[gtkada] make an app in several languages

[Jacob Sparre Andersen]

Thomas De Contes wrote:

> what does xgettext ?

It scans C source code for calls to the translation
functions in GNU Gettext (libintl) and generates a
translation template file based on that.

> why not make a tool which could capture at run time all
> the text which apps try to translate, instead ?

That would be a special version of "libintl".  I have
considered to make that, but it involves more fiddling with
the GNU Gettext source code, than I am comfortable with
doing right now.

> it would not be easy to be exhaustive, but it would be
> really language-independant !

Yes.  And it would also work on (dynamically linked)  
compiled programs, in case you didn't get a translation
template.

The benefit of `xgettext` is that you can get references to
where in the source code a string occurs.  This may help the
translators resolve ambiguities in the texts they have to
translate.

Jacob
-- 
»But you have to be a bit wary of a ship that collects
 snowflakes.«                                  -- Diziet Sma