L10n talk - FOSDEM 2003 - Mozilla Meeting

The DTD file is referenced by a chrome URI, e.g. "chrome://communicator/locale/openLocation.dtd".
All chrome URIs have the form of chrome://<package>/{content|locale|skin}/<path-to-file>.
To which file on disk (or in a .jar package) this URI resolves, is determined by the chrome registry: The chrome registry knows which locales (e.g. en-US, de-AT, it-IT) are installed for which packages (e.g. communicator, navigator, messenger), and which locale is selected for those packages.
As a side note, the chrome registry stores the same information for themes as well.

Example directory tree with files

mozilla
- chrome
  - comm
    - content
      - communicator
        
        openLocation.xul
      - navigator
  - en-US.jar
    - locale
      - en-US
        
        communicator
        
        openLocation.dtd
        
        openLocation.properties
        
        global
        
        brand.dtd
        
        brand.properties
        
        navigator
  - de-AT.jar
    - communicator
      - openLocation.dtd
      - openLocation.properties
    - global
      - brand.dtd
      - brand.properties
    - navigator

Sample chrome registry (main chrome.rdf + profile's chrome.rdf)

...
<RDF:Seq about="urn:mozilla:package:root">
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:package:communicator"/>
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:package:global"/>
- ...
</RDF:Seq>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:package:communicator" c:baseURL="resource:/chrome/comm/content/communicator/" c:localeVersion="1.3b" ...>
- <c:selectedLocale resource="urn:mozilla:locale:de-AT:communicator"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:package:global" c:baseURL="jar:resource:/chrome/toolkit.jar!/content/global/" c:localeVersion="1.3b" ...>
- <c:selectedLocale resource="urn:mozilla:locale:de-AT:global"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Seq about="urn:mozilla:locale:root">
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:locale:de-AT"/>
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:locale:AT"/>
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:locale:en-US"/>
- <RDF:li resource="urn:mozilla:locale:US"/>
</RDF:Seq>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:locale:en-US:communicator" c:baseURL="jar:resource:/chrome/en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/communicator/" c:localeVersion="1.3b">
- <c:package resource="urn:mozilla:package:communicator"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:locale:en-US:global" c:baseURL="jar:resource:/chrome/en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/global/" c:localeVersion="1.3b">
- <c:package resource="urn:mozilla:package:global"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:locale:de-AT:communicator" c:baseURL="jar:resource:/chrome/de-AT.jar!/communicator/" c:localeVersion="1.3b">
- <c:package resource="urn:mozilla:package:communicator"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Description about="urn:mozilla:locale:de-AT:global" c:baseURL="jar:resource:/chrome/de-AT.jar!/global/" c:localeVersion="1.3b">
- <c:package resource="urn:mozilla:package:global"/>
</RDF:Description>

chrome URIs / chrome registry