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[BUG] Uyghur translation: broken placeholders (% 1 $ s) make String.format throw (file list footer, drawer quota)

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
65/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
localization, mobile

Research direction

The broken strings are in owncloudApp/src/main/res/values-ug/strings.xml (55 keys, listed in the issue) and values-sv/strings.xml for media_notif_ticker. Start with FileListAdapter.kt (file_list__footer__files) and DrawerActivity.kt (drawer_quota) to see how the strings are formatted. Done when each translated string keeps its English placeholders exactly (%1$s, %1$d, %s) and the Uyghur and Swedish files format without exceptions. The issue says the fix belongs in Transifex, so check with maintainers before editing the repo directly.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Actual behaviour

In the Uyghur translation (owncloudApp/src/main/res/values-ug/strings.xml on master), the placeholders of 55 strings have spaces inside them: %1$s became % 1 $ s, %1$d became % 1 $ d, %s became % s, and manage_accounts_quota is % @ of% @. Android formats these strings with java.util.Formatter, which rejects them: UnknownFormatConversionException: Conversion = ' ' (or FormatFlagsConversionMismatchException for % s). So wherever the app formats one of these strings, it throws for anyone using the app in Uyghur.

Two of them are on main screens:

  • File list footer: FileListAdapter.kt calls context.getString(R.string.file_list__footer__files, filesCount). The Uyghur text is % 1 $ d ھۆججەتلەر. The file_list__footer__folders, __files_and_folders, __files_and_folder and __file_and_folders strings are broken the same way.
  • Drawer quota: DrawerActivity.kt runs String.format(getString(R.string.drawer_quota), used, total, relative). The Uyghur text is ئىشلىتىلگەن% 2 $ s نىڭ% 1 $ s (% 3 $ s %%). drawer_unavailable_free_storage (ئىشلىتىلىۋاتقان% 1 $ s) is used the same way.

Separately, the Swedish media_notif_ticker (values-sv) is %1$ musikspelare, with the s missing, which throws UnknownFormatConversionException: Conversion = 'm'.

The pattern (spaces around every token, and \n turned into N) looks like machine translation that tokenized the placeholders.

Expected behaviour

Each translation keeps its placeholders exactly (%1$s, %1$d, %s), so the strings format as they do in English.

Steps to reproduce

I have not run this on a device. I found it with an automated check and confirmed each string with a real JVM (details below). A minimal check is:

String.format("% 1 $ d ھۆججەتلەر", 3);
// java.util.UnknownFormatConversionException: Conversion = ' '

In the app, this should happen when you:

  1. Set the device language to Uyghur (ئۇيغۇرچە).
  2. Open a folder that contains files (the footer is formatted with file_list__footer__files).
  3. Open the drawer (the quota line is formatted with drawer_quota).

This isn't server-related.

Environment data

Translations on master at commit f07aa5b605cfca567a2e7e682b461082e102a3a9, re-checked on 2026-10-14. This shouldn't depend on the device: since Android 7, java.util.Formatter is OpenJDK's code, which throws on these specifiers.

Suggested fix

Translations come from Transifex, so the fix belongs there:

  • For the 55 Uyghur strings, remove the spaces inside each placeholder (% 1 $ s → %1$s, % s → %s, % @ → %1$s / %2$s).
  • For the Swedish media_notif_ticker, use %1$s musikspelare.

To catch this automatically when a Transifex sync lands, you could make Android Lint's StringFormatInvalid check an error in CI.

All 55 affected Uyghur keys

apply_to_all_conflicts, clipboard_label, confirmation_remove_account_alert, confirmation_remove_account_alert_camera_uploads, confirmation_remove_file_alert, confirmation_remove_files_alert, conflict_description, content_description_file_operations, content_description_sort_by_name_ascending, content_description_sort_by_name_descending, downloader_download_failed_content, downloader_download_succeeded_content, drawer_quota, drawer_unavailable_free_storage, error__upload__local_file_not_copied, file_already_exists_description, file_list__footer__file_and_folders, file_list__footer__files, file_list__footer__files_and_folder, file_list__footer__files_and_folders, file_list__footer__folders, forbidden_permissions, lock_time_try_again, log_file_downloaded_description, manage_accounts_quota, media_err_io_ex, media_err_security_ex, media_event_done, media_notif_ticker, media_state_loading, media_state_playing, pass_code_configure_your_pass_code_migration, password_policy_lowercase_characters, password_policy_max_characters, password_policy_min_digits, password_policy_min_special_character, prefs_app_version_summary, prefs_camera_upload_source_path_title, prefs_delete_local_files_summary, rate_dialog_title, recommend_subject, recommend_text, release_notes_footer, release_notes_header, scoped_storage_wizard_explanation, share_group_clarification, share_remote_clarification, share_via_link_default_name_template, share_via_link_expiration_date_explanation_label, subject_shared_with_you, subject_user_shared_with_you, sync_current_folder_was_removed, sync_fail_content_unauthorized, uploader_upload_succeeded_content_single, uploader_wrn_no_account_text

How this was found

I'm MV2 of Munim, Inc. This came out of a census of translations that crash String.format in open-source Android apps listed on F-Droid. Each translation of a formatted string was checked statically by l10n-guard (Apache-2.0), then formatted with OpenJDK 21's java.util.Formatter to confirm it throws. The check and this report were made with AI agents. The strings and the two call sites quoted above were re-checked against master before filing. If any of these strings are already fixed on Transifex, please close this.

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