DEBCONF-UPDATEPO(1)

📦
version 1.0.22 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DEBCONF-UPDATEPO 💖

okay bestie, this is debconf-updatepo from the po-debconf fam — the lil script that keeps your PO files from being a whole mess. sit down, grab a boba, we're doing translation housekeeping 🧹✨

✨ NAME ✨

debconf-updatepo — update PO files about debconf templates 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

debconf-updatepo [-v] [-h] [--podir=DIR] [--skip-pot] [--skip-merge]
[--msgid-bugs-address=EMAIL]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the vibe: this program reads po/POTFILES.in to figure out which master files even need to be processed, then it goes and extracts all the new gettext strings into po/templates.pot and updates every single one of your po/*.po files. all of them. no cap. 💅

you can call this script from the top-level directory, OR from the debian or debian/po subdirectories — it's flexible like that, she's got range 🎀

who runs it? developers and/or translators, whenever the English text in the templates files gets modified and the PO files need to catch up. it's giving "keeping everyone in sync" and honestly? iconic. 👑

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -h, --help — shows you a usage summary and then dips. bye! 👋
  • -v, --verbose — process in verbose mode. she will tell you EVERYTHING she's doing, and we love a chatty queen 💬
  • --podir=DIR — sets the directory for PO files. by default, PO files get searched in debian/po, po and ../po — in that exact order, first come first served 🔍
  • --skip-pot — do NOT generate a new po/templates.pot file. skipping, as requested 🙈
  • --skip-merge — do NOT merge existing PO files with po/templates.pot. leaving those alone fr fr ✋
  • --msgid-bugs-address=EMAIL — sets the email address that goes into the POT's Report-Msgid-Bugs-To field 📧

by default, that field is set to <package>@package.debian.org.

this one's intended for the maintainers of Debian based distributions, and you should use it in these cases:

  • the package is not present in Debian (and so the <package>@packages.debian.org address does not exist, awkward 💀)
  • the maintainer made significant changes in the debconf templates (or added templates to a Debian package that had no templates), and does not want to bother the Debian maintainer with bug reports that won't be relevant for the Debian maintainer
lowkey important: the default address is preferred, so that corrections in the Debian based distribution don't happen without a notification to the Debian maintainer. don't be shady, notify your people 🫶

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

debconf-gettextize(1), po2debconf(1), podebconf-report-po(1), po-debconf(7) — the whole friend group, go say hi 🌈

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Denis Barbier <barbier@linuxfr.org> — thank you king 🫡

okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 💅✨ this was po-debconf version 2025-12-07, mwah, go update your PO files, love u 💖🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from