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diff --git a/gettext-tools/doc/gettext_2.html b/gettext-tools/doc/gettext_2.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a22daa --- /dev/null +++ b/gettext-tools/doc/gettext_2.html @@ -0,0 +1,349 @@ +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.52b + from gettext.texi on 24 December 2014 --> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<TITLE>GNU gettext utilities - 2 The User's View</TITLE> +</HEAD> +<BODY> +Go 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>. +<P><HR><P> + + +<H1><A NAME="SEC7" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC7">2 The User's View</A></H1> + +<P> +Nowadays, when users log into a computer, they usually find that all +their programs show messages in their native language -- at least for +users of languages with an active free software community, like French or +German; to a lesser extent for languages with a smaller participation in +free software and the GNU project, like Hindi and Filipino. + +</P> +<P> +How does this work? How can the user influence the language that is used +by the programs? This chapter will answer it. + +</P> + + + +<H2><A NAME="SEC8" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC8">2.1 Operating System Installation</A></H2> + +<P> +The default language is often already specified during operating system +installation. When the operating system is installed, the installer +typically asks for the language used for the installation process and, +separately, for the language to use in the installed system. Some OS +installers only ask for the language once. + +</P> +<P> +This determines the system-wide default language for all users. But the +installers often give the possibility to install extra localizations for +additional languages. For example, the localizations of KDE (the K +Desktop Environment) and OpenOffice.org are often bundled separately, +as one installable package per language. + +</P> +<P> +At this point it is good to consider the intended use of the machine: If +it is a machine designated for personal use, additional localizations are +probably not necessary. If, however, the machine is in use in an +organization or company that has international relationships, one can +consider the needs of guest users. If you have a guest from abroad, for +a week, what could be his preferred locales? It may be worth installing +these additional localizations ahead of time, since they cost only a bit +of disk space at this point. + +</P> +<P> +The system-wide default language is the locale configuration that is used +when a new user account is created. But the user can have his own locale +configuration that is different from the one of the other users of the +same machine. He can specify it, typically after the first login, as +described in the next section. + +</P> + + +<H2><A NAME="SEC9" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC9">2.2 Setting the Locale Used by GUI Programs</A></H2> + +<P> +The immediately available programs in a user's desktop come from a group +of programs called a “desktop environment”; it usually includes the window +manager, a web browser, a text editor, and more. The most common free +desktop environments are KDE, GNOME, and Xfce. + +</P> +<P> +The locale used by GUI programs of the desktop environment can be specified +in a configuration screen called “control center”, “language settings” +or “country settings”. + +</P> +<P> +Individual GUI programs that are not part of the desktop environment can +have their locale specified either in a settings panel, or through environment +variables. + +</P> +<P> +For some programs, it is possible to specify the locale through environment +variables, possibly even to a different locale than the desktop's locale. +This means, instead of starting a program through a menu or from the file +system, you can start it from the command-line, after having set some +environment variables. The environment variables can be those specified +in the next section (section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC10">2.3 Setting the Locale through Environment Variables</A>); for some versions of +KDE, however, the locale is specified through a variable <CODE>KDE_LANG</CODE>, +rather than <CODE>LANG</CODE> or <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE>. + +</P> + + +<H2><A NAME="SEC10" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC10">2.3 Setting the Locale through Environment Variables</A></H2> + +<P> +As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, in the +simplest case, you only have to set the <CODE>LANG</CODE> environment variable +to the appropriate <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP> combination. For example, +let's suppose that you speak German and live in Germany. At the shell +prompt, merely execute +<SAMP>‘setenv LANG de_DE’</SAMP> (in <CODE>csh</CODE>), +<SAMP>‘export LANG; LANG=de_DE’</SAMP> (in <CODE>sh</CODE>) or +<SAMP>‘export LANG=de_DE’</SAMP> (in <CODE>bash</CODE>). This can be done from your +<TT>‘.login’</TT> or <TT>‘.profile’</TT> file, once and for all. + +</P> + + + +<H3><A NAME="SEC11" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC11">2.3.1 Locale Names</A></H3> + +<P> +A locale name usually has the form <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP>. Here +<SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>’</SAMP> is an ISO 639 two-letter language code, and +<SAMP>‘<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP> is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code. For example, +for German in Germany, <VAR>ll</VAR> is <CODE>de</CODE>, and <VAR>CC</VAR> is <CODE>DE</CODE>. +You find a list of the language codes in appendix section <A HREF="gettext_17.html#SEC325">A Language Codes</A> and +a list of the country codes in appendix section <A HREF="gettext_18.html#SEC328">B Country Codes</A>. + +</P> +<P> +You might think that the country code specification is redundant. But in +fact, some languages have dialects in different countries. For example, +<SAMP>‘de_AT’</SAMP> is used for Austria, and <SAMP>‘pt_BR’</SAMP> for Brazil. The country +code serves to distinguish the dialects. + +</P> +<P> +Many locale names have an extended syntax +<SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>.<VAR>encoding</VAR>’</SAMP> that also specifies the character +encoding. These are in use because between 2000 and 2005, most users have +switched to locales in UTF-8 encoding. For example, the German locale on +glibc systems is nowadays <SAMP>‘de_DE.UTF-8’</SAMP>. The older name <SAMP>‘de_DE’</SAMP> +still refers to the German locale as of 2000 that stores characters in +ISO-8859-1 encoding -- a text encoding that cannot even accommodate the Euro +currency sign. + +</P> +<P> +Some locale names use <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>.@<VAR>variant</VAR>’</SAMP> instead of +<SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP>. The <SAMP>‘@<VAR>variant</VAR>’</SAMP> can denote any kind of +characteristics that is not already implied by the language <VAR>ll</VAR> and +the country <VAR>CC</VAR>. It can denote a particular monetary unit. For example, +on glibc systems, <SAMP>‘de_DE@euro’</SAMP> denotes the locale that uses the Euro +currency, in contrast to the older locale <SAMP>‘de_DE’</SAMP> which implies the use +of the currency before 2002. It can also denote a dialect of the language, +or the script used to write text (for example, <SAMP>‘sr_RS@latin’</SAMP> uses the +Latin script, whereas <SAMP>‘sr_RS’</SAMP> uses the Cyrillic script to write Serbian), +or the orthography rules, or similar. + +</P> +<P> +On other systems, some variations of this scheme are used, such as +<SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>’</SAMP>. You can get the list of locales supported by your system +for your language by running the command <SAMP>‘locale -a | grep '^<VAR>ll</VAR>'’</SAMP>. + +</P> +<P> +There is also a special locale, called <SAMP>‘C’</SAMP>. +When it is used, it disables all localization: in this locale, all programs +standardized by POSIX use English messages and an unspecified character +encoding (often US-ASCII, but sometimes also ISO-8859-1 or UTF-8, depending on +the operating system). + +</P> + + +<H3><A NAME="SEC12" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC12">2.3.2 Locale Environment Variables</A></H3> +<P> +<A NAME="IDX40"></A> +<A NAME="IDX41"></A> +<A NAME="IDX42"></A> + +</P> +<P> +A locale is composed of several <EM>locale categories</EM>, see section <A HREF="gettext_1.html#SEC4">1.3 Aspects in Native Language Support</A>. +When a program looks up locale dependent values, it does this according to +the following environment variables, in priority order: + +</P> + +<OL> +<LI><CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> + +<A NAME="IDX43"></A> + +<A NAME="IDX44"></A> +<LI><CODE>LC_ALL</CODE> + +<A NAME="IDX45"></A> +<A NAME="IDX46"></A> +<A NAME="IDX47"></A> +<A NAME="IDX48"></A> +<A NAME="IDX49"></A> +<A NAME="IDX50"></A> +<LI><CODE>LC_xxx</CODE>, according to selected locale category: + +<CODE>LC_CTYPE</CODE>, <CODE>LC_NUMERIC</CODE>, <CODE>LC_TIME</CODE>, <CODE>LC_COLLATE</CODE>, +<CODE>LC_MONETARY</CODE>, <CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE>, ... +<A NAME="IDX51"></A> +<LI><CODE>LANG</CODE> + +</OL> + +<P> +Variables whose value is set but is empty are ignored in this lookup. + +</P> +<P> +<CODE>LANG</CODE> is the normal environment variable for specifying a locale. +As a user, you normally set this variable (unless some of the other variables +have already been set by the system, in <TT>‘/etc/profile’</TT> or similar +initialization files). + +</P> +<P> +<CODE>LC_CTYPE</CODE>, <CODE>LC_NUMERIC</CODE>, <CODE>LC_TIME</CODE>, <CODE>LC_COLLATE</CODE>, +<CODE>LC_MONETARY</CODE>, <CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE>, and so on, are the environment +variables meant to override <CODE>LANG</CODE> and affecting a single locale +category only. For example, assume you are a Swedish user in Spain, and you +want your programs to handle numbers and dates according to Spanish +conventions, and only the messages should be in Swedish. Then you could +create a locale named <SAMP>‘sv_ES’</SAMP> or <SAMP>‘sv_ES.UTF-8’</SAMP> by use of the +<CODE>localedef</CODE> program. But it is simpler, and achieves the same effect, +to set the <CODE>LANG</CODE> variable to <CODE>es_ES.UTF-8</CODE> and the +<CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE> variable to <CODE>sv_SE.UTF-8</CODE>; these two locales come +already preinstalled with the operating