rust-l10n

A lightweight internationalization (i18n) library for Rust, inspired by go-l10n. This library provides simple, distributed translation support with automatic language detection from environment variables.

日本語版 README

Features

• 🌍 Automatic Language Detection - Detects language from environment variables (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, etc.)
• 📦 Distributed Translation Registration - Each module can register its own translations independently
• 🚀 Simple API - Easy-to-use functions: t(), f(), e()
• 🔧 Zero Configuration - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 🧪 Test-Friendly - Dependency injection for environment variables makes testing easy
• ⚡ Lightweight - Minimal dependencies and small binary size

Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
rust-l10n = "0.1"
ctor = "0.2"  # Required for automatic initialization

Quick Start

use ctor::ctor;
use rust_l10n::{register_translations, t, f};

// Register translations at module initialization
#[ctor]
fn init() {
    register_translations! {
        ja: {
            "Hello" => "こんにちは",
            "Welcome to {}" => "{}へようこそ",
        },
        es: {
            "Hello" => "Hola",
            "Welcome to {}" => "Bienvenido a {}",
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    // Automatic language detection from environment
    println!("{}", t!("Hello"));
    println!("{}", f!("Welcome to {}", "Rust"));
    
    // Force a specific language
    rust_l10n::force_language("ja");
    println!("{}", t!("Hello"));  // Output: こんにちは
}

Distributed Translation Registration

Each module can register its own translations independently:

// auth.rs
mod auth {
    use ctor::ctor;
    use rust_l10n::{register_translations, t};

    #[ctor]
    fn init() {
        register_translations! {
            ja: {
                "Invalid credentials" => "認証情報が無効です",
                "Login successful" => "ログインに成功しました",
            }
        }
    }

    pub fn login(user: &str, pass: &str) -> Result<String, String> {
        // Your authentication logic here
        Ok(t!("Login successful"))
    }
}

// file_manager.rs
mod file_manager {
    use ctor::ctor;
    use rust_l10n::{register_translations, t};

    #[ctor]
    fn init() {
        register_translations! {
            ja: {
                "File not found" => "ファイルが見つかりません",
                "File saved" => "ファイルを保存しました",
            }
        }
    }
    
    pub fn save_file(name: &str) -> String {
        t!("File saved")
    }
}

Language Detection Priority

1. Forced language via force_language()
2. L10N_TEST_MODE environment variable
3. Standard locale environment variables:
   • LANGUAGE
   • LC_ALL
   • LC_MESSAGES
   • LANG
4. L10N_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE environment variable
5. Default fallback: "en"

API Reference

Core Functions

• t(phrase) - Translate a phrase
• f(phrase, args) - Format and translate with arguments
• e(phrase, args) - Create translated error message
• register(lang, lexicon) - Register translations for a language
• force_language(lang) - Force a specific language
• reset_language() - Reset to automatic detection
• detect_language() - Get the currently detected language

Macros

• t!("phrase") - Translate macro
• f!("phrase {}", arg) - Format macro
• e!("error: {}", arg) - Error macro
• register_translations! { ... } - Bulk registration macro

Environment Variables

• LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG - Standard locale variables
• L10N_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE - Set default language (fallback)
• L10N_TEST_MODE - Force English language for consistent testing

Testing

The library provides dependency injection for environment variables, making it easy to test:

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use rust_l10n::{force_language, t};

    #[test]
    fn test_japanese_translation() {
        force_language("ja");
        assert_eq!(t("Hello"), "こんにちは");
    }
}

Examples

Run the examples:

# Basic usage
cargo run --example basic

# Run with Japanese locale
LANGUAGE=ja cargo run --example basic

# Modular translations
cargo run --example modular

Comparison with Other i18n Libraries

Unlike other Rust i18n libraries that use compile-time optimization and centralized translation files, rust-l10n follows a distributed approach where each module manages its own translations. This makes it particularly suitable for:

• Porting projects from Go
• Microservices and modular applications
• Projects where translations should live close to the code
• Applications requiring runtime translation registration

License

This project is licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Credits

Inspired by go-l10n - A lightweight i18n library for Go.