, one 57may check the distribution for the <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> information file, for 58some <TT>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>.po’</TT> files, often kept together into some <TT>‘po/’</TT> 59directory, or for an <TT>‘intl/’</TT> directory. Internationalized packages 60have usually many <TT>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>.po’</TT> files, where <VAR>ll</VAR> represents 61the language. section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC9">2.2 Magic for End Users</A> for a complete description of the format 62for <VAR>ll</VAR>. 63 64</P> 65<P> 66More generally, a matrix is available for showing the current state 67of the Translation Project, listing which packages are prepared for 68multi-lingual messages, and which languages are supported by each. 69Because this information changes often, this matrix is not kept within 70this GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> manual. This information is often found in 71file <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> from various distributions, but is also as old as 72the distribution itself. A recent copy of this <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> file, 73containing up-to-date information, should generally be found on the 74Translation Project sites, and also on most GNU archive sites. 75 76</P> 77 78 79<H2><A NAME="SEC9" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC9">2.2 Magic for End Users</A></H2> 80<P> 81<A NAME="IDX42"></A> 82<A NAME="IDX43"></A> 83<A NAME="IDX44"></A> 84 85</P> 86<P> 87<A NAME="IDX45"></A> 88We consider here those packages using GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> internally, 89and for which the installers did not disable translation at 90<EM>configure</EM> time. Then, users only have to set the <CODE>LANG</CODE> 91environment variable to the appropriate <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP> 92combination prior to using the programs in the package. See section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC8">2.1 The Current <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> Matrix</A>. 93For example, let's presume a German site. At the shell prompt, users 94merely have to execute <SAMP>‘setenv LANG de_DE’</SAMP> (in <CODE>csh</CODE>) or 95<SAMP>‘export LANG; LANG=de_DE’</SAMP> (in <CODE>sh</CODE>). They could even do 96this from their <TT>‘.login’</TT> or <TT>‘.profile’</TT> file. 97 98</P> 99<P><HR><P> 100Go to the <A HREF="gettext_1.html">first</A>, <A HREF="gettext_1.html">previous</A>, <A HREF="gettext_3.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_25.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>. 101</BODY> 102</HTML> 103