Java could not find XML resource bundle

src/java
src/resource/foo/messages.xml
                 messages_fr.xml

ResourceBundle bundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle("foo.messages", Locale.ENGLISH);

error:

Exception in thread "main" java.util.MissingResourceException: Can't find bundle for base name foo.messages, locale en
    at java.util.ResourceBundle.throwMissingResourceException(ResourceBundle.java:1581)
    at java.util.ResourceBundle.getBundleImpl(ResourceBundle.java:1396)
    at java.util.ResourceBundle.getBundle(ResourceBundle.java:854)

If they are *.properties, no problems.

How to load XML resource bundles?

Answer

By default, Java SE ResourceBundle.getBundle(...) only understands loading of resource bundles implemented as Java classes or “.properties” files.

If you want to load a ResourceBundle from an XML file, you need to provide a custom ResourceBundle.Control implementation that implements the resource search and loading strategies.

There is an example in the ResourceBundle.Control javadocs; look for “Example 2”.

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I briefly searched for a 3rd-party implementation of an XML ResourceBundle provider, but I couldn’t find anything generic.

^{(Asking recommendations is off-topic anyway.)}