Re: N_() and _()

[Pablo Saratxaga <pablo mandrakesoft com>]

Kaixo!

On Thu, Oct 28, 1999 at 11:16:47AM +0200, Andreas Buesching wrote:

> > If it still isn't that, tell me whihc file it is if it is on the CVS; or
> > send me the *.c file and the po/Makefile. 
> 
> Here they are

I haven'"t had any problem, with those, to create the *.pot file;
and make update-po updated de.po (it was just empty before, and full
after:) )

However I see something:

> Makefile

> POFILES =  de.po fr.po
> GMOFILES =  de.gmo fr.gmo

...

> CATALOGS =  de.gmo

Is that on purpose that you only compile german files ?

If not you should undefine the LINGUAS variable; otherwise only languages
defined in that variable will be handled. A developper should NEVER define
that variable when working on his own programs or when doing packaging;
as that will leave out the other languages.

In particular when you do 'make update-po' only the german de.po file
will be updated:

> update-po: Makefile
> 	$(MAKE) $(PACKAGE).pot
> 	PATH=`pwd`/../src:$$PATH; \
> 	cd $(srcdir); \
> 	catalogs='$(CATALOGS)'; \
> 	for cat in $$catalogs; do \

for ... in $(CATALOGS)  and it only contains the German file.

So, undefine your LINGUAS variable and re-run ./configure


Another thing; in your *.c file:

> #define TOOLTIP_TYPE_SMALL    N_("x/y mailboxes contain new mail")
> #define TOOLTIP_TYPE_MIDDLE   N_("sorted by priorities")
> #define TOOLTIP_TYPE_LARGE    N_("each mailbox separate")
> #define TOOLTIP_TYPE_NEW_MAIL N_("each mailbox with new mail")

etc.

xgettext never sees strings on #define lines.
It would be better to use either global variables; either a place holder
that is never compiled; eg:

#define TOOLTIP_TYPE_SMALL    _("x/y mailboxes contain new mail")
#define TOOLTIP_TYPE_MIDDLE   _("sorted by priorities")
#define TOOLTIP_TYPE_LARGE    _("each mailbox separate")
#define TOOLTIP_TYPE_NEW_MAIL _("each mailbox with new mail")

#if 0

/* this is a placeholder for some strings so that xgettext can see them */

char *placeholder[] = {
 N_("x/y mailboxes contain new mail"),
 N_("sorted by priorities"),
 N_("each mailbox separate"),
 N_("each mailbox with new mail"),
};

#endif

Maybe xgettext() will be fixed some day to be able to scan define lines
too; but it doesn't do yet so we have to cheat.

And while I'm at giving advices: never, ever, ever 'translate' an empty
string ! doing something like that:


  printf( _("") );

will show not an empty string, but something like:

"Project-Id-Version: xmms 0.9.1\n"
"POT-Creation-Date: 1999-07-20 17:26+0200\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: 1999-06-14 01:14+0200\n"
"Last-Translator: Pablo Saratxaga <srtxg@chanae.alphanet.ch>\n"
"Language-Team: walon <linux-wa@chanae.alphanet.ch>\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"

(that is the header of the po file for the user's language).

And if you use some generic translation that may apply to empty strings,
you must check them; eg:

  printf( _(somevar[i]) );

is potentially dangerous if for some values of i somevar[i] can be an empty
string. In such case do something like:

  printf( *(somevar[i]) ? _(somevar[i]) : "" );

so if the variable has at least one char it can be translated, if it is empty
just return an empty string ""


-- 
Ki ça vos våye bén,
Pablo Saratxaga

http://www.ping.be/~pin19314/		PGP Key available, key ID: 0x8F0E4975