12.4.1 `POTFILES.in' in `po/'

The `po/' directory should receive a file named `POTFILES.in'. This file tells which files, among all program sources, have marked strings needing translation. Here is an example of such a file:

# List of source files containing translatable strings. # Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc. # Common library files lib/error.c lib/getopt.c lib/xmalloc.c # Package source files src/gettext.c src/msgfmt.c src/xgettext.c

Hash-marked comments and white lines are ignored. All other lines list those source files containing strings marked for translation (see section 3.3 How Marks Appear in Sources), in a notation relative to the top level of your whole distribution, rather than the location of the `POTFILES.in' file itself.

When a C file is automatically generated by a tool, like flex or bison, that doesn't introduce translatable strings by itself, it is recommended to list in `po/POTFILES.in' the real source file (ending in `.l' in the case of flex, or in `.y' in the case of bison), not the generated C file.