🚀 go-pugleaf

Sender: Glenn.Wright@UK.Sun.COM (Glenn Wright - Sun WWFO)

   Sender: Ben Steele (steele@pixel.kodak.com)
   On another note regarding X/Open Portability Guide's specs for
   internationalization, Sun is planning to follow Uniforum's proposal
   of 'gettext' rather than 'catget'.  I have looked at both and am leaning
   in Sun's direction; comments anyone???

Of course, I'm biased :-) but we have found the gettext() interface
extremely powerful. We now use it for real "live" localisations for
about 12 languages, and we've found no bugs or limitations with the
current system. I always believed that the localisation task should be
trivial for the programmer, (which this does by design) because in reality
it increases the chances of getting "base" code up to the right level
by using programmers in the "base" team to make the code changes. The
message file format for translators is simple too - they do not have
to worry about mnemonics or numbers.

As you say, gettext() was originally designed in the uniform group, but
so far it has not found a "standards" home, although it compares and
stands well against the arcane double index numbering system of the
x/open scheme.

And finally, one sample implementation of the gettext()
interface is available in the public domain. You could include this in
applications for systems that do not supply gettext(). See:

       ftp.uu.net:/archive/systems/sun/gettext-messaging.tar.Z

Glenn Wright
Sun Microsystems UK.