3 <!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.54 
   4      from gettext.texi on 25 January 1999 --> 
   6 <TITLE>GNU gettext utilities - The Maintainer's View
</TITLE> 
   7 <link href=
"gettext_11.html" rel=Next
> 
   8 <link href=
"gettext_9.html" rel=Previous
> 
   9 <link href=
"gettext_toc.html" rel=ToC
> 
  13 <p>Go to the 
<A HREF=
"gettext_1.html">first
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_9.html">previous
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_11.html">next
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_12.html">last
</A> section, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_toc.html">table of contents
</A>.
 
  17 <H1><A NAME=
"SEC67" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC67">The Maintainer's View
</A></H1> 
  20 The maintainer of a package has many responsibilities.  One of them
 
  21 is ensuring that the package will install easily on many platforms,
 
  22 and that the magic we described earlier (see section 
<A HREF=
"gettext_7.html#SEC35">The User's View
</A>) will work
 
  23 for installers and end users.
 
  27 Of course, there are many possible ways by which GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> 
  28 might be integrated in a distribution, and this chapter does not cover
 
  29 them in all generality.  Instead, it details one possible approach which
 
  30 is especially adequate for many free software distributions following GNU
 
  31 standards, or even better, Gnits standards, because GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> 
  32 is purposely for helping the internationalization of the whole GNU
 
  33 project, and as many other good free packages as possible.  So, the
 
  34 maintainer's view presented here presumes that the package already has
 
  35 a 
<TT>`configure.in'
</TT> file and uses GNU Autoconf.
 
  39 Nevertheless, GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> may surely be useful for free packages
 
  40 not following GNU standards and conventions, but the maintainers of such
 
  41 packages might have to show imagination and initiative in organizing
 
  42 their distributions so 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> work for them in all situations.
 
  43 There are surely many, out there.
 
  47 Even if 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> methods are now stabilizing, slight adjustments
 
  48 might be needed between successive 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> versions, so you
 
  49 should ideally revise this chapter in subsequent releases, looking
 
  56 <H2><A NAME=
"SEC68" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC68">Flat or Non-Flat Directory Structures
</A></H2> 
  59 Some free software packages are distributed as 
<CODE>tar
</CODE> files which unpack
 
  60 in a single directory, these are said to be 
<STRONG>flat
</STRONG> distributions.
 
  61 Other free software packages have a one level hierarchy of subdirectories, using
 
  62 for example a subdirectory named 
<TT>`doc/'
</TT> for the Texinfo manual and
 
  63 man pages, another called 
<TT>`lib/'
</TT> for holding functions meant to
 
  64 replace or complement C libraries, and a subdirectory 
<TT>`src/'
</TT> for
 
  65 holding the proper sources for the package.  These other distributions
 
  66 are said to be 
<STRONG>non-flat
</STRONG>.
 
  70 For now, we cannot say much about flat distributions.  A flat
 
  71 directory structure has the disadvantage of increasing the difficulty
 
  72 of updating to a new version of GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  Also, if you have
 
  73 many PO files, this could somewhat pollute your single directory.
 
  74 In the GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> distribution, the 
<TT>`misc/'
</TT> directory
 
  75 contains a shell script named 
<TT>`combine-sh'
</TT>.  That script may
 
  76 be used for combining all the C files of the 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> directory
 
  77 into a pair of C files (one 
<TT>`.c'
</TT> and one 
<TT>`.h'
</TT>).  Those two
 
  78 generated files would fit more easily in a flat directory structure,
 
  79 and you will then have to add these two files to your project.
 
  83 Maybe because GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> itself has a non-flat structure,
 
  84 we have more experience with this approach, and this is what will be
 
  85 described in the remaining of this chapter.  Some maintainers might
 
  86 use this as an opportunity to unflatten their package structure.
 
  87 Only later, once gained more experience adapting GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> 
  88 to flat distributions, we might add some notes about how to proceed
 
  94 <H2><A NAME=
"SEC69" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC69">Prerequisite Works
</A></H2> 
  97 There are some works which are required for using GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> 
  98 in one of your package.  These works have some kind of generality
 
  99 that escape the point by point descriptions used in the remainder
 
 100 of this chapter.  So, we describe them here.
 
