translations: add "make prune-translations" to remove stale translations by developowl · Pull Request #22392 · kubernetes/minikube

developowl · 2026-01-07T10:25:02Z

Problem(Issue)

Each language.json contained duplicate and orphan keys (keys that were deleted from strings.txt but still persisted in the JSON files).

Proposed Solution

Validation: Compare strings.txt with each language JSON file to identify duplicates and orphan keys.
Data Flow Audit: Verified the synchronization process from strings.txt to individual translation files.
Data Integrity: Ensured that existing, valid string: translation pairs are preserved during the cleanup process.
Strict Matching: Only 100% exact duplicates are targeted for removal to avoid false positives from minor differences (e.g., punctuation or casing).
Implementation:
- Developed the pruning logic under the cmd/ directory.
- Added a new Makefile target for easy execution.
Verification: Completed local testing to ensure the logic works as expected without regressions.

Implementation Details

Analyzing the current system architecture.

extract.go : extract logic file
writeStringsToFiles: strings to file function

🚨 Root Cause

// Remove translations from the file that are empty and were not extracted
for k, v := range currentTranslations {
			if _, ok := e.translations[k]; !ok && len(v.(string)) == 0 {
				delete(currentTranslations, k)
			}
		}

A key is only deleted when both of the following conditions are met:

!ok : The key is missing from e.translations (it is no longer used in the current source code).
len == 0 : The translation value is an empty string.

Data Retention Strategy

To ensure that we don't lose any existing translations, I've implemented a strict pruning logic. As shown in the table below, even if a string is no longer detected in the source code (!ok), it is preserved if it already has a translated value. Only unused strings with empty values are removed.

Solution 1) Easy version (I don't choose.)

// Remove translations from the file that are empty and were not extracted
		
		for k, v := range currentTranslations {
			if _, ok := e.translations[k]; !ok {
				delete(currentTranslations, k)
			}
		}

Immediate deletion if the key is missing from e.translations.
Disadvantage: Requires caution when running extract (potential safety/data loss issues).
A single command performs too many roles (violates the Single Responsibility Principle).

Solution 2) create `prune-translations` & `update-translations` also, removed the deletion logic from the extract

extract: 
prune-translations:   
update-translations:  
    $(MAKE) extract
    $(MAKE) prune-translations

Adhering to the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP):

extract: Handles only string extraction from the source code.
prune-translations: Handles only the cleanup (pruning) of obsolete or orphan keys.
update-translations: A wrapper command that performs the entire workflow (extraction and pruning) at once.

prune-translations Job

Extract keys from strings.txt.
Compare the extracted keys with the keys in each locale-specific JSON file.
Remove duplicate or obsolete (deleted) keys from each JSON file.
Compare the final key counts of each JSON file with strings.txt after the cleanup.

Add `prune-translations`, `update-translations` target into Makefile

.PHONY: prune-translations
prune-translations: ## remove stale translations that no longer exist in strings.txt
	go run cmd/prune-translations/prune-translations.go

.PHONY: update-translations
update-translations: extract prune-translations ## extract strings and remove stale translations

Test!

Before test
Example: ko.json
Duplicate key: L168 & L170

Test Case 1) `extract` -> `prune-translations`

Test Case 2) Only `update-translations`

After Test

Example: ko.json
Duplicate key is not availabler.

To maintainer.

@medyagh
My apologies for the delay due to personal reasons. I have remained committed to this issue and have finally completed the task. While I considered Solution 1) as a simpler alternative, I felt it assigned too many responsibilities to the extract command alone. I would appreciate it if you could positively review the prune-translations and update-translations commands I have implemented. Thank you for your patience.🥝

k8s-ci-robot · 2026-01-07T10:25:10Z

[APPROVALNOTIFIER] This PR is NOT APPROVED

This pull-request has been approved by: developowl
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minikube-bot · 2026-01-07T10:30:03Z

Can one of the admins verify this patch?

medyagh

@developowl thank you for this PR

plz fix the lint and gomft
Please run 'make fmt' and commit the changes

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces a new prune-translations command to remove stale translation keys from language JSON files, implementing the Single Responsibility Principle by separating cleanup logic from the extraction process.

