Message customization/localization system
David Taylor <davidt@yadt.co.uk>

$Id: message-customisation.txt,v 1.3 2001/04/01 22:06:49 ejb Exp $

Please send any comments, questions, flames or suggestions to the
above address :)

How to use gettext() support
----------------------------
Assuming ircd-hybrid is compiled on a machine which supports gettext(),
configure should automatically enable gettext() support, although this
support can be explicitly disabled by removing the definition of MSGPATH in
include/config.h

If gettext() support is disabled, ircd-hybrid will use the default compiled
in messages in src/messages.tab.

If gettext() support is enabled, ircd-hybrid will attempt to load the
messages from MSGPATH/<selected locale>/LC_MESSAGES/ircd-hybrid.mo.

The selected locale can be set in the ircd.conf file, or by setting the
LANGUAGE environment variable before running ircd-hybrid.  It can also be
changed at run time using /quote set MSGLOCALE <new locale>.  Setting a
locale that does not exist will cause ircd-hybrid to fall back on the
compiled in standard messages.

Currently available locales are:
	custom		These are the messages you would have seen if
			you used the old CUSTOM_ERR define in config.h.
	ayb		'All Your Base'-type messages.
	standard	(This doesn't actually exist as a locale, but
			 using a non-existent locale will use the compiled
			 in defaults).

Customizing the messages
------------------------
In messages/, run ./create_po with the name of the new po file
(<locale>.po), and add the new po file to Makefile.in.

Then simply change any messages in the template file that you want to (""
will cause gettext() to use the original message, unchanged), and run make.

If any messages in the hybrid tree are added/removed, running make mrupdate
will attempt to merge the changes into the po file, and will add any new
messages to the end of the file.

Running make install should install the compiled .mo file in the correct
place.

Notes
-----
Any message that should be translated should either be in src/messages.tab
(if it's a numeric), or else should be written as _("string") instead of
"string", which allows gettext() to translate it, if it's enabled, and also
allows create_po to pick it up as a translatable string.