(gettext.info.gz) Preparing Shell Scripts

 
 15.5.2.1 Preparing Shell Scripts for Internationalization
 .........................................................
 
 Preparing a shell script for internationalization is conceptually
 similar to the steps described in  Sources.  The concrete steps
 for shell scripts are as follows.
 
   1. Insert the line
 
           . gettext.sh
 
      near the top of the script.  `gettext.sh' is a shell function
      eval_gettext Invocation::) and `eval_ngettext' (see 
      eval_ngettext Invocation).  You have to ensure that `gettext.sh'
      can be found in the `PATH'.
 
   2. Set and export the `TEXTDOMAIN' and `TEXTDOMAINDIR' environment
      variables.  Usually `TEXTDOMAIN' is the package or program name,
      and `TEXTDOMAINDIR' is the absolute pathname corresponding to
      `$prefix/share/locale', where `$prefix' is the installation
      location.
 
           TEXTDOMAIN=@PACKAGE@
           export TEXTDOMAIN
           TEXTDOMAINDIR=@LOCALEDIR@
           export TEXTDOMAINDIR
 
   3. Prepare the strings for translation, as described in 
      Preparing Strings.
 
   4. Simplify translatable strings so that they don't contain command
      substitution (`"`...`"' or `"$(...)"'), variable access with
      defaulting (like `${VARIABLE-DEFAULT}'), access to positional
      arguments (like `$0', `$1', ...) or highly volatile shell
      variables (like `$?'). This can always be done through simple
      local code restructuring.  For example,
 
           echo "Usage: $0 [OPTION] FILE..."
 
      becomes
 
           program_name=$0
           echo "Usage: $program_name [OPTION] FILE..."
 
      Similarly,
 
           echo "Remaining files: `ls | wc -l`"
 
      becomes
 
           filecount="`ls | wc -l`"
           echo "Remaining files: $filecount"
 
   5. For each translatable string, change the output command `echo' or
      `$echo' to `gettext' (if the string contains no references to
      shell variables) or to `eval_gettext' (if it refers to shell
      variables), followed by a no-argument `echo' command (to account
      for the terminating newline). Similarly, for cases with plural
      handling, replace a conditional `echo' command with an invocation
      of `ngettext' or `eval_ngettext', followed by a no-argument `echo'
      command.
 
      When doing this, you also need to add an extra backslash before
      the dollar sign in references to shell variables, so that the
      `eval_gettext' function receives the translatable string before
      the variable values are substituted into it. For example,
 
           echo "Remaining files: $filecount"
 
      becomes
 
           eval_gettext "Remaining files: \$filecount"; echo
 
      If the output command is not `echo', you can make it use `echo'
      nevertheless, through the use of backquotes. However, note that
      inside backquotes, backslashes must be doubled to be effective
      (because the backquoting eats one level of backslashes). For
      example, assuming that `error' is a shell function that signals an
      error,
 
           error "file not found: $filename"
 
      is first transformed into
 
           error "`echo \"file not found: \$filename\"`"
 
      which then becomes
 
           error "`eval_gettext \"file not found: \\\$filename\"`"
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