qtpass-localization-audit

QtPass Localization Audit

Structural audits for .ts translation files. Use this before merging large translation contributions (machine-translated batches from Qwen, GPT, Gemini, etc.) and after reviewer-supplied refinements that could disturb non-obvious bits like placeholder format or HTML structure.

The audit catches issues that produce broken UI but read as plausible translations:

• Missing or malformed Qt placeholders (%1, %2).
• HTML tag imbalance — translation drops or adds <br>/<strong>/<a>/<p> etc.
• Missing keyboard mnemonics where source has &Letter.
• Mixed-script artifacts (Latin letters glued onto a non-Latin word mid-character).
• Wrong-string mappings (translation block doesn't match its source — copypaste error).
• Cross-language leaks (Slovenian text in a Sinhala file, etc.).

Quick audit (single file)

The Quick audit covers placeholders, mnemonics, HTML tag balance, and mixed-script artifacts only.

It does not detect wrong-string mappings (translation block paired with the wrong source) or cross-language leaks. For those, run the scripts in Targeted patterns — Find wrong-string mappings and Find Slovenian leaks (or any cross-locale leak) — or the full standard cleanup workflow below.

python3 <<'EOF'
import re, os
LOC = 'localization/localization_lv_LV.ts'   # change as needed

with open(LOC) as f:
    content = f.read()

mnemonic_sources = {
    '&amp;Use pass', 'Nati&amp;ve Git/GPG',
    '&amp;Show', '&amp;Hide', '&amp;Restore', '&amp;Quit',
    'Mi&amp;nimize', 'Ma&amp;ximize',
}

# Locale-to-script map for mixed-script detection. Add ranges as needed.
LOCALE_TO_SCRIPT_RANGES = {
    'si': '඀-෿',           # Sinhala
    'ta': '஀-௿',           # Tamil
    'hi': 'ऀ-ॿ',           # Devanagari
    'ru': 'Ѐ-ӿ', 'uk': 'Ѐ-ӿ', 'bg': 'Ѐ-ӿ', 'sr': 'Ѐ-ӿ',
    'el': 'Ͱ-Ͽ',           # Greek
    'zh': '一-鿿', 'ja': '぀-ゟ゠-ヿ一-鿿', 'ko': '가-힯',
    'ar': '؀-ۿ', 'he': '֐-׿',
}
lang = os.path.basename(LOC).replace('localization_', '').replace('.ts', '').split('_')[0]
script_range = LOCALE_TO_SCRIPT_RANGES.get(lang)  # None for Latin-script locales

ph = mn = html = mixed = wrong = 0
for m in re.finditer(
    r'<message[^>]*>.*?<source>(.*?)</source>.*?<translation([^>]*)>(.*?)</translation>',
    content, re.DOTALL
):
    src, attrs, trans = m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3)
    if 'vanished' in attrs or not trans.strip():
        continue

    # 1. Placeholder integrity. %1, %2, ... must match exactly.
    # %n is the Qt plural placeholder: if source uses it, the translation
    # must use it too (once per <numerusform>), but the count is allowed
    # to differ across plural forms.
    s_ph = sorted(re.findall(r'%\d+', src))
    t_ph = sorted(re.findall(r'%\d+', trans))
    s_has_n = bool(re.search(r'%n\b', src))
    t_has_n = bool(re.search(r'%n\b', trans))
    if s_ph != t_ph or s_has_n != t_has_n or re.search(r'%\s+(?:\d|n)', trans):
        ph += 1
        print(f'  [PH]   {src[:60]}\n         -> {trans[:80]}')

    # 2. Missing mnemonics on known mnemonic-bearing sources
    if src in mnemonic_sources and not re.search(r'&amp;[^\s&;]', trans):
        mn += 1
        print(f'  [MN]   {src} -> {trans[:60]}')

    # 3. HTML tag balance (per-tag count must match source)
    for tag in ['html','body','p','br','strong','a','h3','pre','code','b','ol','li']:
        s_o = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;{tag}[ /&gt;]', src))
        s_c = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;/{tag}&gt;', src))
        t_o = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;{tag}[ /&gt;]', trans))
        t_c = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;/{tag}&gt;', trans))
        if s_o != t_o or s_c != t_c:
            html += 1
            print(f'  [HTML] {src[:40]} | <{tag}> s={s_o}/{s_c} t={t_o}/{t_c}')
            break

