What is I18N?

Internationalization (or I18N) is a software design methodology that lets a user interact with a software using his/her native language. Internationalized software handles data so that the rules of the users’ language are respected. Users expect their software to meet the following requirements:

• Allow input, processing, and display of characters in their language.

• Allow interaction with the system using their own language. Prompts and error messages must be displayed in this language.

• Format and process data according to the user’s local rules and environment.

Support of I18N by Server is based on the POSIX locale model. A locale is a collection of data and/or methods that allow internationalized C-library and system-dependent library functions to comply with the users’ language, local customs, and data encoding. The locale determines the characters and fonts used to display the language. It also determines how programs display and sort dates, times, currency, and numbers.

Note This chapter does not explain what internationalization is, but how to use Server internationalization features. To learn how to write internationalized software, you should refer to general books on the subject.