Peblate

A Django extension for Weblate that adds PebbleOS watch previews, font uploads, coverage checks and draft language packs. Catalog and pack tools live in pebbleos-translations.

Translating

New-language setup prepares fonts and reviews rendering before creating the translation. Languages covered by built-in fonts need no upload. The wizard also offers compatible fonts and licenses from existing English en_* font-only packs, which remain hidden as translation targets.

In the editor, keep translations concise and check the watch preview. Save your changes before checking coverage or building a draft. Drafts include strings awaiting approval; strings marked as needing editing and unaccepted suggestions are excluded. Previews show a sample text box, so full watch layouts still need testing on a watch.

Contributors can fill empty font styles and replace their own uploads. Replacing another contributor's font, or an imported font without an owner, requires unit.review for that language or a superuser. Uploads require a license; advanced font controls in the editor handle later corrections.

Publication

The editor links to Language pack publication. Project maintainers enable publication and approve new or changed custom fonts there. Built-in body and heading fonts are checked automatically; they need no manual approval. Language reviewers approve wording through Weblate's native review workflow and language-scoped teams.

Published updates require a language reviewer, at least 80% approved strings, passing build checks and approval of any custom fonts. Only approved strings ship. Languages without reviewers remain community drafts; held updates retain their previous published pack. English font-only packs need font approval and coverage checks, but no wording reviewer.

Decisions are stored in Weblate. The automated publisher in pebbleos-translations reads them through Peblate's authenticated, read-only API. Draft downloads are for testing and do not publish a pack.

Installation

Install the peblate and pebbleos-translations wheels in Weblate's Python environment. They are not yet published to a package index:

uv pip install --python /path/to/weblate/venv/bin/python /path/to/wheels/*.whl

Add these settings after Weblate's existing settings:

INSTALLED_APPS = ["peblate", *INSTALLED_APPS]
ROOT_URLCONF = "peblate.urls"
PEBLATE_COMPONENT = "pebbleos/watch"
PEBLATE_CACHE_ROOT = "/var/lib/weblate/peblate"
CELERY_BEAT_SCHEDULE = {
    **globals().get("CELERY_BEAT_SCHEDULE", {}),
    "peblate-cleanup": {"task": "peblate.tasks.cleanup_jobs", "schedule": 3600.0},
}

Run weblate migrate, weblate check and static-file collection, then restart Weblate's web and worker processes. After configuring the component, run weblate peblate_configure_languages to exclude English font-only catalogs from translation discovery and creation while retaining their files for pack builds.

One component is supported per installation. Web and Celery workers must share the writable cache directory; keep the default queue worker and beat scheduler running. Jobs snapshot saved translations and fonts, recheck permissions on access, and expire after 24 hours.

Access uses Weblate's component and language permissions. Previews require translation.download; draft checks and builds also require unit.edit; font changes additionally require upload.perform. Publication controls require project management permission.

Configure Pebble Accounts for Pebble-only signup. Registration is closed by default; existing accounts retain password login and recovery. See the source import guide for firmware POT updates through Weblate's native API.

Development

Prepare the PebbleOS renderer artifact before building. Its generated files are ignored in Git and bundled in the wheel:

uv build --wheel

Build the pebbleos-translations wheel separately. The installed extension needs GNU gettext (msgfmt, included in the Weblate image), but no firmware checkout or SDK. The local Docker example provides setup and integration tests.

Tested with Weblate 2026.9.1. Peblate overrides editor and language-creation templates and uses Weblate's internal APIs; run integration tests before upgrades.

Fonts, licenses and maps are committed together in Weblate's component checkout. Uploads use content hashes, share identical assets and leave pushing to Weblate. Compiled fonts, previews and job results stay in the cache. Draft builds use private snapshots and do not commit translations or change their approval state.