Expose C library's gettext. Fixes #516412.

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/lib/liblocale.tex b/Doc/lib/liblocale.tex
index 72dc69c..c90b461 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/liblocale.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/liblocale.tex
@@ -467,3 +467,21 @@ application doesn't want this to happen, it should remove the
 \module{_locale} extension module (which does all the work) from the
 table of built-in modules in the \file{config.c} file, and make sure
 that the \module{_locale} module is not accessible as a shared library.
+
+\subsection{Access to message catalogs}
+
+The locale module exposes the C library's gettext interface on systems
+that provide this interface. It consists of the functions
+\function{gettext}, \function{dgettext}, \function{dcgettext},
+\function{textdomain}, and \function{bindtextdomain}. These are
+similar to the same functions in the \module{gettext} module, but use
+the C library's binary format for message catalogs, and the C
+library's search algorithms for locating message catalogs. 
+
+Python applications should normally find no need to invoke these
+functions, and should use \module{gettext} instead. A known exception
+to this rule are applications that link use additional C libraries
+which internally invoke \function{gettext} or \function{dgettext}. For
+these applications, it may be necessary to bind the text domain, so
+that the libraries can properly locate their message catalogs.
+