system. + +</P> +<P> +<CODE>LC_ALL</CODE> is an environment variable that overrides all of these. +It is typically used in scripts that run particular programs. For example, +<CODE>configure</CODE> scripts generated by GNU autoconf use <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE> to make +sure that the configuration tests don't operate in locale dependent ways. + +</P> +<P> +Some systems, unfortunately, set <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE> in <TT>‘/etc/profile’</TT> or in +similar initialization files. As a user, you therefore have to unset this +variable if you want to set <CODE>LANG</CODE> and optionally some of the other +<CODE>LC_xxx</CODE> variables. + +</P> +<P> +The <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> variable is described in the next subsection. + +</P> + + +<H3><A NAME="SEC13" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC13">2.3.3 Specifying a Priority List of Languages</A></H3> + +<P> +Not all programs have translations for all languages. By default, an +English message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation. If you +understand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages. +This is done through a different environment variable, called +<CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE>. GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> gives preference to <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> +over <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE> and <CODE>LANG</CODE> for the purpose of message handling, +but you still need to have <CODE>LANG</CODE> (or <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE>) set to the primary +language; this is required by other parts of the system libraries. +For example, some Swedish users who would rather read translations in +German than English for when Swedish is not available, set <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> +to <SAMP>‘sv:de’</SAMP> while leaving <CODE>LANG</CODE> to <SAMP>‘sv_SE’</SAMP>. + +</P> +<P> +Special advice for Norwegian users: The language code for Norwegian +bokm@ringaccent{a}l changed from <SAMP>‘no’</SAMP> to <SAMP>‘nb’</SAMP> recently (in 2003). +During the transition period, while some message catalogs for this language +are installed under <SAMP>‘nb’</SAMP> and some older ones under <SAMP>‘no’</SAMP>, it is +recommended for Norwegian users to set <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> to <SAMP>‘nb:no’</SAMP> so that +both newer and older translations are used. + +</P> +<P> +In the <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> environment variable, but not in the other +environment variables, <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>_<VAR>CC</VAR>’</SAMP> combinations can be +abbreviated as <SAMP>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>’</SAMP> to denote the language's main dialect. +For example, <SAMP>‘de’</SAMP> is equivalent to <SAMP>‘de_DE’</SAMP> (German as spoken in +Germany), and <SAMP>‘pt’</SAMP> to <SAMP>‘pt_PT’</SAMP> (Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) +in this context. + +</P> +<P> +Note: The variable <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> is ignored if the locale is set to +<SAMP>‘C’</SAMP>. In other words, you have to first enable localization, by setting +<CODE>LANG</CODE> (or <CODE>LC_ALL</CODE>) to a value other than <SAMP>‘C’</SAMP>, before you can +use a language priority list through the <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> variable. + +</P> + + +<H2><A NAME="SEC14" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC14">2.4 Installing Translations for Particular Programs</A></H2> +<P> +<A NAME="IDX52"></A> +<A NAME="IDX53"></A> + +</P> +<P> +Languages are not equally well supported in all packages using GNU +<CODE>gettext</CODE>, and more translations are added over time. Usually, you +use the translations that are shipped with the operating system +or with particular packages that you install afterwards. But you can also +install newer localizations directly. For doing this, you will need an +understanding where each localization file is stored on the file system. + +</P> +<P> +<A NAME="IDX54"></A> +For programs that participate in the Translation Project, you can start +looking for translations here: +<A HREF="http://translationproject.org/team/index.html">http://translationproject.org/team/index.html</A>. +A snapshot of this information is also found in the <TT>‘ABOUT-NLS’</TT> file +that is shipped with GNU gettext. + +</P> +<P> +For programs that are part of the KDE project, the starting point is: +<A HREF="http://i18n.kde.org/">http://i18n.kde.org/</A>. + +</P> +<P> +For programs that are part of the GNOME project, the starting point is: +<A HREF="http://www.gnome.org/i18n/">http://www.gnome.org/i18n/</A>. + +</P> +<P> +For other programs, you may check whether the program's source code package +contains some <TT>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>.po’</TT> files; often they are kept together in a +directory called <TT>‘po/’</TT>. Each <TT>‘<VAR>ll</VAR>.po’</TT> file contains the +message translations for the language whose abbreviation of <VAR>ll</VAR>. + +</P> +<P><HR><P> +Go 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>. +</BODY> +</HTML> |