 107 Before attempting to use you should install some other packages first.
 
 108 Ensure that recent versions of GNU 
<CODE>m4
</CODE>, GNU Autoconf and GNU
 
 109 <CODE>gettext
</CODE> are already installed at your site, and if not, proceed
 
 110 to do this first.  If you got to install these things, beware that
 
 111 GNU 
<CODE>m4
</CODE> must be fully installed before GNU Autoconf is even
 
 114 To further ease the task of a package maintainer the 
<CODE>automake
</CODE> 
 115 package was designed and implemented.  GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> now uses this
 
 116 tool and the 
<TT>`Makefile'
</TT>s in the 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> and 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> 
 117 therefore know about all the goals necessary for using 
<CODE>automake
</CODE> 
 118 and 
<TT>`libintl'
</TT> in one project.
 
 120 Those four packages are only needed to you, as a maintainer; the
 
 121 installers of your own package and end users do not really need any of
 
 122 GNU 
<CODE>m4
</CODE>, GNU Autoconf, GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>, or GNU 
<CODE>automake
</CODE> 
 123 for successfully installing and running your package, with messages
 
 124 properly translated.  But this is not completely true if you provide
 
 125 internationalized shell scripts within your own package: GNU
 
 126 <CODE>gettext
</CODE> shall then be installed at the user site if the end users
 
 127 want to see the translation of shell script messages.
 
 131 Your package should use Autoconf and have a 
<TT>`configure.in'
</TT> file.
 
 132 If it does not, you have to learn how.  The Autoconf documentation
 
 133 is quite well written, it is a good idea that you print it and get
 
 138 Your C sources should have already been modified according to
 
 139 instructions given earlier in this manual.  See section 
<A HREF=
"gettext_3.html#SEC13">Preparing Program Sources
</A>.
 
 143 Your 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> directory should receive all PO files submitted to you
 
 144 by the translator teams, each having 
<TT>`
<VAR>ll
</VAR>.po'
</TT> as a name.
 
 145 This is not usually easy to get translation
 
 146 work done before your package gets internationalized and available!
 
 147 Since the cycle has to start somewhere, the easiest for the maintainer
 
 148 is to start with absolutely no PO files, and wait until various
 
 149 translator teams get interested in your package, and submit PO files.
 
 154 It is worth adding here a few words about how the maintainer should
 
 155 ideally behave with PO files submissions.  As a maintainer, your role is
 
 156 to authentify the origin of the submission as being the representative
 
 157 of the appropriate translating teams of the Translation Project (forward
 
 158 the submission to 
<TT>`translation@iro.umontreal.ca'
</TT> in case of doubt),
 
 159 to ensure that the PO file format is not severely broken and does not
 
 160 prevent successful installation, and for the rest, to merely to put these
 
 161 PO files in 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> for distribution.
 
 165 As a maintainer, you do not have to take on your shoulders the
 
 166 responsibility of checking if the translations are adequate or
 
 167 complete, and should avoid diving into linguistic matters.  Translation
 
 168 teams drive themselves and are fully responsible of their linguistic
 
 169 choices for the Translation Project.  Keep in mind that translator teams are 
<EM>not
</EM> 
 170 driven by maintainers.  You can help by carefully redirecting all
 
 171 communications and reports from users about linguistic matters to the
 
 172 appropriate translation team, or explain users how to reach or join
 
 173 their team.  The simplest might be to send them the 
<TT>`ABOUT-NLS'
</TT> file.
 
 177 Maintainers should 
<EM>never ever
</EM> apply PO file bug reports
 
 178 themselves, short-cutting translation teams.  If some translator has
 
 179 difficulty to get some of her points through her team, it should not be
 
 180 an issue for her to directly negotiate translations with maintainers.
 
 181 Teams ought to settle their problems themselves, if any.  If you, as
 
 182 a maintainer, ever think there is a real problem with a team, please
 
 183 never try to 
<EM>solve
</EM> a team's problem on your own.
 
