NAME

       bindtextdomain - set directory containing message catalogs

SYNOPSIS

       #include <libintl.h>

       char * bindtextdomain (const char * domainname, const char * dirname);

DESCRIPTION

       The  bindtextdomain  function  sets the base directory of the hierarchy containing message
       catalogs for a given message domain.

       A message domain is a set of translatable msgid messages. Usually, every software  package
       has  its  own  message domain. The need for calling bindtextdomain arises because packages
       are not always  installed  with  the  same  prefix  as  the  <libintl.h>  header  and  the
       libc/libintl libraries.

       Message  catalogs will be expected at the pathnames dirname/locale/category/domainname.mo,
       where locale is a locale name and category is a locale facet such as LC_MESSAGES.

       domainname must be a non-empty string.

       If dirname is not NULL, the base  directory  for  message  catalogs  belonging  to  domain
       domainname is set to dirname. The function makes copies of the argument strings as needed.
       If the program wishes to call the chdir function, it  is  important  that  dirname  be  an
       absolute  pathname;  otherwise  it  cannot be guaranteed that the message catalogs will be
       found.

       If dirname is NULL, the function returns the previously  set  base  directory  for  domain
       domainname.

RETURN VALUE

       If  successful,  the bindtextdomain function returns the current base directory for domain
       domainname, after possibly changing it. The resulting  string  is  valid  until  the  next
       bindtextdomain call for the same domainname and must not be modified or freed. If a memory
       allocation failure occurs, it sets errno to ENOMEM and returns NULL.

ERRORS

       The following error can occur, among others:

       ENOMEM Not enough memory available.

BUGS

       The return type ought to be const char *, but is char  *  to  avoid  warnings  in  C  code
       predating ANSI C.

SEE ALSO

       gettext(3),   dgettext(3),   dcgettext(3),   ngettext(3),   dngettext(3),   dcngettext(3),
       textdomain(3), realpath(3)