Network Working Group                                       A. Bouilland
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Experimental                          February 15, 2019
Expires: August 5, 2019


                    Multi-languages string: Polystring
                      draft-bouilland-polystring-02

Abstract

   Managing multi-languages support for a service with autonomous parts
   can be complex.  Having its internal parts be polyglot, and coalece
   to end-user's language only on display is one solution.

   This paper discuss a format to store, exchange, and algorithms to
   consume multi-language strings to this goal.

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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
      1.1. Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2. Polystring  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      2.1. ABNF grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      2.2. Identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      2.3. String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      2.4. Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3. Security consideration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   4. Consumer algorithm  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   6. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   7. Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6

1. Introduction

   Managing multi-languages support for a service with different parts,
   platforms, runtime, back-ends, and front-end; each having theirs
   proper way to achieve this, without a standardized way to collaborate
   between them can be complex.  Having internal parts be polyglot, and
   coalesce to end-user's language only on display is one solution to
   this complexity.

   A common way of storing multi-languages is to split localization into
   different "packages", splitting strings with the same meaning and
   formatting apart and away from theirs context.  This makes
   translation and maintenance efforts harder and more error-prone.

   To exchange text, one part must also know the end-user's language
   beforehand, requiring tight collaboration with other parts;
   for example a server-side API must know client-side's language before
   exchanging a proper response or error, or it might use integer codes.

   This paper present a format to 1) store multi-language strings
   keeping them together in source, and 2) exchange and consume
   them without requiring prior knowledge of the end-user's locale.

1.1. Conventions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
   NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED",
   "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
   described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they
   appear in all capitals, as shown here.

   The grammatical rules in this document are to be interpreted as
   described in [RFC5234].

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2. Polystring

   The most common string format is nul-terminated [C] formatted string,
   compatible with C-like source and descendant, [ECMA]Script,
   [Swift], etc.

   By extending a (nul-terminated) C-formatted string to carry multiple
   strings-with-identifiers, it can be multi-language while being stored
   and exchanged as a single string.  The character '\' and the NUL
   character is used to structure this format, called polystring
   hereafter.

   As consumers of this string must implement polystring support,
   backward compatibility for consumers of non-poly string is not
   deemed necessary.

2.1. ABNF grammar

        Polystring = *( Identifier String *%x20 ) Base
        Identifier = *ANYBUT5C %x5C
        String     = *%x01-FF %x00
        Base       = *ANYBUT5C %x00
        ANYBUT5C   = %x01-5B / %x5D-FF

   This grammar represent the string in memory.
   Note that it MUST be stored and exchanged as an escaped string.

2.2. Identifier

   Identifier SHOULD be [ASCII] encoded, MUST NOT contain NUL nor '\'
   and MUST end by '\'.  Althought a custom set can be agreed upon by
   the producer and the consumer, it is recommended for it to be an
   IETF language [Tag].  It is compared to consumer's target identifier,
   up-to Identifier's own length and matches if equals; so that longer
   Identifiers should appear first or will be ignored. e.g. "pt-PT"
   (European Portuguese) before "pt" (Brazilian Portuguese).

2.3. String

   String SHOULD be [UTF-8] encoded and MUST NOT contain NUL.  It is
   paired with an Identifier, and terminated by NUL.  String of the
   first matching Identifier is choosed by the consumer for display to
   the end-user.  To improve readability, spaces following String are
   ignored.

   C samples : (both are equivalent)

        "fr\\Bonjour\0it\\Ciao\0"
        "fr\\Bonjour\0  it\\Ciao\0  "


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2.4. Base

   Base is the default string choosed when no Identifier matches. It
   MUST NOT contain NUL nor '\'. It is equivalent to a non-poly
   string, so that single-language string can be used as-is.  It is
   recommended for Base to be the "en-US" String.

   C samples : (both are valid polystring, with the same Base)

        "Hello"
        "fr\\Bonjour\0  it\\Ciao\0  Hello"

   Base cannot contain '\', but it is possible to achieve equivalent
   functionality by using an all-match (zero-length) Identifier.  As
   it always matches in this case, Base MAY be dropped.  It MAY also
   be used to add an internal identifier or describe the usage context.

   C samples : (first one drops the unusable Base)

        "fr\\Avec \\ dedans\0   \\With \\ inside"
        "fr\\Avec \\ dedans\0   \\With \\ inside\0   #1234"
        "fr\\Avec \\ dedans\0   \\With \\ inside\0   a sample"
                                ^
                                zero-length Identifier

   Polystring can be used on multiple lines if the storing source
   supports it.

sample for C and ECMAScript :
"es\\Con cada lengua que se extingue, se borra una imagen del hombre\0 \
 fr\\Chaque langue qui s'eteint est une image de l'homme qui s'efface\0\
     For every language that become extinct, an image of man disappears"

sample for Swift :
"""
es\\Con cada lengua que se extingue, se borra una imagen del hombre\0  \
fr\\Chaque langue qui s'eteint est une image de l'homme qui s'efface\0 \
    For every language that become extinct, an image of man disappears
"""

3. Security consideration

   This format is intendend to be read-only, and convey texts only. It
   is as safe as a standard string, as long as the formating is strictly
   respected.

   Generating polystring dynamically MUST take care to enforce that
   no '\' nor NUL creeps into respective parts, as it could break
   the consumer, leading to crashes in worst case scenario.


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4. Consumer algorithm

   C sample :

        const char *localize(const char *text, const char *target)
        {
            for (;;)
            {
                const char *separator = strchr(text, '\\');
                if (!separator)
                    return text;

                if (!memcmp(text, target, separator - text))
                    return separator + 1;

                text += strlen(text) + 1;
                while (*text == ' ')
                    ++text;
            }
        }

        // usage
        const char *lang = getenv("LANG");
        puts(localize("fr\\Bonjour\0  it\\Ciao\0  Hello", lang));

   Ecmascript sample :

        function localize(text, target) {
            for (;;) {
                var sep = text.indexOf('\\')
                if (sep < 0)
                    return text

                var end = text.indexOf('\0')
                if (text.substring(0, sep) == target.substring(0, sep))
                    return text.substring(sep + 1, end)

                text = text.substring(end + 1)
                while (text[0] == ' ')
                    text = text.substring(1)
            }
        }

        // usage
        var lang = navigator.language || navigator.userLanguage
        alert(localize("fr\\Bonjour\0  it\\Ciao\0  Hello", lang))


   Other samples can be found at : http://github.com/blld/polystring


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5. IANA Considerations

   This document has currently no actions for IANA.

6. References

6.1. Normative References

   [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
             2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, May 2017.

   [RFC5234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
             Specifications: ABNF", RFC 5234, January 2008.

   [C]       ISO/IEC 9899:1999, "Programming languages - C", 1999.

   [ASCII]   Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", RFC 20,
             October 1969.

   [Tag]     Phillips, A., "Tags for Identifying Languages", BCP 47,
             RFC 5646, September 2009.

   [UTF-8]   The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard",
             <http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/>.

6.2. Informative References

   [ECMA]    European Computer Manufacturers Association, "ECMAScript
             Language Specification 9th Edition", June 2018,
             <https://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/9.0/
             index.html>.

   [Swift]   Apple Inc., "About Swift", 2018,
             <https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/index.html>.

7. Author's Address

   Aurelien Bouilland
   email : aurelien.bouilland@gmail.com









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