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authorFlorian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com>2020-05-06 17:35:21 +0200
committerFlorian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com>2020-05-06 17:35:40 +0200
commitd69c3a9e75a5cc592f658e1a2f7e8c7f1e023d11 (patch)
tree12610ddad6ed1d86271c97c6963c89faf9de2bd4 /include/libintl.h
parent898f3793164c0e811b28a37827f4bedce334066f (diff)
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Document the internal _ and N_ macros
Reviewed-by: Carlos O'Donell <carlos@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'include/libintl.h')
-rw-r--r--include/libintl.h32
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/include/libintl.h b/include/libintl.h
index 9a11367..3d63b7a 100644
--- a/include/libintl.h
+++ b/include/libintl.h
@@ -37,17 +37,33 @@ extern char *__bind_textdomain_codeset (const char *__domainname,
extern const char _libc_intl_domainname[];
libc_hidden_proto (_libc_intl_domainname)
-/* Define the macros `_' and `N_' for conveniently marking translatable
- strings in the libc source code. We have to make sure we get the
- correct definitions so we undefine the macros first. */
+/* _ marks its argument, a string literal, for translation, and
+ performs translation at run time if the LC_MESSAGES locale category
+ has been set. The MSGID argument is extracted, added to the
+ translation database, and eventually submitted to the translation
+ team for processing. New translations are periodically
+ incorporated into the glibc source tree as part of translation
+ updates. */
+# undef _
+# define _(msgid) __dcgettext (_libc_intl_domainname, msgid, LC_MESSAGES)
+
+/* N_ marks its argument, a string literal, for translation, so that
+ it is extracted and added to the translation database (similar to
+ the _ macro above). It does not translate the string at run time.
+ The first, primary use case for N_ is a context in which a string
+ literal is required, such as an initializer. Translation will
+ happen later, for example using the __gettext function.
+ The second, historic, use case involves strings which may be
+ translated in a future version of the library, but cannot be
+ translated in current releases due to some technical limitation
+ (e.g., gettext not being available in the dynamic loader). No
+ translation at run time happens in such cases. In the future, this
+ historic usage of N_ may become deprecated. Strings which are not
+ translated create unnecessary work for the translation team. We
+ continue to use N_ because it helps mark translatable strings. */
# undef N_
# define N_(msgid) msgid
-# undef _
-/* This is defined as an optimizing macro, so use it. */
-# define _(msgid) \
- __dcgettext (_libc_intl_domainname, msgid, LC_MESSAGES)
-
# endif /* !_ISOMAC */
#endif