Fixed #24073 -- Deactivated translations when leave_locale_alone is False

Thanks Tim Graham and Markus Holtermann for the reviews.

django/core/management/base.py

@@ -205,21 +205,20 @@ class BaseCommand(object):
 
     ``leave_locale_alone``
         A boolean indicating whether the locale set in settings should be
-        preserved during the execution of the command instead of being
-        forcibly set to 'en-us'.
+        preserved during the execution of the command instead of translations
+        being deactivated.
 
         Default value is ``False``.
 
         Make sure you know what you are doing if you decide to change the value
         of this option in your custom command if it creates database content
         that is locale-sensitive and such content shouldn't contain any
-        translations (like it happens e.g. with django.contrim.auth
-        permissions) as making the locale differ from the de facto default
-        'en-us' might cause unintended effects.
+        translations (like it happens e.g. with django.contrib.auth
+        permissions) as activating any locale might cause unintended effects.
 
         This option can't be False when the can_import_settings option is set
-        to False too because attempting to set the locale needs access to
-        settings. This condition will generate a CommandError.
+        to False too because attempting to deactivate translations needs access
+        to settings. This condition will generate a CommandError.
     """
     # Metadata about this command.
     option_list = ()
@@ -430,12 +429,12 @@ class BaseCommand(object):
                                    "(%s) and 'can_import_settings' (%s) command "
                                    "options." % (self.leave_locale_alone,
                                                  self.can_import_settings))
-            # Switch to US English, because django-admin creates database
+            # Deactivate translations, because django-admin creates database
             # content like permissions, and those shouldn't contain any
             # translations.
             from django.utils import translation
             saved_locale = translation.get_language()
-            translation.activate('en-us')
+            translation.deactivate_all()
 
         try:
             if (self.requires_system_checks and

docs/howto/custom-management-commands.txt

@@ -145,13 +145,18 @@ default options such as :djadminopt:`--verbosity` and :djadminopt:`--traceback`.
 Management commands and locales
 ===============================
 
-By default, the :meth:`BaseCommand.execute` method sets the hardcoded 'en-us'
-locale because some commands shipped with Django perform several tasks
-(for example, user-facing content rendering and database population) that
-require a system-neutral string language (for which we use 'en-us').
+By default, the :meth:`BaseCommand.execute` method deactivates translations
+because some commands shipped with Django perform several tasks (for example,
+user-facing content rendering and database population) that require a
+project-neutral string language.
 
-If, for some reason, your custom management command needs to use a fixed locale
-different from 'en-us', you should manually activate and deactivate it in your
+.. versionchanged:: 1.8
+
+    In previous versions, Django forced the "en-us" locale instead of
+    deactivating translations.
+
+If, for some reason, your custom management command needs to use a fixed locale,
+you should manually activate and deactivate it in your
 :meth:`~BaseCommand.handle` method using the functions provided by the I18N
 support code::
 
@@ -177,7 +182,7 @@ support code::
             translation.deactivate()
 
 Another need might be that your command simply should use the locale set in
-settings and Django should be kept from forcing it to 'en-us'. You can achieve
+settings and Django should be kept from deactivating it. You can achieve
 it by using the :data:`BaseCommand.leave_locale_alone` option.
 
 When working on the scenarios described above though, take into account that
@@ -187,7 +192,7 @@ non-uniform locales, so you might need to:
 * Make sure the :setting:`USE_I18N` setting is always ``True`` when running
   the command (this is a good example of the potential problems stemming
   from a dynamic runtime environment that Django commands avoid offhand by
-  always using a fixed locale).
+  deactivating translations).
 
 * Review the code of your command and the code it calls for behavioral
   differences when locales are changed and evaluate its impact on

docs/releases/1.8.txt

@@ -1014,6 +1014,13 @@ Miscellaneous
   that Django includes) will no longer convert null values back to an empty
   string. This is consistent with other backends.
 
+* When the :attr:`~django.core.management.BaseCommand.leave_locale_alone`
+  attribute is ``False``, translations are now deactivated instead of forcing
+  the "en-us" locale. In the case your models contained non-English strings and
+  you counted on English translations to be activated in management commands,
+  this will not happen any longer. It might be that new database migrations are
+  generated (once) after migrating to 1.8.
+
 .. _deprecated-features-1.8:
 
 Features deprecated in 1.8

tests/user_commands/tests.py

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import os
 
 from django.apps import apps
 from django.db import connection
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.core import management
 from django.core.management import BaseCommand, CommandError, find_commands
 from django.core.management.utils import find_command, popen_wrapper
@@ -52,7 +53,8 @@ class CommandTests(SimpleTestCase):
         out = StringIO()
         with translation.override('pl'):
             management.call_command('leave_locale_alone_false', stdout=out)
-            self.assertEqual(out.getvalue(), "en-us\n")
+            # get_language returns settings.LANGUAGE_CODE for NullTranslations instances
+            self.assertEqual(out.getvalue(), "%s\n" % settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)
 
     def test_configured_locale_preserved(self):
         # Leaves locale from settings when set to false