bindtextdomain(3)

NAME

   bindtextdomain - set directory containing message catalogs

SYNOPSIS

   #include <libintl.h>

   char * bindtextdomain (const char * domainname, const char * dirname);

DESCRIPTION

   The  bindtextdomain  function  sets the base directory of the hierarchy
   containing message catalogs for a given message domain.

   A message domain is a set  of  translatable  msgid  messages.  Usually,
   every software package has its own message domain. The need for calling
   bindtextdomain arises because packages are not  always  installed  with
   the  same  prefix  as  the  <libintl.h>  header  and  the  libc/libintl
   libraries.

   Message    catalogs    will    be    expected    at    the    pathnames
   dirname/locale/category/domainname.mo,  where  locale  is a locale name
   and category is a locale facet such as LC_MESSAGES.

   domainname must be a non-empty string.

   If dirname is  not  NULL,  the  base  directory  for  message  catalogs
   belonging  to  domain  domainname is set to dirname. The function makes
   copies of the argument strings as needed. If the program wishes to call
   the  chdir  function,  it  is  important  that  dirname  be an absolute
   pathname; otherwise it cannot be guaranteed that the  message  catalogs
   will be found.

   If  dirname  is  NULL,  the  function  returns  the previously set base
   directory for domain domainname.

RETURN VALUE

   If successful, the bindtextdomain function  returns  the  current  base
   directory  for  domain  domainname,  after  possibly  changing  it. The
   resulting string is valid until the next bindtextdomain  call  for  the
   same  domainname  and  must  not  be  modified  or  freed.  If a memory
   allocation failure occurs, it sets errno to ENOMEM and returns NULL.

ERRORS

   The following error can occur, among others:

   ENOMEM Not enough memory available.

BUGS

   The return type ought to be const char  *,  but  is  char  *  to  avoid
   warnings in C code predating ANSI C.

SEE ALSO

   gettext(3),   dgettext(3),   dcgettext(3),  ngettext(3),  dngettext(3),
   dcngettext(3), textdomain(3), realpath(3)

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