gettextUsually, programs are written and documented in English, and use English at execution time for interacting with users. This is true not only from within GNU, but also in a great deal of commercial and free software. Using a common language is quite handy for communication between developers, maintainers and users from all countries. On the other hand, most people are less comfortable with English than with their own native language, and would rather prefer using their mother tongue for day to day's work, as far as possible. Many would simply love seeing their computer screen showing a lot less of English, and far more of their own spoken language.
However, to some people, this dream might appear so far fetched that they may believe it is not even worth spending time thinking about it, and they have no confidence at all that the dream might ever become true. Many did not loose hope yet, and organized themselves. The GNU Translation Project is a formalization of this hope into a workable structure, which has a good chance to get all of us nearer the achievement of a truly multi-lingual set of programs.
GNU gettext is an important step for the GNU Translation
Project, as it is an asset on which we may build many other steps.
This package offers to programmers, translators and even users, a
well integrated set of tools and documentation. Specifically, the GNU
gettext utilities are a set of tools that provides a framework
to help other GNU packages produce multi-lingual messages. These tools
include a set of conventions about how programs should be written to
support message catalogs, a directory and file naming organization
for the message catalogs themselves, a runtime library supporting the
retrieval of translated messages, and a few stand-alone programs to
massage in various ways the sets of translatable strings, or already
translated strings. A special GNU Emacs mode also helps interested
parties into preparing these sets, or bringing them up to date.
GNU gettext is designed so it minimizes the impact of
internationalization on program sources, keeping this impact as small
and hardly noticeable as possible. Internationalization has better
chances of succeeding if it is very light weighted, or at least,
appear to be so, when looking at program sources.
The GNU Translation Project also uses the GNU gettext
distribution as a vehicle for documenting its structure and methods,
even if this goes beyond the technicalities of the GNU gettext
proper. By doing so, translators will find in a single place, as
far as possible, all they need to know for properly doing their
translating work. Also, this supplementary documentation might also
help programmers, and even curious users, at understanding how GNU
gettext is related to the remainder of the GNU Translation
Project, and consequently, have a glimpse at the big picture.
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