    # 4. Mixed-script (Latin letter glued to a non-Latin word, or vice versa).
    # Skipped automatically for Latin-script locales (script_range is None).
    if script_range:
        mixed_re = re.compile(f'[{script_range}]+[a-z]+|[a-z]+[{script_range}]+')
        if mixed_re.search(trans):
            mixed += 1
            print(f'  [MIX]  {src[:40]} | {trans[:60]}')

print(f'\nplaceholder={ph} mnemonic={mn} html={html} mixed-script={mixed}')
EOF

All-files sweep

For a quick across-the-board check (no per-issue printing, just counts):

python3 <<'EOF'
import re, os, glob
mnemonic_sources = {
    '&amp;Use pass','Nati&amp;ve Git/GPG','&amp;Show','&amp;Hide',
    '&amp;Restore','&amp;Quit','Mi&amp;nimize','Ma&amp;ximize',
}
total_ph = total_mn = total_html = 0
for f in sorted(glob.glob('localization/localization_*.ts')):
    loc = os.path.basename(f).replace('localization_','').replace('.ts','')
    content = open(f).read()
    ph = mn = html = 0
    for m in re.finditer(r'<message[^>]*>.*?<source>(.*?)</source>.*?<translation([^>]*)>(.*?)</translation>', content, re.DOTALL):
        src,a,t = m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3)
        if 'vanished' in a or not t.strip(): continue
        s_ph = sorted(re.findall(r'%\d+', src))
        t_ph = sorted(re.findall(r'%\d+', t))
        s_n = bool(re.search(r'%n\b', src)); t_n = bool(re.search(r'%n\b', t))
        if s_ph != t_ph or s_n != t_n or re.search(r'%\s+(?:\d|n)', t): ph += 1
        if src in mnemonic_sources and not re.search(r'&amp;[^\s&;]', t): mn += 1
        for tag in ['html','body','p','br','strong','a','h3','pre','code','b','ol','li']:
            s_o = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;{tag}[ /&gt;]', src))
            s_c = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;/{tag}&gt;', src))
            t_o = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;{tag}[ /&gt;]', t))
            t_c = len(re.findall(rf'&lt;/{tag}&gt;', t))
            if s_o != t_o or s_c != t_c:
                html += 1; break
    if ph or mn or html:
        print(f'{loc:8s}  ph={ph:3d}  mn={mn:3d}  html={html:3d}')
    total_ph += ph; total_mn += mn; total_html += html
print(f'---\ntotal: ph={total_ph} mn={total_mn} html={total_html}')
EOF

Common machine-translation artifact patterns

The audit finds structural breakage; semantic problems need eye review. Patterns we've repeatedly caught from machine-translated contributions:

• Wrong-meaning calques: Atgriezt paroli (= "Return password") for "Repeat password" in lv_LV; Iekrētāja lekts (≈ "Mr. [Non-word] sheet") for "Clipboard cleared".
• Placeholder corruption: % 1 (with space) instead of %1 — Qt won't substitute and renders the literal.
• Cross-language loanwords: Croatian sadržju (= "content") in a Slovenian file; Latvian Parole for "password" appearing in Lithuanian.
• Made-up verb forms: Pārencēšana (made-up Latvian for "re-encryption" — should be Pāršifrēšana); būtošana (made-up from būt = "to be") for "status".
• Wrong word-association: පොලීසිය (Sinhala for "police") for "search"; මුදල්/මූල්‍ය ("money"/"financial") for unrelated concepts; හාර්ය ("wife") for "key".
• Repetition glitches: kopkopu ("duplicate-duplicate") in lv_LV for "backup"; same fragment repeated 3× in a single string for sl_SI.
• Wrong sigil for mnemonic: %顯示 instead of &顯示 for &Show.
• JSON delimiter leak: translation ends with stray },{ characters (machine-translation tooling fragment).
• Stray Latin words mid-script: <b>Clipboard</b> left untranslated inside an otherwise-Sinhala paragraph.
• Alphabet character set translated: the password generator's ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 source must NOT be translated. Some MT pipelines insert hyphens (A-Z-...) or substitute regional letters (abcdeļš for the middle of the alphabet) — both break password generation.