Key Changes:

Removed automatic cleanup logic from the extract command that previously deleted empty, unused translation keys
Created new prune-translations command that removes all keys from translation JSON files that are not present in strings.txt
Added Makefile targets for prune-translations (standalone) and update-translations (combined extract + prune workflow)

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

File	Description
pkg/minikube/extract/extract.go	Removed the automatic cleanup logic that deleted empty, unused translations during extraction
cmd/prune-translations/prune-translations.go	New command that reads valid keys from strings.txt and removes stale keys from all translation JSON files
Makefile	Added `prune-translations` target to run the pruning tool and `update-translations` target to execute both extract and prune operations

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medyagh

@developowl I think this would be cool to be added to our

"make generate-docs"

so when this job runs

minikube/.github/workflows/docs.yml

Line 25 in 3d9b452

make generate-docs

it also includes translations

developowl · 2026-01-08T00:08:15Z

@medyagh Thank you for the feedback!🥝 I've reflected all your reviews.
Please check this commit, which changes generate-docs dependency from extract to update-translations. So it now include both extracting strings(extract) and pruning(prune-translations)
Thank you :)

medyagh · 2026-01-09T19:48:03Z

+// This tool removes stale translations (keys not in strings.txt) from language JSON files.
+// Usage: go run cmd/prune-translations/prune-translations.go (from minikube root)
+
+package main


how about add a unit test for this , and you can make dummy test data and expect it to to do the right thing, and make sure we dont ever delete real translations by mistake

@medyagh
I wrote a unit test. I added dummy data to each unit test function. Is this correct? Please review my unit test. :)

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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Copilot · 2026-01-09T19:51:13Z

+	// Read valid keys from strings.txt
+	data, err := os.ReadFile("translations/strings.txt")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("Run from minikube root directory. strings.txt not found.")


The error_message "Run from minikube root directory. strings.txt not found." is unclear about the actual problem. If the file exists but has read permissions issues, this message would be misleading. Consider using a message that indicates the actual error or providing the original error details.

Suggested change

panic("Run from minikube root directory. strings.txt not found.")

panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to read translations/strings.txt: %w", err))

- Extract PruneTranslations() function with configurable directory path - Add PruneResult struct to return detailed results - Extract pruneFile() helper function - Improve error handling with wrapped errors This refactoring enables unit testing without touching real translation files.

Add comprehensive unit tests using temporary directories to ensure we never accidentally delete real translations: - TestPruneTranslations_RemovesStaleKeys: verify stale keys are removed - TestPruneTranslations_PreservesValidKeys: verify valid keys are kept - TestPruneTranslations_MultipleFiles: test multiple file handling - TestPruneTranslations_EmptyTranslationFile: edge case handling - TestPruneTranslations_MissingStringsFile: error handling - TestPruneTranslations_InvalidStringsJSON: error handling - TestPruneTranslations_DoesNotTouchRealTranslations: safety check

developowl

I wrote a unit test. I added dummy data to each unit test function. Is this correct? Please review my unit test. :)

developowl · 2026-01-13T00:08:28Z

@medyagh
More information of unit test. 🥝

Test cases:

TestPruneTranslations_RemovesStaleKeys - Verifies stale keys are correctly removed
TestPruneTranslations_PreservesValidKeys - Ensures valid keys are never deleted
TestPruneTranslations_MultipleFiles - Tests processing of multiple translation files
TestPruneTranslations_EmptyTranslationFile - Handles empty JSON files
TestPruneTranslations_MissingStringsFile - Error handling for missing strings.txt
TestPruneTranslations_InvalidStringsJSON - Error handling for invalid JSON
TestPruneTranslations_DoesNotTouchRealTranslations - Safety check to ensure tests use isolated temp directories

All tests use t.TempDir() with dummy test data, ensuring real translation files are never modified.