 188 <H2><A NAME=
"SEC70" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC70">Invoking the 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE> Program
</A></H2> 
 191 Some files are consistently and identically needed in every package
 
 192 internationalized through GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  As a matter of
 
 193 convenience, the 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE> program puts all these files right
 
 194 in your package.  This program has the following synopsis:
 
 199 gettextize [ 
<VAR>option
</VAR>... ] [ 
<VAR>directory
</VAR> ]
 
 203 and accepts the following options:
 
 208 <DT><SAMP>`-c'
</SAMP> 
 210 <DT><SAMP>`--copy'
</SAMP> 
 212 Copy the needed files instead of making symbolic links.  Using links
 
 213 would allow the package to always use the latest 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> code
 
 214 available on the system, but it might disturb some mechanism the
 
 215 maintainer is used to apply to the sources.  Because running
 
 216 <CODE>gettextize
</CODE> is easy there shouldn't be problems with using copies.
 
 218 <DT><SAMP>`-f'
</SAMP> 
 220 <DT><SAMP>`--force'
</SAMP> 
 222 Force replacement of files which already exist.
 
 224 <DT><SAMP>`-h'
</SAMP> 
 226 <DT><SAMP>`--help'
</SAMP> 
 228 Display this help and exit.
 
 230 <DT><SAMP>`--version'
</SAMP> 
 232 Output version information and exit.
 
 237 If 
<VAR>directory
</VAR> is given, this is the top level directory of a
 
 238 package to prepare for using GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  If not given, it
 
 239 is assumed that the current directory is the top level directory of
 
 244 The program 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE> provides the following files.  However,
 
 245 no existing file will be replaced unless the option 
<CODE>--force
</CODE> 
 246 (
<CODE>-f
</CODE>) is specified.
 
 253 The 
<TT>`ABOUT-NLS'
</TT> file is copied in the main directory of your package,
 
 254 the one being at the top level.  This file gives the main indications
 
 255 about how to install and use the Native Language Support features
 
 256 of your program.  You might elect to use a more recent copy of this
 
 257 <TT>`ABOUT-NLS'
</TT> file than the one provided through 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE>,
 
 258 if you have one handy.  You may also fetch a more recent copy of file
 
 259 <TT>`ABOUT-NLS'
</TT> from Translation Project sites, and from most GNU
 
 264 A 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> directory is created for eventually holding
 
 265 all translation files, but initially only containing the file
 
 266 <TT>`po/Makefile.in.in'
</TT> from the GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> distribution.
 
 267 (beware the double 
<SAMP>`.in'
</SAMP> in the file name). If the 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> 
 268 directory already exists, it will be preserved along with the files
 
 269 it contains, and only 
<TT>`Makefile.in.in'
</TT> will be overwritten.
 
 273 A 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> directory is created and filled with most of the files
 
 274 originally in the 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> directory of the GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> 
 275 distribution.  Also, if option 
<CODE>--force
</CODE> (
<CODE>-f
</CODE>) is given,
 
 276 the 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> directory is emptied first.
 
 281 If your site support symbolic links, 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE> will not
 
 282 actually copy the files into your package, but establish symbolic
 
 283 links instead.  This avoids duplicating the disk space needed in
 
 284 all packages.  Merely using the 
<SAMP>`-h'
</SAMP> option while creating the
 
 285 <CODE>tar
</CODE> archive of your distribution will resolve each link by an
 
 286 actual copy in the distribution archive.  So, to insist, you really
 
 287 should use 
<SAMP>`-h'
</SAMP> option with 
<CODE>tar
</CODE> within your 
<CODE>dist
</CODE> 
 288 goal of your main 
<TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT>.
 
 292 It is interesting to understand that most new files for supporting
 
 293 GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> facilities in one package go in 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> 
 294 and 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> subdirectories.  One distinction between these two
 
 295 directories is that 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> is meant to be completely identical
 
 296 in all packages using GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>, while all newly created
 
 297 files, which have to be different, go into 
<TT>`po/'
</TT>.  There is a
 
 298 common 
<TT>`Makefile.in.in'
</TT> in 
<TT>`po/'
</TT>, because the 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> 
 299 directory needs its own 
<TT>`Makefile'
</TT>, and it has been designed so
 
 300 it can be identical in all packages.
 
