Messages generated by the server should be translated before being displayed by the client. This depends on knowing which language to use. On GNU systems the GNU gettext internationalisation and localisation library determines this. For messages that are in encoded by short packets, the translations can be client-side, per short.c. For messages that are not encoded by short packets, the translations can be server-side. Therefore the server needs to know the language choice of the client user. So I propose a CP_FEATURE packet with name LC_MESSAGES, and value set to the the client's value of LC_MESSAGES, LANGUAGES, or LANG. On receipt of this the server will begin to use translated messages if available, and the server will assume the client has the short packet translations. If no translation is available, the default English messages will be used. Not only that, but because the translation must be done as early as possible, this CP_FEATURE packet will need to be sent before the SP_MOTD begins to flow, so that a translated MOTD can be sent. With reference to the protocol description in include/packets.h of the server ... any comments as to how to achieve a translated MOTD without destroying backward compatibility or adding delays? -- James Cameron mailto:quozl at us.netrek.org http://quozl.netrek.org/