argparse: the word 'default' (in help) is not marked as translatable

[woutgg]

BPO	33775
Nosy	@tirkarthi
PRs	gh-77956: Add the words 'default' and 'version' help text localizable #12711

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2018-06-05.22:12:35.905>
labels = ['type-bug', '3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.7', 'library']
title = "argparse: the word 'default' (in help) is not marked as translatable"
updated_at = <Date 2021-08-08.14:13:35.843>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/woutgg'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-08-08.14:13:35.843>
actor = 'jdetrey'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2018-06-05.22:12:35.905>
creator = 'woutgg'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 33775
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['318784', '318787', '339543', '339547', '339549']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['paul.j3', 'woutgg', 'xtreak']
pr_nums = ['12711']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue33775'
versions = ['Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8', 'Python 3.9', 'Python 3.10', 'Python 3.11']

Linked PRs

• [3.12] gh-77956: Add the words 'default' and 'version' help text localizable (GH-12711) #115967
• [3.11] gh-77956: Add the words 'default' and 'version' help text localizable (GH-12711) #115968

[woutgg]

The word 'default', used to indicate default arguments in the help text (found here: Lib/argparse.py:681) is missing the gettext wrapper, causing it to be untranslatable.

[woutgg]

Note: the line number in the link is not correct anymore, I'm not sure how to link to a specific commit so here is the source line: help += ' (default: %(default)s)'.

[tirkarthi]

@paul.j3 I assume this is an easy issue of wrapping "default" with _() at [0]. There doesn't seem to be any tests for localization in argparse.

cpython/Lib/argparse.py

Line 682 in 2ea8099

help += ' (default: %(default)s)'

[paulj3]

I haven't paid much attention to the localization issues in argparse.

The issue is with the help modification done by the:

class ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter

help += ' (default: %(default)s)'

This formatter is a convenience, not something critical. The programmer could always include that 'default' string in the help line with their preferred terminology. They don't have to use this formatter to show the default values in their help lines.

_() is used mostly for error messages with the format

    msg = _('message %(value)s')
    raise Error( msg % args)

So the following change might work:

help += _(' (default: %(default)s)')

But I'm not in a position to test it or evaluate its usefulness.

[paulj3]

https://bugs.python.org/issue16786

points out that the 'version' action isn't localizable either.