KStars: Cannot change language

[Konstantin Kharlamov]

Looking at the repo, I see the `po/` dir which implies it's using GNU
gettext for translation. Fairly standard choice. Strings are marked for
translation by using a `_` macro, like `_("My english text")`.

I don't remember the details, but it basically has something like a
database of such texts and their lines with the according translations.
When it needs to represent a translated string it basically does so by
searching in that db.

Language may be changed by different means. On Linux and Unix systems
it's usually variables such as `LANG`. So e.g. `LANG=en_US.UTF-8
kstars` should launch it with english language.

If you have a way to switch language via interface, I presume it is
handled by some gettext API that overrides whatever's being told by
env. variables.

HTH

On Fri, 2024-06-21 at 11:31 +0300, Jasem Mutlaq wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> We have an issue with the recent versions of KStars is that language
> cannot be switched by users. This affects MacOS, Windows, and Linux,
> whether packaged or built from source.
> 
> How to debug this issue? I can't see anything in the logs about the
> language switch issue. For example, I tried changing the language to
> German but the interface is still in English. Which component of KDE
> Frameworks is handling this at the backend? Any environment variables
> to check or watch out for?
> 
> Any pointers would be appreciated.
> 
> --
> Best Regards,
> Jasem Mutlaq
>