Starting with version 2.00, Gcal is able to display message texts using any
native languages instead of using the English language only, because parts of
the GNU gettext
package are integrated into the Software.
See section `Introduction' in GNU gettext tools,
for more details.
By default, Gcal displays all message texts using the English native language in case no other native language is wanted. A so-called message catalog is read by Gcal at run-time if message texts from another native language are required. Gcal 2.40 supports the following native languages:
@multitable @columnfractions .33 .66
en
de
fr
nl
sv
It is only necessary to set one of the environment variables (63): @multitable @columnfractions .04 .96
LANGUAGE
LC_ALL
LC_MESSAGES
LANG
with a language code to select another native language instead of the
English native language.
Normally, users only have to set the LANG
environment variable to tell
Gcal the native language to use at run-time level. Presuming users want to
run Gcal using the German native language for displaying message texts, they
merely have to execute `setenv LANG de' (in csh
) or
`export LANG; LANG=de' (in sh
) at the shell prompt. Of course
they could even do this from their `.login' or `.profile' file.
See section `The User's View' in GNU gettext tools,
for more details.
As shown above, a simple setting of de
in the environment variable
LANG
is sufficient to enable German message texts. de
is the
two-letter language code for the German language defined in the
ISO-639:1988, and is called simple language code information
in the further context. Other language codes can be taken from this
ISO-document (64).
Because Gcal as calendar program must also comply the specifics of a used
native language concerning the ordering of day, month and year (and further
things) of a displayed date, the period of Gregorian Reformation and the
representation of calendar sheets, these criteria are likewise bound to the
language code (65).
A en
language code effects the following internal defaults of above
criteria:
September 1994 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
de
language code (66)
effects the following internal defaults:
September 1994 Monday 5 12 19 26 Tuesday 6 13 20 27 Wednesday 7 14 21 28 Thursday 1 8 15 22 29 Friday 2 9 16 23 30 Saturday 3 10 17 24 Sunday 4 11 18 25
If no language code is detected, Gcal takes the internal defaults of the
en
language code (67).
If a language code is specified for which no message catalog is
installed, Gcal takes the internal defaults of the de
language code,
but displays the message texts using the English native language. Actually,
this behavior seems to me the most proper solution in such a case. The English
native language is spoken all over the world unlike the German or other native
languages, so it is wise to use it here. But the other criteria bound to the
English native language are so special for users of other native languages,
that it is wise to use the criteria taken for internal defaults of the
de
language code, because most European countries (taken as standard)
essentially use them.
Now British users will certainly ask whether they could use their date format
as an internal default (68). The answer
to this is a simple yes, nevertheless, these users have to set the
environment variable LANG
with an extended language code
information instead of a simple language code information.
The usual template of an extended language code information is as follows:
language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]
language[_territory][+audience][+special][,sponsor][_revision]
LANG
environment variable with
a en_GB
contents, and after that, they can use the British date format
as an internal default.
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