Re: address@hidden: Bug#113988: makeinfo: locale settings should not influence output files]

[Yann Dirson]

On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 11:20:15AM +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> These two goals contradict

No.  gettext() is not alone on earth :)

> if LC_MESSAGES is set to something, the
> locale-sensitive functions will use that language; switching to the
> document language for text output into the generated document is
> either impossible or very hard.

Not sure.  Probably something using dgettext() on systems that have it
(wild guess after browing 1 or 2 manpages).  What's sure is that you
should not call gettext() (or the _() alias) for generated material,
only for output directed at the program's user.

Maybe you'll find something about these issues in the gettext manual,
I'm not sure.  Probably gettext's author will give you more accurate
information.

At least if this does not exist yet it should be possible to define a
gettext-like function that would do the job - my guess is it is
dgettext().

> Given this contradiction, what is your preferred solution?  Ignore the
> locale variables completely?

No, users wouldn't like it, and your l10n'ers would as well :)

>  Having the strings inserted into the
> generated document (e.g., names of months produced by @today) be in
> plain US English?

Maybe the best move as a temporary hack if it takes too much time to
implement the right solution - there are not so many non-english
texinfo documents I believe.  You decide.

Regards,
-- 
Yann Dirson    <address@hidden> |    Why make M$-Bill richer & richer ?
Debian-related: <address@hidden> |   Support Debian GNU/Linux:
Pro:    <address@hidden> |  Freedom, Power, Stability, Gratuity
     http://ydirson.free.fr/        | Check <http://www.debian.org/>