.\" Copyright (c) Bruno Haible .\" .\" This is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or .\" modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as .\" published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of .\" the License, or (at your option) any later version. .\" .\" References consulted: .\" GNU glibc-2 source code and manual .\" GNU gettext source code and manual .\" LI18NUX 2000 Globalization Specification .\" .TH BINDTEXTDOMAIN 3 "May 2001" "GNU gettext 0.20.1.124-32cf" .SH NAME bindtextdomain \- set directory containing message catalogs .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B #include .sp .BI "char * bindtextdomain (const char * " domainname ", const char * " dirname ); .fi .SH DESCRIPTION The \fBbindtextdomain\fP function sets the base directory of the hierarchy containing message catalogs for a given message domain. .PP A message domain is a set of translatable \fImsgid\fP messages. Usually, every software package has its own message domain. The need for calling \fBbindtextdomain\fP arises because packages are not always installed with the same prefix as the header and the libc/libintl libraries. .PP Message catalogs will be expected at the pathnames \fIdirname\fP/\fIlocale\fP/\fIcategory\fP/\fIdomainname\fP.mo, where \fIlocale\fP is a locale name and \fIcategory\fP is a locale facet such as \fBLC_MESSAGES\fP. .PP \fIdomainname\fP must be a non-empty string. .PP If \fIdirname\fP is not NULL, the base directory for message catalogs belonging to domain \fIdomainname\fP is set to \fIdirname\fP. The function makes copies of the argument strings as needed. If the program wishes to call the \fBchdir\fP function, it is important that \fIdirname\fP be an absolute pathname; otherwise it cannot be guaranteed that the message catalogs will be found. .PP If \fIdirname\fP is NULL, the function returns the previously set base directory for domain \fIdomainname\fP. .SH "RETURN VALUE" If successful, the \fBbindtextdomain\fP function returns the current base directory for domain \fIdomainname\fP, after possibly changing it. The resulting string is valid until the next \fBbindtextdomain\fP call for the same \fIdomainname\fP and must not be modified or freed. If a memory allocation failure occurs, it sets \fBerrno\fP to \fBENOMEM\fP and returns NULL. .SH ERRORS The following error can occur, among others: .TP .B ENOMEM Not enough memory available. .SH BUGS The return type ought to be \fBconst char *\fP, but is \fBchar *\fP to avoid warnings in C code predating ANSI C. .SH "SEE ALSO" .BR gettext (3), .BR dgettext (3), .BR dcgettext (3), .BR ngettext (3), .BR dngettext (3), .BR dcngettext (3), .BR textdomain (3), .BR realpath (3)