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diff --git a/src/php-gettext/README b/src/php-gettext/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bca4f91 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/php-gettext/README @@ -0,0 +1,161 @@ +PHP-gettext 1.0 (https://launchpad.net/php-gettext) + +Copyright 2003, 2006, 2009 -- Danilo "angry with PHP[1]" Segan +Licensed under GPLv2 (or any later version, see COPYING) + +[1] PHP is actually cyrillic, and translates roughly to + "works-doesn't-work" (UTF-8: Ради-Не-Ради) + + +Introduction + + How many times did you look for a good translation tool, and + found out that gettext is best for the job? Many times. + + How many times did you try to use gettext in PHP, but failed + miserably, because either your hosting provider didn't support + it, or the server didn't have adequate locale? Many times. + + Well, this is a solution to your needs. It allows using gettext + tools for managing translations, yet it doesn't require gettext + library at all. It parses generated MO files directly, and thus + might be a bit slower than the (maybe provided) gettext library. + + PHP-gettext is a simple reader for GNU gettext MO files. Those + are binary containers for translations, produced by GNU msgfmt. + +Why? + + I got used to having gettext work even without gettext + library. It's there in my favourite language Python, so I was + surprised that I couldn't find it in PHP. I even Googled for it, + but to no avail. + + So, I said, what the heck, I'm going to write it for this + disguisting language of PHP, because I'm often constrained to it. + +Features + + o Support for simple translations + Just define a simple alias for translate() function (suggested + use of _() or gettext(); see provided example). + + o Support for ngettext calls (plural forms, see a note under bugs) + You may also use plural forms. Translations in MO files need to + provide this, and they must also provide "plural-forms" header. + Please see 'info gettext' for more details. + + o Support for reading straight files, or strings (!!!) + Since I can imagine many different backends for reading in the MO + file data, I used imaginary abstract class StreamReader to do all + the input (check streams.php). For your convenience, I've already + provided two classes for reading files: FileReader and + StringReader (CachedFileReader is a combination of the two: it + loads entire file contents into a string, and then works on that). + See example below for usage. You can for instance use StringReader + when you read in data from a database, or you can create your own + derivative of StreamReader for anything you like. + + +Bugs + + Report them on https://bugs.launchpad.net/php-gettext + +Usage + + Put files streams.php and gettext.php somewhere you can load them + from, and require 'em in where you want to use them. + + Then, create one 'stream reader' (a class that provides functions + like read(), seekto(), currentpos() and length()) which will + provide data for the 'gettext_reader', with eg. + $streamer = new FileStream('data.mo'); + + Then, use that as a parameter to gettext_reader constructor: + $wohoo = new gettext_reader($streamer); + + If you want to disable pre-loading of entire message catalog in + memory (if, for example, you have a multi-thousand message catalog + which you'll use only occasionally), use "false" for second + parameter to gettext_reader constructor: + $wohoo = new gettext_reader($streamer, false); + + From now on, you have all the benefits of gettext data at your + disposal, so may run: + print $wohoo->translate("This is a test"); + print $wohoo->ngettext("%d bird", "%d birds", $birds); + + You might need to pass parameter "-k" to xgettext to make it + extract all the strings. In above example, try with + xgettext -ktranslate -kngettext:1,2 file.php + what should create messages.po which contains two messages for + translation. + + I suggest creating simple aliases for these functions (see + example/pigs.php for how do I do it, which means it's probably a + bad way). + + +Usage with gettext.inc (standard gettext interfaces emulation) + + Check example in examples/pig_dropin.php, basically you include + gettext.inc and use all the standard gettext interfaces as + documented on: + + http://www.php.net/gettext + + The only catch is that you can check return value of setlocale() + to see if your locale is system supported or not. + + +Example + + See in examples/ subdirectory. There are a couple of files. + pigs.php is an example, serbian.po is a translation to Serbian + language, and serbian.mo is generated with + msgfmt -o serbian.mo serbian.po + There is also simple "update" script that can be used to generate + POT file and to update the translation using msgmerge. + +TODO: + + o Improve speed to be even more comparable to the native gettext + implementation. + + o Try to use hash tables in MO files: with pre-loading, would it + be useful at all? + +Never-asked-questions: + + o Why did you mark this as version 1.0 when this is the first code + release? + + Well, it's quite simple. I consider that the first released thing + should be labeled "version 1" (first, right?). Zero is there to + indicate that there's zero improvement and/or change compared to + "version 1". + + I plan to use version numbers 1.0.* for small bugfixes, and to + release 1.1 as "first stable release of version 1". + + This may trick someone that this is actually useful software, but + as with any other free software, I take NO RESPONSIBILITY for + creating such a masterpiece that will smoke crack, trash your + hard disk, and make lasers in your CD device dance to the tune of + Mozart's 40th Symphony (there is one like that, right?). + + o Can I...? + + Yes, you can. This is free software (as in freedom, free speech), + and you might do whatever you wish with it, provided you do not + limit freedom of others (GPL). + + I'm considering licensing this under LGPL, but I *do* want + *every* PHP-gettext user to contribute and respect ideas of free + software, so don't count on it happening anytime soon. + + I'm sorry that I'm taking away your freedom of taking others' + freedom away, but I believe that's neglible as compared to what + freedoms you could take away. ;-) + + Uhm, whatever. |