NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       bindtextdomain - set directory containing message catalogs

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       #include <libintl.h>

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

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       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/cate-
       gory/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    [Toc]    [Back]

       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    [Toc]    [Back]

       The following error can occur, among others:

       ENOMEM Not enough memory available.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

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



GNU gettext 0.10.40		   May 2001		     BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)