Subject: [Dev] Clear explanation on why LANG matters to Apps?

From: bp <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2003 16:23:52 -0400

Excuse my ignorance, but when I install some J2EE/WebSphere app on a 
Linux machine setup in Spanish (or any other non-english language) what 
really causes it not to work?  Are apps typically written for English 
because of the path differences on a Spanish install?  Is Java unable to 
parse properties files in Spanish...? 

Just looking for a concise technical idea of what makes an app language 
dependent.  My first assumption would be that it *should* work but 
acknowledge that any output would be spit out in English...  but it 
seems Java takes exception (pun intended) to it's non-English appserver.

-bp

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From: Tom Bryan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 23:36:57 +0000

On Tuesday 03 June 2003 08:23 pm, bp wrote:
> Linux machine setup in Spanish (or any other non-english language) 

Sorry, maybe I missed part of this conversation...
You have a box whose default language setting is Spanish.  You install 
WebSphere or some other J2EE server.  The J2EE server runs fine.  Now, you 
try to install some app written for that app server, and that particular Java 
app does not work correctly?  Is that correct?

> what really causes it not to work?  

Wow!  That sounds like a bug report from one of my company's customers.  :-)

> Are apps typically written for English
> because of the path differences on a Spanish install?  

I don't have a Spanish install.  Are the basic paths really different?

> Is Java unable to parse properties files in Spanish...?

Well, if the app hasn't been localized at all, then all of the strings are 
hard-coded.  It'll work in any language configuration, but you'll just get 
all of your text in whatever language the coder wrote the strings.  If the 
app does load its strings from properties files, it's possible that there is 
no properties file for the language and locale of the machine/user who is 
running the app.  I've done very little with Java localization, but I thought 
that Java defaulted to *something* when it couldn't find an appropriate 
localization properties file.  

> acknowledge that any output would be spit out in English...  

That would be the case if the developer didn't even try to code it for 
internationalization and wrote all of his strings in English.

> but it

What exception?  For exapmle, maybe the developer internationalized the app 
and translated his properties files into Spanish.  Now he adds new properties 
to the English properties files.  Now he ships.  Oops.  The app will fail to 
find some of its properties in the Spanish properties files.  I think that's 
a runtime error for Java.

That's an example of something that could go wrong.  It would really help to 
have a stacktrace.  

---Tom