Re: using gettext for libraries

[Andrew Clausen]

Andrew Clausen wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> How should gettext be used for libraries?  i.e. how should
> bindtextdomain() and textdomain() be used?
> 
> (Obviously, both the library and the program/library using
> the program would like to have strings translated, but operate
> from a different domain)

>From the glibc manual (should also be in the gettext manual):

"The important point is that at any time exactly one domain
is active."

Why? It means you have to switch domains on all entry points into
a library, OR at gettext() time.

The former is a huge amount of bureaucracy.  The later is
rather trivial to implement, by changing the _() macro.  But,
in this case, it raises the question: "why bother with having
an active text domain at all?  why not just pass the
text domain to gettext()?"

So, why is there always exactly one domain active?

Andrew Clausen