File: gettext.info,  Node: INSTALL Matters,  Next: Using This Package,  Up: The original ABOUT-NLS

18.2.1 INSTALL Matters
----------------------

   Some packages are “localizable” when properly installed; the programs
they contain can be made to speak your own native language.  Most such
packages use GNU ‘gettext’.  Other packages have their own ways to
internationalization, predating GNU ‘gettext’.

   By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
messages.  It will automatically detect whether the system already
provides the GNU ‘gettext’ functions.  Installers may use special
options at configuration time for changing the default behaviour.  The
command:

     ./configure --disable-nls

will _totally_ disable translation of messages.

   When you already have GNU ‘gettext’ installed on your system and run
configure without an option for your new package, ‘configure’ will
probably detect the previously built and installed ‘libintl’ library and
will decide to use it.  If not, you may have to to use the
‘--with-libintl-prefix’ option to tell ‘configure’ where to look for it.

   Internationalized packages usually have many ‘po/LL.po’ or
‘po/LL_CC.po’ files, where

   • LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language.  For
     some languages, a two-letter code does not exist, and a
     three-letter code is used instead.
   • The optional CC is an ISO 3166 two-letter code of a country or
     territory.

Unless translations have been forbidden at ‘configure’ time by using the
‘--disable-nls’ switch, all available translations are installed
together with the package.  However, the environment variable ‘LINGUAS’
may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
‘LINGUAS’ should then contain a space separated list of locale names (of
the form ‘LL’ or ‘LL_CC’, stating which languages or language variants
are allowed.