#### 8.2.2 Programs to handle message catalogs for `gettext` ¶

The GNU C Library does not contain the source code for the programs to handle message catalogs for the `gettext` functions. As part of the GNU project the GNU gettext package contains everything the developer needs. The functionality provided by the tools in this package by far exceeds the abilities of the `gencat` program described above for the `catgets` functions.

There is a program `msgfmt` which is the equivalent program to the `gencat` program. It generates from the human-readable and -editable form of the message catalog a binary file which can be used by the `gettext` functions. But there are several more programs available.

The `xgettext` program can be used to automatically extract the translatable messages from a source file. I.e., the programmer need not take care of the translations and the list of messages which have to be translated. S/He will simply wrap the translatable string in calls to `gettext` et.al and the rest will be done by `xgettext`. This program has a lot of options which help to customize the output or help to understand the input better.

Other programs help to manage the development cycle when new messages appear in the source files or when a new translation of the messages appears. Here it should only be noted that using all the tools in GNU gettext it is possible to completely automate the handling of message catalogs. Besides marking the translatable strings in the source code and generating the translations the developers do not have anything to do themselves.