 305 <H2><A NAME=
"SEC71" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC71">Files You Must Create or Alter
</A></H2> 
 308 Besides files which are automatically added through 
<CODE>gettextize
</CODE>,
 
 309 there are many files needing revision for properly interacting with
 
 310 GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  If you are closely following GNU standards for
 
 311 Makefile engineering and auto-configuration, the adaptations should
 
 312 be easier to achieve.  Here is a point by point description of the
 
 313 changes needed in each.
 
 317 So, here comes a list of files, each one followed by a description of
 
 318 all alterations it needs.  Many examples are taken out from the GNU
 
 319 <CODE>gettext
</CODE> 0.10.35 distribution itself.  You may indeed
 
 320 refer to the source code of the GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> package, as it
 
 321 is intended to be a good example and master implementation for using
 
 322 its own functionality.
 
 328 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC72" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC72"><TT>`POTFILES.in'
</TT> in 
<TT>`po/'
</TT></A></H3> 
 331 The 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> directory should receive a file named
 
 332 <TT>`POTFILES.in'
</TT>.  This file tells which files, among all program
 
 333 sources, have marked strings needing translation.  Here is an example
 
 339 # List of source files containing translatable strings.
 
 340 # Copyright (C) 
1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
 342 # Common library files
 
 347 # Package source files
 
 354 Dashed comments and white lines are ignored.  All other lines
 
 355 list those source files containing strings marked for translation
 
 356 (see section 
<A HREF=
"gettext_3.html#SEC15">How Marks Appears in Sources
</A>), in a notation relative to the top level
 
 357 of your whole distribution, rather than the location of the
 
 358 <TT>`POTFILES.in'
</TT> file itself.
 
 363 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC73" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC73"><TT>`configure.in'
</TT> at top level
</A></H3> 
 367 <LI>Declare the package and version.
 
 369 This is done by a set of lines like these:
 
 375 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(PACKAGE, "$PACKAGE")
 
 376 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(VERSION, "$VERSION")
 
 381 Of course, you replace 
<SAMP>`gettext'
</SAMP> with the name of your package,
 
 382 and 
<SAMP>`
0.10.35'
</SAMP> by its version numbers, exactly as they
 
 383 should appear in the packaged 
<CODE>tar
</CODE> file name of your distribution
 
 384 (
<TT>`gettext-
0.10.35.tar.gz'
</TT>, here).
 
 386 <LI>Declare the available translations.
 
 388 This is done by defining 
<CODE>ALL_LINGUAS
</CODE> to the white separated,
 
 389 quoted list of available languages, in a single line, like this:
 
 396 This example means that German and French PO files are available, so
 
 397 that these languages are currently supported by your package.  If you
 
 398 want to further restrict, at installation time, the set of installed
 
 399 languages, this should not be done by modifying 
<CODE>ALL_LINGUAS
</CODE> in
 
 400 <TT>`configure.in'
</TT>, but rather by using the 
<CODE>LINGUAS
</CODE> environment
 
 401 variable (see section 
<A HREF=
"gettext_7.html#SEC37">Magic for Installers
</A>).
 
 403 <LI>Check for internationalization support.
 
 405 Here is the main 
<CODE>m4
</CODE> macro for triggering internationalization
 
 406 support.  Just add this line to 
<TT>`configure.in'
</TT>:
 
 413 This call is purposely simple, even if it generates a lot of configure
 
 414 time checking and actions.
 
 416 <LI>Have output files created.
 
 418 The 
<CODE>AC_OUTPUT
</CODE> directive, at the end of your 
<TT>`configure.in'
</TT> 
 419 file, needs to be modified in two ways:
 
 423 AC_OUTPUT([
<VAR>existing configuration files
</VAR> intl/Makefile po/Makefile.in],
 
 424 <VAR>existing additional actions
</VAR>])
 
 427 The modification to the first argument to 
<CODE>AC_OUTPUT
</CODE> asks
 
 428 for substitution in the 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> and 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> directories.
 
 429 Note the 
<SAMP>`.in'
</SAMP> suffix used for 
<TT>`po/'
</TT> only.  This is because
 
 430 the distributed file is really 
<TT>`po/Makefile.in.in'
</TT>.
 
