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LYNX-DEV lynx internationalization


From: David Trueman
Subject: LYNX-DEV lynx internationalization
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 18:56:50 -0400

We (CSuite Devlopment, software for community nets) are undertaking the
internationalization of lynx via the GNU gettext package.  I am aware of
the LYMessages_en.h file, but the gettext solution will be more
comprehensive and more maintainable.  The reason why it is more
maintainable is that all strings remain in the source, simply surrounded
by _("....") (_() is a #define for gettext()), so the source remains
fully readable.  Furthermore, there are tools for extracting the strings
and preparing a table for translation and then later merging in new
versions.

If this mechanism were generally adopted, the messages in LYMessages_en.h
could be moved back in to the source, since anyone wanting to customize
the messages would just have to install an English "translation" table
with only the altered messages, since for any message not found on lookup,
the English in the source is used.

I guess that the big question would be the portability of the gettext
package, but being a GNU package I expect that to be pretty good and
improving all the time.  Nothing about it need be terribly intimate with
the system.

We are already part way through this work, so expect to have a test
version available within a couple of weeks (with a French translation
table).  Any interest?  Comments?

  David Trueman,
    Systems Manager, Dalhousie Math, Stats and Computing Science
    Technical Chair, Chebucto Community Net

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