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Maniphest T403097

Allow removal of terms for unsupported language codes from Items
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Description

Problem:
The Language and Product Localization team is working on deprecating certain language codes for a long time already. A blocker to doing this is the existing labels, descriptions and aliases in those languages in Wikidata. One example is T394877.
Removing the language codes is made harder than it needs to be be because Wikibase does not let you remove labels from an Item if the language code has been removed. We should fix this by allowing the removal of labels, descriptions and aliases even if the language code for them is no longer supported.

BDD
GIVEN an Item with existing terms for a given language code
AND that language code is not supported by the Wikibase instance
WHEN removing the terms in that language code
THEN the terms in that language code are removed instead of throwing an error

Acceptance criteria:

  • terms for deprecated/unsupported language codes can be removed

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectRepoBranchLines +/-
Allow removing terms in unsupported languagesmediawiki/extensions/Wikibasemaster+80 -70
Further improve wbeditentity summaries for termsmediawiki/extensions/Wikibasemaster+174 -14
Customize query in gerrit

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Event Timeline

Lydia_Pintscher created this task.Aug 27 2025, 5:07 PM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptAug 27 2025, 5:07 PM
Lydia_Pintscher renamed this task from Wikidata Ticket Template to Allow removal of terms for unsupported language codes from Items.Aug 27 2025, 5:08 PM
Lydia_Pintscher triaged this task as High priority.
Mahir256 subscribed.Aug 27 2025, 10:19 PM

It seems like resolving T284808 is a necessary precondition for the situation presented in this task.

gerritbot added a comment.Aug 28 2025, 10:21 AM

Change #1182177 had a related patch set uploaded (by Lucas Werkmeister (WMDE); author: Lucas Werkmeister (WMDE)):

[mediawiki/extensions/Wikibase@master] WIP: Allow removing terms in unsupported languages

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1182177

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 28 2025, 10:21 AM
Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE subscribed.Aug 28 2025, 10:21 AM
Nikerabbit subscribed.Sep 15 2025, 6:41 AM
srishakatux subscribed.Sep 25 2025, 9:33 PM
srishakatux mentioned this in T405682: Host and automate Wikidata language code cleanup bot in Wikimedia cloud.Sep 25 2025, 10:05 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Nov 24 2025, 5:26 PM

Change #1210645 had a related patch set uploaded (by Lucas Werkmeister (WMDE); author: Lucas Werkmeister (WMDE)):

[mediawiki/extensions/Wikibase@master] WIP: Further improve wbeditentity summaries for terms

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1210645

matej_suchanek added parent tasks: T284808: Add a configuration variable that allows disabling language codes for labels, descriptions, and aliases, T44396: duplicate/invalid language codes.Dec 10 2025, 8:33 AM
Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE added a comment.Dec 10 2025, 10:30 AM
In T403097#11126732, @Mahir256 wrote:

It seems like resolving T284808 is a necessary precondition for the situation presented in this task.

I disagree. MediaWiki could also remove support for a language code altogether without a configuration variable.

gerritbot added a comment.Dec 17 2025, 11:08 AM

Change #1210645 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/Wikibase@master] Further improve wbeditentity summaries for terms

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1210645

gerritbot added a comment.Dec 22 2025, 4:24 PM

Change #1182177 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/Wikibase@master] Allow removing terms in unsupported languages

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1182177

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Dec 22 2025, 4:30 PM
Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE added a comment.Dec 22 2025, 4:32 PM

The above change should be deployed to Wikidata ca. 7 January (T408280). Note that, as described in the commit message, only wbeditentity (Action API) or a full-entity PATCH (REST API) can remove terms in unsupported languages, so the desktop termbox won’t work. (I think the mobile termbox would actually work, though I haven’t tested it.) A dedicated bot to remove labels in no-longer-supported languages should use one of the supported API endpoints. (I think cleanup-wikidata-language-code.py should work, because it looks like pywikibot uses wbeditentity, but again I haven’t tested it.)

srishakatux awarded a token.Jan 5 2026, 10:50 PM
Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE edited projects, added Wikidata-Omega (The Board); removed Wikidata-Omega.Jan 21 2026, 4:08 PM
Lucas_Werkmeister_WMDE moved this task from new to the board to Product Verification on the Wikidata-Omega (The Board) board.
karapayneWMDE assigned this task to Lydia_Pintscher.Mon, Feb 23, 7:23 PM
karapayneWMDE subscribed.

Could you please verify that the patch address your issue and if there is any additional work still left to be done? Thanks!

Lydia_Pintscher closed this task as Resolved.Tue, Feb 24, 4:44 PM

I can't verify this because I don't have an unsupported language code and the right API call set up for it.
I am going to close this though under the assumption that it works as expected and if not let's reopen it.

karapayneWMDE moved this task from Product Verification to Done - Moving a task here will move it to the completed tasks workboard, resolve the ticket, and assign it to whomever made the move on the Wikidata-Omega (The Board) board.Mon, Mar 2, 8:05 AM
karapayneWMDE edited projects, added Wikidata-Omega (Completed Tasks); removed Wikidata-Omega (The Board).
karapayneWMDE moved this task from Newly completed tasks to 2026 Q1 on the Wikidata-Omega (Completed Tasks) board.
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