 436 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC74" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC74"><TT>`aclocal.m4'
</TT> at top level
</A></H3> 
 439 If you do not have an 
<TT>`aclocal.m4'
</TT> file in your distribution,
 
 440 the simplest is taking a copy of 
<TT>`aclocal.m4'
</TT> from
 
 441 GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  But to be precise, you only need macros
 
 442 <CODE>AM_LC_MESSAGES
</CODE>, 
<CODE>AM_WITH_NLS
</CODE> and 
<CODE>AM_GNU_GETTEXT
</CODE>,
 
 443 and 
<CODE>AM_PATH_PROG_WITH_TEST
</CODE>, which is called by 
<CODE>AM_WITH_NLS
</CODE>,
 
 444 so you may use an editor and remove macros you do not need.
 
 448 If you already have an 
<TT>`aclocal.m4'
</TT> file, then you will have
 
 449 to merge the said macros into your 
<TT>`aclocal.m4'
</TT>.  Note that if
 
 450 you are upgrading from a previous release of GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>, you
 
 451 should most probably 
<EM>replace
</EM> the said macros, as they usually
 
 452 change a little from one release of GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> to the next.
 
 453 Their contents may vary as we get more experience with strange systems
 
 458 These macros check for the internationalization support functions
 
 459 and related informations.  Hopefully, once stabilized, these macros
 
 460 might be integrated in the standard Autoconf set, because this
 
 461 piece of 
<CODE>m4
</CODE> code will be the same for all projects using GNU
 
 462 <CODE>gettext
</CODE>.
 
 467 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC75" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC75"><TT>`acconfig.h'
</TT> at top level
</A></H3> 
 470 If you do not have an 
<TT>`acconfig.h'
</TT> file in your distribution, the
 
 471 simplest is use take a copy of 
<TT>`acconfig.h'
</TT> from GNU
 
 472 <CODE>gettext
</CODE>.  But to be precise, you only need the lines and comments
 
 473 for 
<CODE>ENABLE_NLS
</CODE>, 
<CODE>HAVE_CATGETS
</CODE>, 
<CODE>HAVE_GETTEXT
</CODE> and
 
 474 <CODE>HAVE_LC_MESSAGES
</CODE>, 
<CODE>HAVE_STPCPY
</CODE>, 
<CODE>PACKAGE
</CODE> and
 
 475 <CODE>VERSION
</CODE>, so you may use an editor and remove everything else.  If
 
 476 you already have an 
<TT>`acconfig.h'
</TT> file, then you should merge the
 
 477 said definitions into your 
<TT>`acconfig.h'
</TT>.
 
 482 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC76" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC76"><TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT> at top level
</A></H3> 
 485 Here are a few modifications you need to make to your main, top-level
 
 486 <TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT> file.
 
 493 Add the following lines near the beginning of your 
<TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT>,
 
 494 so the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal will work properly (as explained further down):
 
 504 Add file 
<TT>`ABOUT-NLS'
</TT> to the 
<CODE>DISTFILES
</CODE> definition, so the file gets
 
 509 Wherever you process subdirectories in your 
<TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT>, be sure
 
 510 you also process dir subdirectories 
<SAMP>`intl'
</SAMP> and 
<SAMP>`po'
</SAMP>.  Special
 
 511 rules in the 
<TT>`Makefiles'
</TT> take care for the case where no
 
 512 internationalization is wanted.
 
 514 If you are using Makefiles, either generated by automake, or hand-written
 
 515 so they carefully follow the GNU coding standards, the effected goals for
 
 516 which the new subdirectories must be handled include 
<SAMP>`installdirs'
</SAMP>,
 
 517 <SAMP>`install'
</SAMP>, 
<SAMP>`uninstall'
</SAMP>, 
<SAMP>`clean'
</SAMP>, 
<SAMP>`distclean'
</SAMP>.
 
 519 Here is an example of a canonical order of processing.  In this
 
 520 example, we also define 
<CODE>SUBDIRS
</CODE> in 
<CODE>Makefile.in
</CODE> for it
 
 521 to be further used in the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal.
 