Standard cleanup workflow for MT contributions

When a friend-or-bot contributes a batch of machine translations:

1. Commit the contribution as-is (one commit, attribute properly):

   git checkout -b LangFromContributor upstream/main
   git checkout -- localization/localization_<lang>.ts  # in case of unrelated working-tree noise
   git add localization/localization_<lang>.ts
   git commit -S -m "i18n(<lang>): translations from <Contributor>"
   

2. Run the audit (single-file form above).

3. For each finding, decide:

   • Placeholder mismatch → either fix the placeholder or revert to empty <translation type="unfinished"></translation> for native review.
   • HTML imbalance on a long paragraph → revert to empty.
   • Mixed-script artifact → revert to empty unless one obvious fix applies.
   • Alphabet character-set mistranslation → restore source verbatim.
   • Missing mnemonic → add per Qt mnemonic conventions (see qtpass-localization skill).

4. Commit the cleanup as a second commit on the same branch (this keeps the contribution diff reviewable).

5. Re-run the audit to confirm 0 placeholder / 0 HTML / 0 mnemonic / 0 mixed-script.

6. lrelease6 smoke test:

   lrelease6 localization/localization_<lang>.ts | tail -3
   rm -f localization/localization_<lang>.qm
   

7. Push and PR, attributing the contributor in the commit body / PR description.

Targeted patterns

The patterns below cover checks the Quick audit intentionally skips — wrong-string mappings, cross-language leaks, and verbatim-untranslated source fallback. Run them when reviewing a translation contribution or before merging a Weblate sync.

Find verbatim-untranslated entries (translation == source)

Useful for scanning whether a file has actual coverage or is mostly source-fallback. Filter for proper-noun / technical-token false positives:

import re, glob
ignore = {
    'QtPass','GPG','Git','OTP','PWGen','pass','Pass','Email','%1','%2','…','⌕',
    'Aa','LTR','Ctrl+G','Ctrl+N','PGP','GnuPG','YubiKey','Push','Git push','Git pull',
    'gpg','git','Git:','qrencode','pwgen',
    'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789',
    'login\nURL\ne-mail',
    'QProcess::FailedToStart','QProcess::Crashed','QProcess::Timedout',
    'QProcess::ReadError','QProcess::WriteError','QProcess::UnknownError',
}
for f in sorted(glob.glob('localization/localization_*.ts')):
    content = open(f).read()
    for m in re.finditer(r'<message[^>]*>.*?<source>(.*?)</source>.*?<translation([^>]*)>(.*?)</translation>', content, re.DOTALL):
        src,a,t = m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3)
        if 'vanished' in a or not t.strip(): continue
        if src.strip() == t.strip() and src not in ignore and 'href' not in src and len(src) > 2:
            print(f'{f}: {src[:60]!r}')

Find Slovenian leaks (or any cross-locale leak)

Replace the keyword set with distinguishing words from the unintended language:

# Detect Slovenian leaks in non-sl_SI files
slovenian = ['mogoče','prepričani','želite','izbrisati','odložišče','počiščeno',
             'ključa','obesku','zagon','uspel','nepričakovano']
import re, glob
for f in sorted(glob.glob('localization/localization_*.ts')):
    if 'sl_SI' in f: continue
    content = open(f).read()
    for m in re.finditer(r'<message[^>]*>.*?<source>(.*?)</source>.*?<translation([^>]*)>(.*?)</translation>', content, re.DOTALL):
        src,a,t = m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3)
        if 'vanished' in a or not t.strip(): continue
        for w in slovenian:
            if w in t.lower():
                print(f'{f}: {src[:50]} -> {t[:60]}')
                break

Find wrong-string mappings (copypaste errors)

Look for translations whose %-placeholder set doesn't match the source's. Already covered by the main placeholder check, but a separate scan focused on mismatched length / radically different translation can also help:

import re, glob
for f in sorted(glob.glob('localization/localization_*.ts')):
    content = open(f).read()
    for m in re.finditer(r'<message[^>]*>.*?<source>(.*?)</source>.*?<translation([^>]*)>(.*?)</translation>', content, re.DOTALL):
        src,a,t = m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3)
        if 'vanished' in a or not t.strip(): continue
        # Suspicious: translation 3× longer than source, or vice versa
        if len(src) > 10 and (len(t) > 3 * len(src) or len(t) * 3 < len(src)):
            print(f'{f}: len-ratio {len(src)}->{len(t)}: {src[:50]!r}')

When to skip the audit

• Pure terminology rename PRs (e.g., krātuve→glabātuve) on a single locale: structure is preserved by definition.
• Single-string typo fixes from a known reviewer.
• Removing type="unfinished" (finalising) on previously-validated translations.

For everything else — especially MT-source contributions — running the audit takes ~5 seconds and reliably catches issues that would otherwise need a second PR.