Re: kernel support for non-english user messages

Ulrich Drepper
2003-04-09T22:44:49Z

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Frank Davis wrote:

> "My suggestion would be to add the required i18n support to klogd, so
> that kernel messages are translated as they are removed from dmesg into
> syslog. Then, like any i18n support,

This is _not_ like any i18n support. The problem is that normal
translation support a la gettext or catgets() see the format strings and
not the results. Translating format strings is easy, translating
results isn't since the translation part has to take the expansion of
the format elements into account.

For numeric format elements this might be possible. But not without
major problems with %s. Take hostnames or filenames, which could in
theory contain spaces <U0020>. You'd have to match using complex
regular expressions.

Another problem is the explosion of messages. Message lines are often
composed from different sources. If you see only the end result you'll
have to account for all the different combinations.

I don't say this is impossible, but it is a lot more work, a much more
complex and slower translation mechanism, and (most critical) requires
very strict rules for the creation of messages in the kernel. I think
the latter point is the killer.

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Ulrich Drepper \ ,-----------------' \ Mountain View, CA 94041 USA
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