[ast-users] Re: [ksh93-integration-discuss] getopts function and manual page output

[Glenn Fowler]

here is an example that generates gencat(1) compatible message files
for one of the components in the ast-base (also ast-open) package
the examkple requires ast nmake to take advantage of the 'msgcat'
base rules common action

the example requires att nmake (for the base rules msgcat common action)
you can nmake -n to see what nmake does to bring it into your cm system,
or you can use nmake and not worry

first download the ast-base (minimal to build nmake and msg catalog support)
or ast-open (many more tools) source package (along with the required INIT
package)

I've posted alpha packages for testing:

  http://www.research.att.com/sw/download/package
  http://www.research.att.com/sw/download/alpha/INIT.2006-11-15.tgz
  http://www.research.att.com/sw/download/alpha/ast-base.2006-11-15.tgz

to build:

  # in a clean dir
  mkdir -p bin lib/package/tgz
  # download the package to bin
  # download the *.tgz to lib/package/tgz
  bin/package read
  bin/package make
  bin/package use
  # now in a shell ready to test
  cd proto
  # the test will generate a message catalog for the
  # executables and shell scripts in the proto dir
  nmake msgcat
  # proto.msg is the gencat(1) compatible message catalog

if you look into the ast source you'll note that msgcat does
most of the l10n string extrations work -- the source code
itself has little if any explicit modifications
to mark strings for l10n reaping, i.e., you won't
see many explicit translation calls outside of 
the libast translation routines -- and when you do
the C locale strings are used as message indices,
so you won't have to keep a message number dictionary
handy to read diagnostic message in the code

gencat the native proto.msg and install it in the C locale
LC_MESSAGES location according to local conventions

then translate proto.msg (maybe using a jargonizer, or
rot13 or toupper the "..." strings for testing) and gencat
and install that in the non-C locale LC_MESSAGES location

the message indices in the C locale catalog will be used to index
the corresponding messages in the non-C locale catalog

export LC_MESSAGES to the non-C locale and run
	sear --man
	release --man
you can also use LC_MESSAGES=debug to see the C locale lookup keys

let me know how the process works with native gencat(1)
we use the ast msggen which takes a different tack than
e.g. solaris or gnu/linux gencat, so I am not intimately familiar
with NLSPATH values and message catalog installation dirs --
I just coded enough to get catgets() etc. working against
already installed native catalogs

-- Glenn Fowler -- AT&T Research, Florham Park NJ --