Bug#258327: xgettext seems to overquote sh strings

[barbier@linuxfr.org (Denis Barbier)]

On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 02:47:10PM -0700, Martin Quinson wrote:
> Package: gettext
> Version: 0.14.1-2
> Severity: normal
> 
> Hi there,
> 
> When asked to extract the following line:
> INVALID_BASENAME=$(gettext 'Invalid basename: %s.\n')
> 
> xgettext produce the following entry in the pot:
> #: util/orphaner.sh:47
> #, sh-format
> msgid "Invalid basename: %s.\\n"
> msgstr ""
> 
> It looks like there is a \ too much. This is at least disorienting for
> translators. Why should it be treated different from the C equivalent?

Hi Martin,

In C, '\n' is the ASCII character 0x0a, whereas it is interpreted as
0x5c 0x6e by shells.  Some applications may interpret C escapes, but
one should not rely on it.  Gettext documentation tells that newlines
should be added with an extra echo without argument, e.g.
   gettext 'Hello, world.'
   echo

Denis