String catalogs in packages

We have separated much of our UI into different packages to reduce complexity and compile time. When we recently tested using new .xcstrings string catalogs, we hit an unexpected problem.

Strings extracted from SwiftUI components like Text or Button are extracted into the Localizable.xcstrings in the same package, but the default behaviour of Text(_ key:tableName:bundle:comment:) is to use Bundle.main. When the default behaviour of the string extraction isn't to extract to the main app target, this introduces a very fragile system where it's easy to add code that looks localised, but ends up failing lookup at runtime.

I don't feel comfortable that we will always remember to define the correct module every time we create a Text. Also, other components like Button doesn't have an init that takes a Bundle, so we would also have to remember that Button(_ titleKey:action:) can now only be used in a package if we make sure that the main bundle contains a matching key.

Is there a way for us to make sure that strings are always extracted to the same place as they are resolved against by default? Either by having strings in packages extracted to an xcstrings file in the main app or having Text default to resolving against the module bundle by default?

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of DanniBulder Down vote post of DanniBulder
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  • I have run into the same problem too and I'd like to hear an answer.

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Same here! Wish Apple's Team answer on this one.

Ran into the same issue. Our temporary ugly fix is to merge the changes in the SPM Localizable to the main target Localizable. It's not a beautiful solution, but it works for now.

Hopefully Apple folks see this and can share some insights.