Update release notes and customize aria-describedby

django/forms/boundfield.py

@@ -279,12 +279,12 @@ class BoundField:
         if self.field.disabled:
             attrs["disabled"] = True
         id_for_label = self.id_for_label
-        if (
-            self.field.help_text
-            and id_for_label
-            and "aria-describedby" not in widget.attrs
-        ):
-            attrs["aria-describedby"] = "%s_helptext" % id_for_label
+        if self.field.help_text and id_for_label:
+            helptext_id = '%s_helptext' % id_for_label
+            if 'aria-describedby' in widget.attrs:
+                attrs['aria-describedby'] = f"{helptext_id} {attrs['aria-describedby']}"
+            else:
+                attrs['aria-describedby'] = helptext_id
         return attrs
 
     @property

docs/ref/forms/fields.txt

@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ template to make the same customization to the ``id`` of the help text.
     >>> print(f['username'])
     <input type="text" name="username" aria-describedby="custom-description" maxlength="10" id="id_username" required>
 
-.. versionchanged:: 4.1
+.. versionchanged:: 4.2
 
     ``aria-describedby`` was added to associate ``help_text`` with its input.
 

docs/releases/4.2.txt

@@ -173,6 +173,10 @@ Forms
 * :func:`~django.forms.models.modelform_factory` now respects the
   ``formfield_callback`` attribute of the ``form``’s ``Meta``.
 
+*  Currently, help text is not programmatically identifiable. To improve accessibility
+  :attr:`~django.forms.Field.help_text` is now
+  associated to its input using ``aria-describedby``.
+
 Generic Views
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~