J P Fitch wrote:
> 
> yes it may be easy in MSVC but that is not teh problem.  We have a multi-platform
> multi-compiler system.  It must remain ANSI C and not dependent on random
> extentions.
> ==John#

The solution I was suggesting is the GNU gettext system. I'd be the last person
on earth to suggest an M$VC "solution."

gettext and friends runs on every ANSI C platform. The source is freely
available, and probably already exists on most unix platforms and Be (since it
is glibc based). With cygwin it is available on non-standard platforms like windows
and could be adapted to others.

Since it conforms to Posix, I would hardly consider it a random extension.
It is the standard for i18n efforts on all open OS's.