Kuma, the engine of MDN Web Docs, uses gettext-formatted .po files for translating UI strings. Localizers translate these strings using Pontoon. These strings have been stored in the Kuma repository since 2015. They have now been moved to their own repository, mozilla-l10n/mdn-l10n. See bug 1385405 for more details.
Nothing changes for Pontoon users or MDN visitors. However, if you have a local Kuma development environment or have open PRs, you’ll need to take some actions.
When you upgrade to the new master branch, you may just be left with the .mo files, the “machine object” files generated from the .po files. You’ll need to checkout the submodule:
git submodule update --init --depth=5 locale
Verify that the .po files exist, such as locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po.
When you downgrade to a PR branch before this change, it may not allow you, with a message like:
$ git checkout ad489468
error: The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by checkout:
locale/af/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
locale/af/LC_MESSAGES/javascript.po
locale/ar/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
locale/ar/LC_MESSAGES/javascript.po
locale/az/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
locale/az/LC_MESSAGES/javascript.po
...
Aborting
You need to remove the locale folder first, then check it out:
$ rm -rf locale/
$ git checkout ad489468
If you have an open pull request, now is a good time to rebase it on the new master branch:
$ git remote -v | grep origin
origin git@github.com:mozilla/kuma.git (fetch)
origin git@github.com:mozilla/kuma.git (push)
$ git fetch origin
$ git checkout my_branch
$ rm -rf locale
$ git rebase origin/master
$ git push -f myrepo my_branch
If you need more help, contact me (jwhitlock) in the #mdndev IRC channel, or ask on this thread.
Update 1: Fixed the link to bug 1385405