 525 SUBDIRS = doc lib @INTLSUB@ src @POSUB@
 
 528 that you will have to adapt to your own package.
 
 532 A delicate point is the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal, as both
 
 533 <TT>`intl/Makefile'
</TT> and 
<TT>`po/Makefile'
</TT> will later assume that the
 
 534 proper directory has been set up from the main 
<TT>`Makefile'
</TT>.  Here is
 
 535 an example at what the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal might look like:
 
 539 distdir = $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)
 
 544         for file in $(DISTFILES); do \
 
 545           ln $$file $(distdir) 
2>/dev/null || cp -p $$file $(distdir); \
 
 547         for subdir in $(SUBDIRS); do \
 
 548           mkdir $(distdir)/$$subdir || exit 
1; \
 
 549           chmod 
777 $(distdir)/$$subdir; \
 
 550           (cd $$subdir 
&& $(MAKE) $@) || exit 
1; \
 
 552         tar chozf $(distdir).tar.gz $(distdir)
 
 560 <H3><A NAME=
"SEC77" HREF=
"gettext_toc.html#TOC77"><TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT> in 
<TT>`src/'
</TT></A></H3> 
 563 Some of the modifications made in the main 
<TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT> will
 
 564 also be needed in the 
<TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT> from your package sources,
 
 565 which we assume here to be in the 
<TT>`src/'
</TT> subdirectory.  Here are
 
 566 all the modifications needed in 
<TT>`src/Makefile.in'
</TT>:
 
 573 In view of the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal, you should have these lines near the
 
 574 beginning of 
<TT>`src/Makefile.in'
</TT>:
 
 584 If not done already, you should guarantee that 
<CODE>top_srcdir
</CODE> 
 585 gets defined.  This will serve for 
<CODE>cpp
</CODE> include files.  Just add
 
 590 top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@
 
 595 You might also want to define 
<CODE>subdir
</CODE> as 
<SAMP>`src'
</SAMP>, later
 
 596 allowing for almost uniform 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goals in all your
 
 597 <TT>`Makefile.in'
</TT>.  At list, the 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal below assume that
 
 607 You should ensure that the final linking will use 
<CODE>@INTLLIBS@
</CODE> as
 
 608 a library.  An easy way to achieve this is to manage that it gets into
 
 609 <CODE>LIBS
</CODE>, like this:
 
 613 LIBS = @INTLLIBS@ @LIBS@
 
 616 In most packages internationalized with GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE>, one will
 
 617 find a directory 
<TT>`lib/'
</TT> in which a library containing some helper
 
 618 functions will be build.  (You need at least the few functions which the
 
 619 GNU 
<CODE>gettext
</CODE> Library itself needs.)  However some of the functions
 
 620 in the 
<TT>`lib/'
</TT> also give messages to the user which of course should be
 
 621 translated, too.  Taking care of this it is not enough to place the support
 
 622 library (say 
<TT>`libsupport.a'
</TT>) just between the 
<CODE>@INTLLIBS@
</CODE> 
 623 and 
<CODE>@LIBS@
</CODE> in the above example.  Instead one has to write this:
 
 627 LIBS = ../lib/libsupport.a @INTLLIBS@ ../lib/libsupport.a @LIBS@
 
 632 You should also ensure that directory 
<TT>`intl/'
</TT> will be searched for
 
 633 C preprocessor include files in all circumstances.  So, you have to
 
 634 manage so both 
<SAMP>`-I../intl'
</SAMP> and 
<SAMP>`-I$(top_srcdir)/intl'
</SAMP> will
 
 635 be given to the C compiler.
 
 639 Your 
<SAMP>`dist:'
</SAMP> goal has to conform with others.  Here is a
 
 640 reasonable definition for it:
 
 644 distdir = ../$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 645 dist: Makefile $(DISTFILES)
 
 646         for file in $(DISTFILES); do \
 
 647           ln $$file $(distdir) 
2>/dev/null || cp -p $$file $(distdir); \
 
 654 <p>Go to the 
<A HREF=
"gettext_1.html">first
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_9.html">previous
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_11.html">next
</A>, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_12.html">last
</A> section, 
<A HREF=
"gettext_toc.html">table of contents
</A>.