Localizing the bot

The locale of the bot is set depending on the user's language preference in Slack.

go-i18n manages the translations.

The web page for go-i18n describes the procedures for translating a new language and new messages, but they are describe here too. First get the tool: go get -u github.com/nicksnyder/go-i18n/v2/goi18n. The binary will be installed into $GOPATH.

Translate a new language

If there is a new language to be added:

1. Create an empty message file for the new language, for example Finnish: touch translate.fi.json
2. Run goi18n merge active.en.json translate.fi.json to populate translate.fi.json with the messages to be translated
3. Translate translate.fi.json and rename it to active.fi.json
4. Load active.fi.json into the bundle

Translate new messages

If there are new strings to be translated:

1. Run goi18n extract -format json to update active.en.json with new messages
2. Run goi18n merge active.*.json to generate updated translate.*.json files
3. Translate all the messages in the translate.*.json files
4. Run goi18n merge active.*.json translate.*.json to merge the translated messages into the active message files