Re: kernel support for non-english user messages

[Johannes Ruscheinski]

Also sprach Ulrich Drepper:
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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
> Red Hat         `--' drepper at redhat.com `---------------------------
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How about augmenting printk to generate an escape for all numeric format
items.  If we translate into English we just strip out the escapes, otherwise
we use the escapes to translate the numbers appropriately.