NAME

gencat - generate a formatted message catalogue

SYNOPSIS

gencat [-m] catfile msgfile  ...

DESCRIPTION

The gencat utility merges the message text source file(s) msgfile into a formatted message database catfile. The database catfile will be created if it does not already exist. If catfile does exist its messages will be included in the new catfile. If set and message numbers collide, the new message-text defined in msgfile will replace the old message text currently contained in catfile. The message text source file (or set of files) input to gencat can contain either set and message numbers or simply message numbers, in which case the set NL_SETD [see nl_types(5)] is assumed.

The format of a message text source file is defined as follows. Note that the fields of a message text source line are separated by a single ASCII space or tab character. Any other ASCII spaces or tabs are considered as being part of the subsequent field.

$set  n comment

Where n specifies the set identifier of the following messages until the next $set, $delset or end-of-file appears. n must be a number in the range (1-{NL_SETMAX}). Set identifiers within a single source file need not be contiguous. Any string following the set identifier is treated as a comment. If no $set directive is specified in a message text source file, all messages will be located in the default message set NL_SETD.

$delset  n comment

Deletes message set n from an existing message catalogue. Any string following the set number is treated as a comment. (Note: if n is not a valid set it is ignored.)

$ comment

A line beginning with a dollar symbol $ followed by an ASCII space or tab character is treated as a comment.

m message-text

The m denotes the message identifier, which is a number in the range (1-{NL_MSGMAX}). The message-text is stored in the message catalogue with the set identifier specified by the last $set directive, and with message identifier m. If the message-text is empty, and an ASCII space or tab field separator is present, an empty string is stored in the message catalogue. If a message source line has a message number, but neither a field separator nor message-text , the existing message with that number (if any) is deleted from the catalogue. Message identifiers need not be contiguous. The length of message-text must be in the range (0-{NL_TEXTMAX}).

$quote c
     This line specifies  an  optional  quote  character  c,
     which  can  be  used  to  surround message-text so that
     trailing spaces or null (empty) messages are visible in
     a  message  source  line.   By  default, or if an empty
     $quote directive is supplied, no  quoting  of  message-
     text will be recognized.  Empty lines in a message text
     source file are ignored.
     Text strings can contain  the  special  characters  and
     escape sequences defined in the following table:
           ___________________________________________
          |__Description_________Symbol_____Sequence_|
          |  newline             NL(LF)     \n       |
          |  horizontal tab      HT         \t       |
          |  vertical tab        VT         \v       |
          |  backspace           BS         \b       |
          |  carriage return     CR         \r       |
          |  form feed           FF         \f       |
          |  backslash           \          \\       |
          |  bit pattern         ddd        \ddd     |
          |__________________________________________|
     The escape sequence \ddd consists of backslash followed
     by  1,  2 or 3 octal digits, which are taken to specify
     the value of the desired character.  If  the  character
     following  a  backslash  is not one of those specified,
     the backslash is  ignored.  Backslash  followed  by  an
     ASCII  newline  character  is  also  used to continue a
     string on the following line. Thus, the  following  two
     lines describe a single message string:
         1 This line continues \
         to the next line
     which is equivalent to:
         1 This line continues to the next line

NOTES

This version of gencat is built upon the mkmsgs utility. The gencat database comprises of two files catfile.m which is an mkmsgs format catalogue and the file catfile which contains the information required to translate an set and message number into a simple message number which can be used in a call to gettxt.

Using gettxt constrains the catalogues to be located in a subdirectory under /usr/lib/locale. This restriction is lifted by placing only a symbolic link to the catalogue in the directory /usr/lib/locale/Xopen/LC_MESSAGES when the catalogue is opened. It is this link that gettxt uses when attempting to access the catalogue. The link is removed when the catalogue is closed but occasionally as applications exit abnormally without closing catlogues redundant symbolic links will be left in the directory.

For compatibility with previous version of gencat released in a number of specialized internationalization products, the -m option is supplied. This option will cause gencat to build a single file catfile which is compatible with the format catalogues produced by the earlier versions. The retrieval routines detect the type of catalogue they are using and will act appropriately.

SEE ALSO

mkmsgs(1)
catopen(3C),    catgets(3C),    catclose(3C),    gettxt(3C),
nl_types(5) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.