meson/docs/markdown/i18n-module.md

I18n module

This module provides internationalisation and localisation functionality.

Usage

To use this module, just do: i18n = import('i18n'). The following functions will then be available as methods on the object with the name i18n. You can, of course, replace the name i18n with anything else.

i18n.gettext()

Sets up gettext localisation so that translations are built and placed into their proper locations during install. Takes one positional argument which is the name of the gettext module.

• args: list of extra arguments to pass to xgettext when generating the pot file
• data_dirs: (Added 0.36.0) list of directories to be set for GETTEXTDATADIRS env var (Requires gettext 0.19.8+), used for local its files
• languages: list of languages that are to be generated. As of 0.37.0 this is optional and the LINGUAS file is read.
• preset: (Added 0.37.0) name of a preset list of arguments, current option is 'glib', see source for for their value
• install: (Added 0.43.0) if false, do not install the built translations.
• install_dir: (Added 0.50.0) override default install location, default is localedir

This function also defines targets for maintainers to use: Note: These output to the source directory

• <project_id>-pot: runs xgettext to regenerate the pot file
• <project_id>-update-po: regenerates the .po files from current .pot file
• <project_id>-gmo: builds the translations without installing

(since 0.60.0) Returns a list containing:

• a list of built .mo files
• the maintainer -pot target
• the maintainer -update-po target

i18n.merge_file()

This merges translations into a text file using msgfmt. See custom_target for normal keywords. In addition it accepts these keywords:

• output: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• install_dir: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• install_tag: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• data_dirs: (Added 0.41.0) list of directories for its files (See also i18n.gettext())
• po_dir: directory containing translations, relative to current directory
• type: type of file, valid options are 'xml' (default) and 'desktop'
• args: (Added 0.51.0) list of extra arguments to pass to msgfmt

Added 0.37.0

i18n.itstool_join()

This joins translations into a XML file using itstool. See custom_target for normal keywords. In addition it accepts these keywords:

• output: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• install_dir: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• install_tag: same as custom_target but only accepts one item
• its_files: filenames of ITS files that should be used explicitly (XML translation rules are autodetected otherwise).
• mo_targets required: mo file generation targets as returned by i18n.gettext().

Added 0.62.0