Localization tooling

Four stdlib-only Python scripts for maintaining Localizable.xcstrings. Run them from the repo root. None of them are part of the build; Scripts/ sits outside the app target.

Why sync_catalog.py exists

xcodebuild never writes back to Localizable.xcstrings. Only building inside Xcode updates the catalog. Extraction still runs on the command line (SWIFT_EMIT_LOC_STRINGS=YES) — it just leaves the result in .stringsdata files and stops there. So if you add or change a localized literal and only ever build from the CLI, the catalog silently falls behind: new keys never appear, and changed keys are never marked stale.

xcodebuild -project Applite.xcodeproj -scheme Applite -configuration Debug \
    -destination 'platform=macOS' -derivedDataPath /tmp/dd build
python3 Scripts/Localization/sync_catalog.py \
    /tmp/dd/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Applite.build/Debug/Applite.build/Objects-normal/arm64 \
    --apply

It adds new keys, refreshes comments from source, marks vanished keys stale, and never touches localizations — translations are only ever changed by a translator. It preserves the file's key order, because Xcode sorts with a locale-aware collation (punctuation first) that a naive sort does not reproduce, and re-sorting churns the whole file.

Batch format for apply_translations.py

TRANSLATIONS = {"<source key>": {"hu": "…", "fr": "…"}}   # refuses to overwrite an existing value
FIXES        = {"<source key>": {"hu": "…"}}              # overwrites deliberately

A value may also be {"one": …, "other": …} for a language that inflects after a numeral, or {"_raw": {…}} to pass a localization object through verbatim (two-count strings need substitutions).

It refuses to run if a key appears twice in one dict. That is not hypothetical: a batch grouped by language put the same key in two sections, Python kept only the last, and 15 corrections were silently dropped while the applied count still looked right.

apple_terms.py

macOS ships its own localizations as .loctable plists — one per string table, keyed by language. This finds the keys whose en value matches your term exactly, reads those same keys back out of hu / fr / ja / zh_CN / zh_HK / tr, and counts each rendering.

python3 Scripts/Localization/apple_terms.py "Install" "Uninstall" "Advanced"

Frequency is evidence, not a verdict. The same English word is usually several UI concepts: Note resolves to the Notes app, Utilities most often to Launchpad's "Other" grouping. Always read the alternates before adopting the top hit — see the deviations section of TRANSLATING.md.