About This Manual

The Tru64 UNIX (formerly DIGITAL UNIX) internationalization tools and routines allow you to write programs for use in a number of nations. These features let you write programs with:

Audience

This guide is intended for experienced applications developers who are writing programs intended for multinational or non-English language use. Translators who translate the messages displayed by international programs might also find this guide useful.

New and Changed Features

This manual was produced for Tru64 UNIX Version 5.0. The following section discusses changes made for this revision of the manual. For the benefit of customers who are upgrading from a Version 3 rather than a Version 4 release, changes made to the manual for Versions 4.0F and 4.0 are included in subsequent sections.

New and Changed Features for Tru64 UNIX Version 5.0

This version of the manual was revised to describe the following new features:

In addition, this manual was revised to include a replacement Latin-1 locale source example in Chapter 7 and Appendix E and to correct various omissions, inaccuracies, and typographical errors.

New and Changed Features for Tru64 UNIX Version 4.0F

The version of this manual produced for Tru64 UNIX Version 4.0F was revised to discuss the following features:

New and Changed Features for DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0

The version of this manual produced for DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0 was revised to discuss the following features:

In addition, a glossary was added to the manual.

Organization

This guide includes seven chapters, five appendixes, and a glossary.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Introduces the basic concepts and procedures for writing programs that meet the needs of international users.
Chapter 2

Developing Internationalized Software

Discusses techniques for handling character sets, cultural data, and language in an application.
Chapter 3

Creating and Using Message Catalogs

Explains how to extract and translate text for messages, and how to generate and access message catalogs.
Chapter 4

Handling Wide-Character Data with curses Routines

Describes the curses library routines for handling wide-character data and discusses terminal-programming extensions for drawing ruled lines in a DECterm window.
Chapter 5

Creating Internationalized X, Xt, and Motif Applications

Discusses how to use GUI programming libraries (X, OSF/Motif, and DECwindows Extensions to OSF/Motif) when writing internationalized programs.
Chapter 6

Using Internationalized Software

From a programmer's perspective, discusses setup requirements for using applications in different language environments. This chapter also explains how to use Tru64 UNIX commands and other applications in a multilanguage working environment.
Chapter 7

Creating Locales

Discusses the source files for a locale and how to process them with the localedef utility.
Appendix A

Summary Tables of Worldwide Portability Interfaces

Lists and summarizes internationalized functions for locale initialization, character classification, case conversion, character collation, language information, date and time interpretation, printing and scanning text strings, number conversion, handling multibyte characters, input/output, and string manipulation.
Appendix B

Setting Up and Using User-Defined Character Databases

Describes support for user-defined characters (UDCs) in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Appendix C

Setting Up and Using the Chinese Phrase Input Method

Describes support for phrase input that is used with Chinese.
Appendix D

Using DECterm Localization Features in Programs

Describes programming features specific to the dxterm terminal emulator.
Appendix E

Sample Locale Source Files

Contains complete source files for the sample locale discussed in Chapter 7.
Glossary

Defines terms and acronyms used in this book.

Related Documentation

The following manuals in the Tru64 UNIX documentation set provide information about using the C compiler and other program development tools on a Tru64 UNIX system. If you are developing internationalized applications, refer to these manuals for general programming information.

The following book, published by O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., is also a good reference:

Programmer's Supplement for Release 5 of the X Window System, Version 11

The following standards or draft standards apply to software components discussed in this guide. This guide refers to some of these documents.

The following book provides information about cultural and linguistic requirements around the world and the changes needed in computer systems to handle those requirements:

Articles in the following technical journal cover topics related to product internationalization:

Icons on Tru64 UNIX Printed Books

The printed version of the Tru64 UNIX documentation uses letter icons on the spines of the books to help specific audiences quickly find the books that meet their needs. (You can order the printed documentation from Compaq.) The following list describes this convention:

  G Books for general users
  S Books for system and network administrators
  P Books for programmers
  D Books for device driver writers
  R Books for reference page users

Some books in the documentation help meet the needs of several audiences. For example, the information in some system books is also used by programmers. Keep this in mind when searching for information on specific topics.

The Documentation Overview provides information on all of the books in the Tru64 UNIX documentation set.

Reader's Comments

Compaq welcomes any comments and suggestions you have on this and other Tru64 UNIX manuals.

You can send your comments in the following ways:

Please include the following information along with your comments:

The Tru64 UNIX Publications group cannot respond to system problems or technical support inquiries. Please address technical questions to your local system vendor or to the appropriate Compaq technical support office. Information provided with the software media explains how to send problem reports to Compaq.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this manual:

%
$

A percent sign represents the C shell system prompt. A dollar sign represents the system prompt for the Bourne and Korn shells.

#

A number sign represents the superuser prompt.

% cat

Boldface type in interactive examples indicates typed user input.

file

Italic (slanted) type indicates variable values, placeholders, and function argument names.

[ | ]
{ | }

In syntax definitions, brackets indicate items that are optional and braces indicate items that are required. Vertical bars separating items inside brackets or braces indicate that you choose one item from among those listed.

. . .

In syntax definitions, a horizontal ellipsis indicates that the preceding item can be repeated one or more times.


.
.
.

A vertical ellipsis indicates that a portion of an example that would normally be present is not shown.

cat(1)

A cross-reference to a reference page includes the appropriate section number in parentheses. For example, cat(1) indicates that you can find information on the cat command in Section 1 of the reference pages.

Ctrl-x

This symbol indicates that you hold down the first named key while pressing the key or mouse button that follows the hyphen, for example, Ctrl-c.

Alt x

Multiple key or mouse button names separated by spaces indicate that you press and release each in sequence, for example, Alt Space.