Add a --check flag to makemessages by BJacksonONS · Pull Request #573 · ONSdigital/dis-wagtail

BJacksonONS · 2026-04-09T12:46:44Z

What is the context of this PR?

Relates to CMS-789.

Add a --check flag to makemessages management command to warn if there would be any updates to .po files. Intended to be used in pre-commit and CI to ensure translations aren't missed.

How to review

Try running make make messages-check without any code changes.
Try running after changing a string in a call to gettext and sense check returns correct value.

Deployment Safety

Bleed and Sandbox deploy automatically on merge, so PRs should be safe to deploy immediately.

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Follow-up Actions

Needs to be added to pre commit and CI.

Might want to add line numbers to original code files at some point.

…rn of changes to the .po files

MebinAbraham

Good first PR, just a few comments. 🙌

…proach

…o using a NamedTuple for keys and improved print output

MaciekBaron

LGTM, just one typo + wording suggestion

…igital/dis-wagtail into CMS-789-makemessages-linter

MebinAbraham

Let's add this new command to our CI.yml (GitHub Actions) and pre-commit.

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:11:01Z

+        return (
+            f"{'msgctxt: {self.msgctxt}\n' if self.msgctxt != '' else ''}"
+            f"msgid: {self.msgid}"
+            f"{'\nmsgid_plural: {self.msgid_plural}' if self.msgid_plural != '' else ''}"
+        )


The msgid_plural and msgctxt are not being interpolated properly, and also we can't have backslashes in fstrings.

Suggested change

return (

f"{'msgctxt: {self.msgctxt}\n' if self.msgctxt != '' else ''}"

f"msgid: {self.msgid}"

f"{'\nmsgid_plural: {self.msgid_plural}' if self.msgid_plural != '' else ''}"

)

return (

(f"msgctxt: {self.msgctxt}\n" if self.msgctxt else "")

+ f"msgid: {self.msgid}"

+ (f"\nmsgid_plural: {self.msgid_plural}" if self.msgid_plural else "")

)

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:11:15Z

+                for path in self._modified_po_files:
+                    self.stderr.write(f"  {path}\n\n")
+                    if len(self._modified_po_files[path]) > 0:
+                        self.stderr.write("    The following msgids have changed\n\n")


Suggested change

self.stderr.write(" The following msgids have changed\n\n")

self.stderr.write(" The following msgids have changed:\n\n")

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:13:08Z

+                    if len(self._modified_po_files[path]) > 0:
+                        self.stderr.write("    The following msgids have changed\n\n")
+                        for item in self._modified_po_files[path]:
+                            self.stderr.write(f"    {item}\n\n")


Nit: The formatting off this when you have ctx, and plural seems a bit off. It would be good to make it consistent.

Currently you get:

The following msgids have changed msgctxt: button label msgid: Open new msgid: Open New msgid_plural: Open New

Would be good to have something like:

- msgctxt: button label msgid: Open new - msgid: Open New msgid_plural: Open News

Have some improved formatting here, do we want to also insert indentation for multiline strings or leave them in a similar format to the .po file?

- msgid: If the web address is correct, or you selected a link or button, <a href="%(contact_url)s">contact us</a>.

vs

- msgid: If the web address is correct, or you selected a link or button, <a href="%(contact_url)s">contact us</a>.

I'm easy either way, up to you.

I'm happy to leave it as is then

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:28:53Z

+        """Extracts groups of msgid, msgctxt and msgid_plural from pofile contents and returns
+        a set of unique groups keyed with a tuple of those values in the order (msgid, msgctxt and msgid_plural).
+
+        msgctxt and msgid_plural will default to an empty string if not present.


For clarity:

msgctxt and msgid_plural will default to an empty string if not present. Used by --check mode to detect changes that affect translation behaviour only. This intentionally ignores header metadata, comments, source references, ordering, wrapping, and other non-functional PO churn.

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:32:37Z

+make makemessages-check
+```
+
+Will warn if .po files will change without applying changes to disk.


