"TypeError: not enough arguments for format string" when starting Spyder in Portuguese

Issue Report Checklist

• Searched the issues page for similar reports
• Read the relevant sections of the Spyder Troubleshooting Guide and followed its advice
• Reproduced the issue after updating with conda update spyder (or pip, if not using Anaconda)
• Could not reproduce inside jupyter qtconsole (if console-related)
• Tried basic troubleshooting (if a bug/error)
  • Restarted Spyder
  • Reset preferences with spyder --reset
  • Reinstalled the latest version of Anaconda
  • Tried the other applicable steps from the Troubleshooting Guide
• Completed the Problem Description, Steps to Reproduce and Version sections below

Problem Description

What steps reproduce the problem?

1. Update spyder to 4.11

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Spyder crashes before launch

Paste Traceback/Error Below (if applicable)

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/bin/spyder", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/app/start.py", line 205, in main
    mainwindow.main()
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/app/mainwindow.py", line 3700, in main
    mainwindow = run_spyder(app, options, args)
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/app/mainwindow.py", line 3556, in run_spyder
    main.setup()
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/app/mainwindow.py", line 1217, in setup
    self.apply_shortcuts()
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/app/mainwindow.py", line 3207, in apply_shortcuts
    self.help.show_intro_message()
  File "/home/cristiana/anaconda3/envs/fintools/lib/python3.8/site-packages/spyder/plugins/help/plugin.py", line 455, in show_intro_message
    intro_message = (intro_message_eq + intro_message_common) % (
TypeError: not enough arguments for format string

Versions

• Spyder version: 4.1.1-py38_1
• Python version: 3.8
• Qt version:
• PyQt version:
• Operating System name/version:

Dependencies

After reading some other issues, I found out that

spyder --reset

has solved the problem. But I am reporting the error anyway.

Thanks

[cpkc]

In addition, as experience, I have tried the file pt_BR spyder.mo from earlier release 3.3.6 (from zip source) in 4.1.1 Win64 10 release. This time spyder 4.1.1 started up without any crash with file spyder.mo from spyder 3.3.6 release. I made only a test, it is not a solution.

PS: I speak brazilian portuguese too.

[ccordoba12]

@cpkc, that’s great!! I can understand the source of the problem now: it seems the Portuguese translator copied the translated string from spyder/plugins/help/plugin.py:414 to spyder/plugins/help/plugin.py:410, without noticing that the one in line 414 has an extra %s.

I did the fix myself here:

https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/blob/8a2cdde1795bbd87664489f1954ed2748729b3dc/spyder/locale/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/spyder.po#L3396-L3398

and it’ll be part of our next version (4.1.3), to be released at the end of the month.

Thanks a lot @Cristianasp for reporting and @cpkc for finding the cause!!