FastGettext =========== GetText but 4 times faster, simple, clean namespace (7 vs 34) and threadsave! Setup ===== sudo gem install grosser-fast_gettext -s http://gems.github.com/ Tell Gettext where your mo-files lie: #e.g. for locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/my_app.mo FastGettext.add_text_domain('my_app',:path=>'locale') Choose text domain, and locale for translation FastGettext.text_domain = 'my_app' FastGettext.available_locales = ['de','en','fr','en_US','en_UK'] # only allow these locales to be set (optional) FastGettext.locale = 'de' Start translating include FastGettext::Translation _('Car') == 'Auto' _('not-found') == 'not-found' s_('Namespace|no-found') == 'not-found' n_('Axis','Axis',3) == 'Achsen' #German plural of Axis Speed ===== 50_000 translations: Ideal: (primitive Hash lookup) small translation file: 1.100000 0.180000 1.280000 ( 1.287230) mapped: 5832K writeable/private: 3016K shared: 28K large translation file: 1.150000 0.150000 1.300000 ( 1.296114) mapped: 5832K writeable/private: 3016K shared: 28K FastGettext: small translation file: 3.980000 0.430000 4.410000 ( 4.407260) mapped: 5852K writeable/private: 3036K shared: 28K large translation file: 4.070000 0.450000 4.520000 ( 4.515585) mapped: 5972K writeable/private: 3156K shared: 28K GetText: small translation file: 16.280000 1.340000 17.620000 ( 17.630391) mapped: 8976K writeable/private: 5944K shared: 28K large translation file: 16.590000 1.430000 18.020000 ( 18.042926) mapped: 9024K writeable/private: 5992K shared: 28K Thread Safety and Rails ======================= `text_domains` is not stored thread-save, so that they can be added inside the `environment.rb`, and do not need to be readded for every thread (parsing takes time...). Setting `available_locales`,`text_domain` or `locale` will not work inside the `evironment.rb`, since it runs in a different thread then e.g. controllers, so set them inside your application_controller. #environment.rb after initializers FastGettext.add_text_domain('accounting',:path=>'locale') FastGettext.add_text_domain('frontend',:path=>'locale') ... #application_controller.rb class ApplicationController ... include FastGettext::Translation before_filter :set_locale def set_locale FastGettext.available_locales = ['de','en',...] FastGettext.text_domain = 'frontend' sessions[:locale] = I18n.locale = FastGettext.locale = params[:locale] || sessions[:locale] || 'en' end #application_helper.rb module ApplicationHelper include FastGettext::Translation ... Try the [gettext_i18n_rails plugin](http://github.com/grosser/gettext_i18n_rails), it simplifies the setup. Updating translations ===================== ATM you have to use the [original GetText](http://github.com/mutoh/gettext) to create and manage your po/mo-files. Author ====== Mofile parsing from Masao Mutoh, see vendor/README Michael Grosser grosser.michael@gmail.com Hereby placed under public domain, do what you want, just do not hold me accountable...