Run tests:

go test -v ./cmd/prune-translations/...

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

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Copilot · 2026-01-15T06:10:54Z

+func main() {
+	results, err := PruneTranslations("translations")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)


Using panic for error handling in main() is not idiomatic Go. Consider using log.Fatalf or os.Exit instead to provide better error messages and stack traces. For example: log.Fatalf(\"Failed to prune translations: %v\", err)

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

k8s-ci-robot · 2026-01-15T06:14:51Z

@developowl: The following tests failed, say /retest to rerun all failed tests or /retest-required to rerun all mandatory failed tests:

Test name	Commit	Details	Required	Rerun command
integration-docker-containerd-linux-x86	`4235db3`	link	true	`/test integration-docker-containerd-linux-x86`
integration-kvm-crio-linux-x86	`4235db3`	link	false	`/test integration-kvm-crio-linux-x86`
integration-kvm-containerd-linux-x86	`4235db3`	link	true	`/test integration-kvm-containerd-linux-x86`
integration-vfkit-docker-macos-arm	`25ed770`	link	false	`/test integration-vfkit-docker-macos-arm`

Full PR test history. Your PR dashboard. Please help us cut down on flakes by linking to an open issue when you hit one in your PR.

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medyagh · 2026-01-15T06:17:12Z

thank you @developowl

developowl added 3 commits January 7, 2026 18:14

refactor/remove delete logic from extract.go

4c0fa68

feat/create_prune_translations

b5a7f05

feat/add_prune and update translations target

98439bc

k8s-ci-robot requested review from nirs and prezha January 7, 2026 10:25

k8s-ci-robot added size/M Denotes a PR that changes 30-99 lines, ignoring generated files. cncf-cla: yes Indicates the PR's author has signed the CNCF CLA. labels Jan 7, 2026

developowl force-pushed the feat/make_prune_translations branch from b45f92c to 98439bc Compare January 7, 2026 11:44

medyagh requested a review from Copilot January 7, 2026 19:51

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developowl added 3 commits January 8, 2026 08:43

use make fmt

218c468

fix typo Unmarhsal to Unmarshal

6f491de

refactor/change generate-docs target, extract to update-translations

5296120

developowl requested a review from medyagh January 8, 2026 23:45

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developowl added 2 commits January 12, 2026 02:19

k8s-ci-robot added size/L Denotes a PR that changes 100-499 lines, ignoring generated files. and removed size/M Denotes a PR that changes 30-99 lines, ignoring generated files. labels Jan 11, 2026

developowl commented Jan 12, 2026

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developowl requested a review from medyagh January 14, 2026 23:51

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Update cmd/prune-translations/prune-translations.go

25ed770

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

medyagh changed the title ~~Feat: make prune-translations~~ translations: add "make prune-translations" to remove stale translations Jan 15, 2026

medyagh merged commit de35686 into kubernetes:master Jan 15, 2026
26 of 40 checks passed

medyagh mentioned this pull request Jan 28, 2026

fix release-note scripts to add links #22578

Closed

	panic("Run from minikube root directory. strings.txt not found.")
	panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to read translations/strings.txt: %w", err))

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developowl commented Jan 7, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Problem(Issue)

Proposed Solution

Implementation Details

Analyzing the current system architecture.

🚨 Root Cause

Data Retention Strategy

Solution 1) Easy version (I don't choose.)

Solution 2) create prune-translations & update-translations also, removed the deletion logic from the extract

prune-translations Job

Add prune-translations, update-translations target into Makefile

Test!

Test Case 1) extract -> prune-translations

Test Case 2) Only update-translations

After Test

To maintainer.

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developowl commented Jan 7, 2026 •

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Solution 2) create `prune-translations` & `update-translations` also, removed the deletion logic from the extract

Add `prune-translations`, `update-translations` target into Makefile

Test Case 1) `extract` -> `prune-translations`

Test Case 2) Only `update-translations`

developowl commented Jan 8, 2026 •

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