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165 lines
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<!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.54
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from gettext.texi on 25 January 1999 -->
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<TITLE>GNU gettext utilities - Concluding Remarks</TITLE>
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<link href="gettext_12.html" rel=Next>
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<link href="gettext_10.html" rel=Previous>
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<link href="gettext_toc.html" rel=ToC>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<p>Go to the <A HREF="gettext_1.html">first</A>, <A HREF="gettext_10.html">previous</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>.
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<P><HR><P>
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<H1><A NAME="SEC78" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC78">Concluding Remarks</A></H1>
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<P>
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We would like to conclude this GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> manual by presenting
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an history of the Translation Project so far. We finally give
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a few pointers for those who want to do further research or readings
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about Native Language Support matters.
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</P>
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<H2><A NAME="SEC79" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC79">History of GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE></A></H2>
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<P>
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Internationalization concerns and algorithms have been informally
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and casually discussed for years in GNU, sometimes around GNU
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<CODE>libc</CODE>, maybe around the incoming <CODE>Hurd</CODE>, or otherwise
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(nobody clearly remembers). And even then, when the work started for
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real, this was somewhat independently of these previous discussions.
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</P>
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<P>
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This all began in July 1994, when Patrick D'Cruze had the idea and
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initiative of internationalizing version 3.9.2 of GNU <CODE>fileutils</CODE>.
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He then asked Jim Meyering, the maintainer, how to get those changes
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folded into an official release. That first draft was full of
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<CODE>#ifdef</CODE>s and somewhat disconcerting, and Jim wanted to find
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nicer ways. Patrick and Jim shared some tries and experimentations
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in this area. Then, feeling that this might eventually have a deeper
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impact on GNU, Jim wanted to know what standards were, and contacted
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Richard Stallman, who very quickly and verbally described an overall
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design for what was meant to become <CODE>glocale</CODE>, at that time.
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</P>
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<P>
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Jim implemented <CODE>glocale</CODE> and got a lot of exhausting feedback
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from Patrick and Richard, of course, but also from Mitchum DSouza
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(who wrote a <CODE>catgets</CODE>-like package), Roland McGrath, maybe David
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MacKenzie, Fran@,{c}ois Pinard, and Paul Eggert, all pushing and
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pulling in various directions, not always compatible, to the extent
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that after a couple of test releases, <CODE>glocale</CODE> was torn apart.
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</P>
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<P>
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While Jim took some distance and time and became dad for a second
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time, Roland wanted to get GNU <CODE>libc</CODE> internationalized, and
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got Ulrich Drepper involved in that project. Instead of starting
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from <CODE>glocale</CODE>, Ulrich rewrote something from scratch, but
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more conformant to the set of guidelines who emerged out of the
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<CODE>glocale</CODE> effort. Then, Ulrich got people from the previous
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forum to involve themselves into this new project, and the switch
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from <CODE>glocale</CODE> to what was first named <CODE>msgutils</CODE>, renamed
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<CODE>nlsutils</CODE>, and later <CODE>gettext</CODE>, became officially accepted
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by Richard in May 1995 or so.
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</P>
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<P>
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Let's summarize by saying that Ulrich Drepper wrote GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>
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in April 1995. The first official release of the package, including
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PO mode, occurred in July 1995, and was numbered 0.7. Other people
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contributed to the effort by providing a discussion forum around
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Ulrich, writing little pieces of code, or testing. These are quoted
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in the <CODE>THANKS</CODE> file which comes with the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>
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distribution.
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</P>
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<P>
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While this was being done, Fran@,{c}ois adapted half a dozen of
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GNU packages to <CODE>glocale</CODE> first, then later to <CODE>gettext</CODE>,
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putting them in pretest, so providing along the way an effective
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user environment for fine tuning the evolving tools. He also took
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the responsibility of organizing and coordinating the Translation
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Project. After nearly a year of informal exchanges between people from
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many countries, translator teams started to exist in May 1995, through
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the creation and support by Patrick D'Cruze of twenty unmoderated
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mailing lists for that many native languages, and two moderated
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lists: one for reaching all teams at once, the other for reaching
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all willing maintainers of internationalized free software packages.
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</P>
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<P>
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Fran@,{c}ois also wrote PO mode in June 1995 with the collaboration
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of Greg McGary, as a kind of contribution to Ulrich's package.
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He also gave a hand with the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> Texinfo manual.
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</P>
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<H2><A NAME="SEC80" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC80">Related Readings</A></H2>
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<P>
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Eugene H. Dorr (<TT>`dorre@well.com'</TT>) maintains an interesting
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bibliography on internationalization matters, called
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<CITE>Internationalization Reference List</CITE>, which is available as:
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<PRE>
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ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/examples/nutshell/ujip/doc/i18n-books.txt
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</PRE>
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<P>
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Michael Gschwind (<TT>`mike@vlsivie.tuwien.ac.at'</TT>) maintains a
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list, entitled <CITE>Programming for
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Internationalisation</CITE>. This FAQ discusses writing programs which
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can handle different language conventions, character sets, etc.;
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and is applicable to all character set encodings, with particular
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emphasis on ISO 8859-1. It is regularly published in Usenet
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groups <TT>`comp.unix.questions'</TT>, <TT>`comp.std.internat'</TT>,
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<TT>`comp.software.international'</TT>, <TT>`comp.lang.c'</TT>,
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<TT>`comp.windows.x'</TT>, <TT>`comp.std.c'</TT>, <TT>`comp.answers'</TT>
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and <TT>`news.answers'</TT>. The home location of this document is:
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<PRE>
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ftp://ftp.vlsivie.tuwien.ac.at/pub/8bit/ISO-programming
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</PRE>
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<P>
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Patrick D'Cruze (<TT>`pdcruze@li.org'</TT>) wrote a tutorial about NLS
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matters, and Jochen Hein (<TT>`Hein@student.tu-clausthal.de'</TT>) took
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over the responsibility of maintaining it. It may be found as:
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<PRE>
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ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/utils/nls/catalogs/Incoming/...
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...locale-tutorial-0.8.txt.gz
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</PRE>
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<P>
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This site is mirrored in:
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<PRE>
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ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/linux/sunsite/
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</PRE>
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<P>
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A French version of the same tutorial should be findable at:
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<PRE>
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ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/linux/french/docs/
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</PRE>
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<P>
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together with French translations of many Linux-related documents.
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</P>
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<P><HR><P>
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<p>Go to the <A HREF="gettext_1.html">first</A>, <A HREF="gettext_10.html">previous</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>.
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