[gmpi] Re: 3.19 Localization

On Mon, Oct 04, 2004 at 09:23:19AM -0400, Ron Kuper wrote:
> I don't understand the gettext() requirement.  How can a host possibly
> know how to translate all or any of the strings required for use by the
> plugin?  It seems to me that if a plugin wants to translate strings it
> should provide the translated strings themselves? 

If the where and how of string storage is well known, then the host or a
single shared lib can do the work, instead of each plugin doing it
themselves.  That's what gettext does.  Gettext does a lot more, I think,
which we may or may not need, too.

Or we could just say that localization is a plugin's responsibility, and
the host will merely make language preferences available.  I don't really
care much.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gmpi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gmpi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Tim Hockin
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 1:42 AM
> To: gmpi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [gmpi] Re: 3.19 Localization
> 
> No more objections?
> 
> 
> * GMPI plugins must be localizeable.  The host must expose the current
>   language settings to plugins.
> 
> * All user-visible plugin strings must be localizeable, with the
>   corollary that all identifiers that are used by the host must stay
>   consistent.  For example, a parameter might have the name 'FOO' which
> is
>   constant, and a display name, "Foo Frequency" which is localizable.
> 
> * GMPI must provide a simple string encoding and translation interface,
>   similar to gettext(), which plugins can rely on to get automatic
>   translation of their strings.
> 
> More:
>   The simplest localization that a plugin can do is to display strings
> in
>   different languages.  GMPI should make this really trivial for
> plugins.
>   By providing a simple string lookup system, plugins can rely entirely
> on
>   GMPI to do the lookups of localized strings.  Further, if the
> translated
>   strings are stored in a standardized format in a standardized place,
>   then the host can also easilty translate strings for the plugin.
> 
>   Example:  Assume that the strings for a plugin with ID 'FOO' are
> stored
>   in a file in the same directory as the shared object for FOO.  English
>   strings are stored in FOO-en.strings, French strings in
> FOO-fr.strings,
>   and Japanese strings in FOO-jp.strings.  The host knows that the
> current
>   user has selected French for the locale.  The host can automatically
>   lookup strings in FOO-fr.strings.
> 
>   This is similar to how the gettext() API works.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Generalized Music Plugin Interface (GMPI) public discussion list
> Participation in this list is contingent upon your abiding by the
> following rules:  Please stay on topic.  You are responsible for your
> own
> words.  Please respect your fellow subscribers.  Please do not
> redistribute anyone else's words without their permission.
> 
> Archive: http://www.freelists.org/archives/gmpi
> Email gmpi-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx w/ subject "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Generalized Music Plugin Interface (GMPI) public discussion list
> Participation in this list is contingent upon your abiding by the
> following rules:  Please stay on topic.  You are responsible for your own
> words.  Please respect your fellow subscribers.  Please do not
> redistribute anyone else's words without their permission.
> 
> Archive: http://www.freelists.org/archives/gmpi
> Email gmpi-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx w/ subject "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe

-- 
Tim Hockin
thockin@xxxxxxxxxx
Soon anyone who's not on the World Wide Web will qualify for a government 
subsidy for the home-pageless.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Generalized Music Plugin Interface (GMPI) public discussion list
Participation in this list is contingent upon your abiding by the
following rules:  Please stay on topic.  You are responsible for your own
words.  Please respect your fellow subscribers.  Please do not
redistribute anyone else's words without their permission.

Archive: http://www.freelists.org/archives/gmpi
Email gmpi-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx w/ subject "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe

Other related posts: