mkmsgs(1)       UNIX System V(System Administration Utilities)        mkmsgs(1)


NAME
      mkmsgs - create message files for use by gettxt

SYNOPSIS
      mkmsgs [-o] [-i locale] inputstrings msgfile

DESCRIPTION
      The mkmsgs utility is used to create a file of text strings that can be
      accessed using the text retrieval tools (see gettxt(1), srchtxt(1),
      exstr(1), and gettxt(3C)).  It will take as input a file of text strings
      for a particular geographic locale (see setlocale(3C)) and create a file
      of text strings in a format that can be retrieved by both gettxt(1) and
      gettxt(3C).  By using the -i option, you can install the created file
      under the /usr/lib/locale/locale/LCMESSAGES directory (locale
      corresponds to the language in which the text strings are written).

      inputstrings
                  the name of the file that contains the original text strings.

      msgfile     the name of the output file where mkmsgs writes the strings
                  in a format that is readable by gettxt(1) and gettxt(3C).
                  The name of msgfile can be up to 14 characters in length, but
                  may not contain either \0 (null) or the ASCII code for /
                  (slash) or :  (colon).

      -i locale   install msgfile in the /usr/lib/locale/locale/LCMESSAGES
                  directory.  Only someone who is super-user or a member of
                  group bin can create or overwrite files in this directory.
                  Directories under /usr/lib/locale will be created if they
                  don't exist.

      -o          overwrite msgfile, if it exists.

      The input file contains a set of text strings for the particular
      geographic locale.  Text strings are separated by a new-line character.
      Nongraphic characters must be represented as alphabetic escape sequences.
      Messages are transformed and copied sequentially from inputstrings to
      msgfile.  To generate an empty message in msgfile, leave an empty line at
      the correct place in inputstrings.

      Strings can be changed simply by editing the file inputstrings.  New
      strings must be added only at the end of the file; then a new msgfile
      file must be created and installed in the correct place.  If this
      procedure is not followed, the retrieval function will retrieve the wrong
      string and software compatibility will be broken.

EXAMPLES
      The following example shows an input message source file C.str:
            File %s:\t cannot be opened\n
            %s: Bad directory\n
                  .
                  .


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mkmsgs(1)       UNIX System V(System Administration Utilities)        mkmsgs(1)


                  .
            write error\n
                  .
                  .

      The following command uses the input strings from C.str to create text
      strings in the appropriate format in the file UX in the current
      directory:
            mkmsgs C.str UX

      The following command uses the input strings from FR.str to create text
      strings in the appropriate format in the file UX in the directory
      /usr/lib/locale/french/LCMESSAGES/UX.
            mkmsgs -i french FR.str UX

      These text strings would be accessed if you had set the environment
      variable LCMESSAGES=french and then invoked one of the text retrieval
      tools listed at the beginning of the DESCRIPTION section.

FILES
      /usr/lib/locale/locale/LCMESSAGES/*   message files created by
                                             mkmsgs(1M)

SEE ALSO
      exstr(1), gettxt(1), srchtxt(1).
      gettxt(3C), setlocale(3C) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.




























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