Environment State Files

All environment variables for a package are written to an environment (state) file. The PACKAGELANGUAGES environment variable will define what environment files are generated for the package. The PACKAGELANGUAGES is set by makeinstaller probing the specfile and setting the variable automatically. During installation, the package loads the proper environment file of the package for the user's environment. If the particular language environment file is not found then the English (en) environment file is loaded. Additionally as the environment file was being generated, if localized information was not available then the default English information was substituted for use. In this manner, all package information will be presented in at least English.

Localized information can be generated for DisplayName and Summary from the specfile. An example is shown from the autopackage-gtk specfile.

                
[Meta]
ShortName: autopackage-gtk
DisplayName: Autopackage GTK+ Graphical User Interface
Summary: A graphical (GTK+) frontend for installing Autopackage packages.
DisplayName[de]: Autopackage GTK+ Graphisches Frontend
Summary[de]: Ein graphisches frontend (GTK+) f�r das Anbringen der Autopackage Pakete.
DisplayName[es]: Autopackage GTK+ Frontend Gr�fico
Summary[es]: Un frontend gr�fico (GTK+) para instalar los paquetes del Autopackage.
DisplayName[fr]: Autopackage GTK+ Frontend Graphique
Summary[fr]: Un frontend (GTK+) graphique pour installer des paquets d'Autopackage.
DisplayName[nl]: Autopackage GTK+ Graphische Gebruikersinterface
Summary[nl]: Een grafische frontend (GTK+) voor het installeren van Autopackage paketten.

To set a different language for use during installation, use export AUTOPACKAGE_LANGUAGE="<language list>" . For example: export AUTOPACKAGE_LANGUAGE="fr_CA fr de" . Each environment file is located in the meta directory for the package. The environment files would be of the format apkg-environment.<language> .

Variables can be added to the environment files for use by other scripting. Use the setVariables() function to set a KEY and VALUE. A Global section can also be added to the specfile to set variables.