Error messages

[John F Haugh II]

In article <KSTAILEY.91Mar24102207 at wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu> kstailey at wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Kenneth Stailey) writes:
>Gee, doesn't POSIX 1003.2 require that most error messages are
>precisely specified in terms of the printf string that must be used to
>produce them.  The idea is that programs can grep for error strings,
>so they must be exact.  This means that close to 100% of the error
>strings must be changed.

The error message produced when you select "LANG=C" is supposed to be
the same traditional error message you get when you don't have NLS.

There are a number of commands which don't support "terse" (or
"traditional" - you make the value judgement) messages, and those
commands should be APAR'd as they are encountered.

>I can't wait to see what happens when the government bids can't be won
>without this because "designed to be POSIX compliant" isn't good
>enough.  ("designed to be" is IBMspeak for "isn't")

NLS is a fantastic idea.  It allows =other= languages to be supported
by changing the "LANG" variable.  It also allows for two sets of
"English" messages - one which says "%s not found" and one which says
"The file %s could not be found.  Please check file permissions."

The "I" in "IBM" stands for "International", and users in Germany
would prefer to get their errors auf Deutsche, nicht English.  The
fancy 7 digit number allows for a consistent reporting mechanism
between different languages.
-- 
John F. Haugh II      |      I've Been Moved     |    MaBellNet: (512) 838-4340
SneakerNet: 809/1D064 |          AGAIN !         |      VNET: LCCB386 at AUSVMQ
BangNet: ..!cs.utexas.edu!ibmchs!auschs!snowball.austin.ibm.com!jfh (e-i-e-i-o)