[gettext] The msgfmt.exe from the tools feature does always fail in --xml mode (only the VCPKG build and only Windows)

[JoergAtGithub]

Operating system

x64-windows (I know that the macOS builds ARM & x64 work - don't know about other triplets)

Compiler

MSVC

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1.) Install the gettext port with tools feature: .\vcpkg.exe install gettext[tools]
2.) Run .\installed\x64-windows\tools\gettext\bin\msgfmt.exe with option --xml as described in https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Preparing-ITS-Rules.html

for example: msgfmt.exe" -v --xml --template "D:/vcpkg/buildtrees/shared-mime-info/src/2.4-b756cadafd.clean/data/freedesktop.org.xml.in" -d "D:/vcpkg/buildtrees/shared-mime-info/src/2.4-b756cadafd.clean/data/../po" -o "D:/vcpkg/buildtrees/shared-mime-info/x64-windows-dbg/data/freedesktop.org.xml"

Optional with setting the env var GETTEXTDATADIRS before: $env:GETTEXTDATADIRS = "D:/vcpkg/buildtrees/shared-mime-info/src/2.4-b756cadafd.clean/data/its;"

Failure logs

Any call of the msgfmt.exe from the VCPKG port with argument --xml fails with: installed/x64-windows/tools/gettext/bin/msgfmt.EXE: cannot locate ITS rules for ../src/2.4-b756cadafd.clean/data/freedesktop.org.xml.in

The same commands work with the macOS builds of the same VCPKG port both for arm and x64.

For comparision, I downloaded the gettext Windows binaries (x64 shared) from http://mlocati.github.io/articles/gettext-iconv-windows.html and the same commands work out of the box.

I tried also various older versions of the VCPKG port, down to version 0.21 and they all show the same bug. It seems that the --xml mode never worked with the VCPKG builds of gettext

See also: mixxxdj/mixxx#14437

Additional context

No response

[jimwang118]

Runnable programs can be run.

[JoergAtGithub]

Yes, it runs, but the XML mode always fails, because it fails to find the .its file. Other modes work. There seems to be something wrong with handling of Windows paths.

[daschuer]

#44340 fixes the issue.