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Best Practices for gotext

Localized applications can become complex quickly. Following these best practices will help you keep your project maintainable.

1. Organise Your Directory Structure

Consistency is key. Use the standard Gettext directory structure:

/locales
  /en_US
    /LC_MESSAGES
      default.po
      errors.po
  /es_ES
    /LC_MESSAGES
      default.po
      errors.po
  • LC_MESSAGES: Always place your .po and .mo files inside an LC_MESSAGES directory or directly under the language code.
  • Simplified Codes: provide fallbacks (e.g., provide es if es_AR and es_ES share many strings).

2. Use Meaningful Domains

Don't put all your translations in a single "default" domain for large apps. Split them logically: - ui.po: Interface elements (buttons, labels). - errors.po: System and error messages. - help.po: Long-form documentation or help text.

3. Leverage Context (msgctxt)

Avoid ambiguity by using context for short strings that might have different meanings depending on where they appear.

// In code:
gotext.GetC("Open", "File menu")
gotext.GetC("Open", "Lock status")

// In PO file:
msgctxt "File menu"
msgid "Open"
msgstr "Abrir"

msgctxt "Lock status"
msgid "Open"
msgstr "Abierto"

4. Automate String Extraction

Never manually edit msgid entries in your .po files. Use the xgotext CLI tool to scan your code and update your translation files. This ensures your code and translations stay in sync.

xgotext -p . -o locales/en_US/default.po

5. Thread Safety

gotext is thread-safe. You can safely share a Locale object across multiple goroutines (e.g., in an HTTP handler). Avoid re-configuring the global package state (gotext.Configure) after your application has started.

6. Testing

When writing tests for your application, you can use the Po object to load small strings directly, which is often faster than setting up a full directory structure.

po := gotext.NewPo()
po.Parse([]byte("msgid \"test\"\nmsgstr \"prueba\""))