GNU gettext utilities - Producing Binary MO Files

Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.

# Producing Binary MO Files

## Invoking the `msgfmt` Program

    Usage: msgfmt [option] filename.po ...

``-a number'`
``--alignment=number'`
  Align strings to number bytes (default: 1).
``-h'`
``--help'`
  Display this help and exit.
``--no-hash'`
  Binary file will not include the hash table.
``-o file'`
``--output-file=file'`
  Specify output file name as file.
``--strict'`
  Direct the program to work strictly following the Uniforum/Sun implementation. Currently this only affects the naming of the output file. If this option is not given the name of the output file is the same as the domain name. If the strict Uniforum mode is enable the suffix ``.mo'` is added to the file name if it is not already present. We find this behaviour of Sun's implementation rather silly and so by default this mode is not selected.
``-v'`
``--verbose'`
  Detect and diagnose input file anomalies which might represent translation errors. The `msgid` and `msgstr` strings are studied and compared. It is considered abnormal that one string starts or ends with a newline while the other does not. Also, if the string represents a format string used in a `printf`-like function both strings should have the same number of ``%'` format specifiers, with matching types. If the flag `c-format` or `possible-c-format` appears in the special comment `#,` for this entry a check is performed. For example, the check will diagnose using ``%.*s'` against ``%s'`, or ``%d'` against ``%s'`, or ``%d'` against ``%x'`. It can even handle positional parameters. Normally the `xgettext` program automatically decides whether a string is a format string or not. This algorithm is not perfect, though. It might regard a string as a format string though it is not used in a `printf`-like function and so `msgfmt` might report errors where there are none. Or the other way round: a string is not regarded as a format string but it is used in a `printf`-like function. So solve this problem the programmer can dictate the decision to the `xgettext` program (see section Special Comments preceding Keywords). The translator should not consider removing the flag from the `#,` line. This "fix" would be reversed again as soon as `msgmerge` is called the next time.
``-V'`
``--version'`
  Output version information and exit.

If input file is ``-'`, standard input is read. If output file is ``-'`, output is written to standard output.

## The Format of GNU MO Files

The format of the generated MO files is best described by a picture, which appears below.

The first two words serve the identification of the file. The magic number will always signal GNU MO files. The number is stored in the byte order of the generating machine, so the magic number really is two numbers: `0x950412de` and `0xde120495`. The second word describes the current revision of the file format. For now the revision is 0. This might change in future versions, and ensures that the readers of MO files can distinguish new formats from old ones, so that both can be handled correctly. The version is kept separate from the magic number, instead of using different magic numbers for different formats, mainly because ``/etc/magic'` is not updated often. It might be better to have magic separated from internal format version identification.

Follow a number of pointers to later tables in the file, allowing for the extension of the prefix part of MO files without having to recompile programs reading them. This might become useful for later inserting a few flag bits, indication about the charset used, new tables, or other things.

Then, at offset O and offset T in the picture, two tables of string descriptors can be found. In both tables, each string descriptor uses two 32 bits integers, one for the string length, another for the offset of the string in the MO file, counting in bytes from the start of the file. The first table contains descriptors for the original strings, and is sorted so the original strings are in increasing lexicographical order. The second table contains descriptors for the translated strings, and is parallel to the first table: to find the corresponding translation one has to access the array slot in the second array with the same index.

Having the original strings sorted enables the use of simple binary search, for when the MO file does not contain an hashing table, or for when it is not practical to use the hashing table provided in the MO file. This also has another advantage, as the empty string in a PO file GNU `gettext` is usually translated into some system information attached to that particular MO file, and the empty string necessarily becomes the first in both the original and translated tables, making the system information very easy to find.

The size S of the hash table can be zero. In this case, the hash table itself is not contained in the MO file. Some people might prefer this because a precomputed hashing table takes disk space, and does not win that much speed. The hash table contains indices to the sorted array of strings in the MO file. Conflict resolution is done by double hashing. The precise hashing algorithm used is fairly dependent of GNU `gettext` code, and is not documented here.

As for the strings themselves, they follow the hash file, and each is terminated with a `NUL`, and this `NUL` is not counted in the length which appears in the string descriptor. The `msgfmt` program has an option selecting the alignment for MO file strings. With this option, each string is separately aligned so it starts at an offset which is a multiple of the alignment value. On some RISC machines, a correct alignment will speed things up.

Nothing prevents a MO file from having embedded `NUL`s in strings. However, the program interface currently used already presumes that strings are `NUL` terminated, so embedded `NUL`s are somewhat useless. But MO file format is general enough so other interfaces would be later possible, if for example, we ever want to implement wide characters right in MO files, where `NUL` bytes may accidently appear.

This particular issue has been strongly debated in the GNU `gettext` development forum, and it is expectable that MO file format will evolve or change over time. It is even possible that many formats may later be supported concurrently. But surely, we have to start somewhere, and the MO file format described here is a good start. Nothing is cast in concrete, and the format may later evolve fairly easily, so we should feel comfortable with the current approach.

            byte
                 +------------------------------------------+
              0  | magic number = 0x950412de                |
                 |                                          |
              4  | file format revision = 0                 |
                 |                                          |
              8  | number of strings                        |  == N
                 |                                          |
             12  | offset of table with original strings    |  == O
                 |                                          |
             16  | offset of table with translation strings |  == T
                 |                                          |
             20  | size of hashing table                    |  == S
                 |                                          |
             24  | offset of hashing table                  |  == H
                 |                                          |
                 .                                          .
                 .    (possibly more entries later)         .
                 .                                          .
                 |                                          |
              O  | length & offset 0th string  ----------------.
          O + 8  | length & offset 1st string  ------------------.
                  ...                                    ...   | |
    O + ((N-1)*8)| length & offset (N-1)th string           |  | |
                 |                                          |  | |
              T  | length & offset 0th translation  ---------------.
          T + 8  | length & offset 1st translation  -----------------.
                  ...                                    ...   | | | |
    T + ((N-1)*8)| length & offset (N-1)th translation      |  | | | |
                 |                                          |  | | | |
              H  | start hash table                         |  | | | |
                  ...                                    ...   | | | |
      H + S * 4  | end hash table                           |  | | | |
                 |                                          |  | | | |
                 | NUL terminated 0th string  <----------------' | | |
                 |                                          |    | | |
                 | NUL terminated 1st string  <------------------' | |
                 |                                          |      | |
                  ...                                    ...       | |
                 |                                          |      | |
                 | NUL terminated 0th translation  <---------------' |
                 |                                          |        |
                 | NUL terminated 1st translation  <-----------------'
                 |                                          |
                  ...                                    ...
                 |                                          |
                 +------------------------------------------+

Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.