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Localized clap help messages, the hard part #524

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opened 2026-06-24 22:36:39 +02:00 by Fluffinity · 3 comments

Fluffinity commented 2026-06-24 22:36:39 +02:00

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Feature description

In #503 we discussed how to achieve fully localized help messages, with the conclusion, that this will be more work and for a separate PR. I managed to create a working proof of concept on how to allow for localized messages.

Motivation

The code is in a testing repo of mine: https://codeberg.org/Fluffinity/Fluffinity

The core is the method Command::help_template(). With this method we can specify the concrete form of the help message and keywords of the standard help message, such as Commands are not automatically applied. Instead we can use our own strings for them, allowing injection of localized strings.

The significant downside is that we need to manually extract all the relevant info out of the provided arguments, i.e a manual implementation of the parse() method of the CLI argument struct. However, the PoC also shows, that we can still use the current struct, defined with the derive API, and modify the help template with the builder API.

Because we only need to do this for a single binary we don't need the level of complexity and generality implemented in the uutils project. We do need to maintain the type structure of the CLI argument type twice, however, as the builder API does not know the type of things ahead of time.

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I agree to act in accordance with the CoC & AI Agreement.
This issue was not generated by an LLM, even in part.

Feature description In #503 we discussed how to achieve fully localized help messages, with the conclusion, that this will be more work and for a separate PR. I managed to create a working proof of concept on how to allow for localized messages. ### Motivation The code is in a testing repo of mine: https://codeberg.org/Fluffinity/Fluffinity The core is the method `Command::help_template()`. With this method we can specify the concrete form of the help message and keywords of the standard help message, such as `Commands` are not automatically applied. Instead we can use our own strings for them, allowing injection of localized strings. The significant downside is that we need to manually extract all the relevant info out of the provided arguments, i.e a manual implementation of the `parse()` method of the CLI argument struct. However, the PoC also shows, that we can still use the current struct, defined with the derive API, and modify the help template with the builder API. Because we only need to do this for a single binary we don't need the level of complexity and generality implemented in the uutils project. We do need to maintain the type structure of the CLI argument type twice, however, as the builder API does not know the type of things ahead of time. ### Code of Conduct - [x] I agree to act in accordance with the CoC & AI Agreement. - [x] This issue was not generated by an LLM, even in part.

Fluffinity added the Kind/Feature label 2026-06-24 22:36:40 +02:00

Cyborus commented 2026-06-25 01:21:48 +02:00

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Since clap::Parser::parse just calls get_matches followed by from_arg_matches_mut, we should be able to do the same thing to avoid manually extracting argument info.

Fluffinity commented 2026-06-25 11:50:03 +02:00

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That works. Just tested that. Depending on whether we only read from the arguments we can also just use from_arg_matches, which is what my PoC currently uses. The only things missing right now are to modify the clap error messages, when invalid input is found, like when you call the program with --name foo, and the automated usage message

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Fluffinity commented 2026-06-25 17:06:40 +02:00

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Ok, that part is possible, too. But only if we go the uutils route. They interact with the arg matches directly. See cat as an example. Our best chances seem to be with using try_get_matches to catch errors clap found and to display our version of usage/help instead

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