Barry said in http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-March/087847.html :

  The class-based API for gettext takes streams, so resource_stream()
  would work just fine.  I think i18n plugins for Python do not
  necessarily need to use the classic gettext API.

The title as I changed it some time ago is thus invalid, so I’m changing it again.  This is still a request for separating the language selection code from the file finding.  Anyone feel free to enter a better title, this one is not very clear.

My first vote was to try to fix the code without writing a VFS, but OTOH maybe a lightweight ABC with mixin methods and a concrete implementation of the full gettext logic may be clear and educational here.  Shannon, if you’re still getting those emails, what do you think?