Suggested change

Will warn if .po files will change without applying changes to disk.

Will error if `.po` files will change that affect translation behaviour. It ignores non-functional changes such as headers, comments, source references, entry ordering, and line wrapping.

For clarity, warn > error since we exit 1.

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:33:51Z

+        content_before = Path(self.potfile).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        self.command.write_po_file(self.potfile, "cy")
+        content_after = Path(self.potfile).read_text(encoding="utf-8")


Should be using po file?

MebinAbraham · 2026-04-15T16:34:52Z

+                for path in self._modified_po_files:
+                    self.stderr.write(f"  {path}\n\n")
+                    if len(self._modified_po_files[path]) > 0:
+                        self.stderr.write("    The following msgids have changed\n\n")


Since it might not be msgid that have changed, maybe The following translation keys have changed: or The following translation items have changed:

BJacksonONS · 2026-04-17T09:45:23Z

@MebinAbraham
Added to lint step in CI and pre-commit.
034e5dc
ccb7619

override makemessages with command that includes a --check flag to wa…

3a153c6

…rn of changes to the .po files

BJacksonONS marked this pull request as ready for review April 9, 2026 12:46

BJacksonONS requested a review from a team as a code owner April 9, 2026 12:46

MaciekBaron changed the title ~~override makemessages with command that includes a --check flag to warn of changes to the .po files~~ Override makemessages with command that includes a --check flag to warn of changes to the .po files Apr 9, 2026

BJacksonONS added the DX Developer eXperience label Apr 9, 2026

MebinAbraham reviewed Apr 10, 2026

View reviewed changes

MebinAbraham added the component: i18n 🌍 Internationalization / Localization label Apr 10, 2026

BJacksonONS added 3 commits April 10, 2026 09:34

Fix key for modified file dict

28542d6

update makefile and readme to include makemessages-check command

c11acb4

remove _normalize static method as no longer in use with current ap…

226bb10

…proach

MebinAbraham reviewed Apr 10, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread Makefile Outdated

BJacksonONS added 4 commits April 10, 2026 10:42

update makemessages and makemessages-check makefile commands

aa2d5fc

rerun formatter

1c8bd8f

updated logic to include msgctxt and msgid_plural, and switched t…

4305196

…o using a NamedTuple for keys and improved print output

Merge branch 'main' into CMS-789-makemessages-linter

f08628d

MaciekBaron approved these changes Apr 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread cms/locale/management/commands/makemessages.py Outdated

BJacksonONS added 3 commits April 13, 2026 13:53

update error messaging wording

8be05cd

fix typo again

f867eed

Merge branch 'CMS-789-makemessages-linter' of https://github.com/ONSd…

ae16415

…igital/dis-wagtail into CMS-789-makemessages-linter

MebinAbraham reviewed Apr 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

MebinAbraham changed the title ~~Override makemessages with command that includes a --check flag to warn of changes to the .po files~~ Add a --check flag to makemessages Apr 15, 2026

BJacksonONS added 2 commits April 17, 2026 08:53

Improved output formatting, docstring clarity and fixed typo in test

55f9bcf

update failing test

57f3964

BJacksonONS added 5 commits April 17, 2026 09:20

Merge branch 'main' into CMS-789-makemessages-linter

518ed61

Merge branch 'main' into CMS-789-makemessages-linter

b67df8a

add makemessages-check to ci and pre-commit

034e5dc

remove deprecated translation items

8bd5084

install gettext in runner

ccb7619

	self.stderr.write(" The following msgids have changed\n\n")
	self.stderr.write(" The following msgids have changed:\n\n")

	Will warn if .po files will change without applying changes to disk.
	Will error if `.po` files will change that affect translation behaviour. It ignores non-functional changes such as headers, comments, source references, entry ordering, and line wrapping.

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BJacksonONS commented Apr 17, 2026

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BJacksonONS commented Apr 9, 2026 •

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