[FEATURE] Skip rewriting XLF files when only the timestamp changed (#810)

* Skip rewriting XLF files when only the date attribute changed

When regenerating extension code, XLF files were always overwritten even
if no labels changed. This caused VCS noise because the date= attribute
in the <file> element is set to the current timestamp on every run.

FileGenerator now compares the normalized content (date= attribute
stripped) of the new and existing XLF file before writing. If they are
equal, the write is skipped and the file retains its original mtime.

The existing staticDateInXliffFiles workaround remains fully functional.

* Remove staticDateInXliffFiles setting

XLF files are now only rewritten when label content actually changes, so
a static date workaround is no longer necessary. Remove the setting from
the XLF template, the settings template, test fixtures, documentation,
and the changelog entry documents the change under 13.1.0.

Also removes a now-stale PHPStan baseline entry for FileGenerator.php.

Author: PKuhlmay

Classes/Service/FileGenerator.php

@@ -1515,12 +1515,39 @@ protected function writeFile(string $targetFile, string $fileContents): void
         if (empty($fileContents)) {
             return;
         }
+
+        // Skip writing XLF files when only the date= attribute has changed to avoid VCS noise
+        if (
+            strtolower(pathinfo($targetFile, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)) === 'xlf'
+            && $this->xlfContentIsUnchanged($targetFile, $fileContents)
+        ) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         $success = GeneralUtility::writeFile($targetFile, $fileContents);
         if (!$success) {
             throw new Exception('File ' . $targetFile . ' could not be created!');
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Checks whether an existing XLF file has the same content as $newContent,
+     * ignoring differences in the date= attribute.
+     * Used to avoid rewriting XLF files when only the timestamp changed.
+     */
+    private function xlfContentIsUnchanged(string $targetFile, string $newContent): bool
+    {
+        if (!file_exists($targetFile)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        $existing = file_get_contents($targetFile);
+        if ($existing === false) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        $normalize = static fn(string $content): string => (string)preg_replace('/\bdate="[^"]*"/', 'date=""', $content);
+        return $normalize($existing) === $normalize($newContent);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param $destinationFile
      *

Documentation/ChangeLog/Index.rst

@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@
 Change log
 ==========
 
+Version 13.1.0
+--------------
+
+* [FEATURE] XLF files are no longer rewritten when only the ``date=`` attribute changed — avoids VCS noise on every regeneration. The ``staticDateInXliffFiles`` setting is removed as it is no longer needed.
+
 Version 12.0.0
 --------------
 

Documentation/Configuration/Index.rst

@@ -168,20 +168,11 @@ This is an example of the :file:`settings.yaml` file:
 Miscellaneous
 -------------
 
-There are more options both for the timestamps of the language files and for
-working with the Extension Builder itself.
+There are more options for working with the Extension Builder itself.
 
 +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 |**Setting**                 |**Description**                                                                |
 +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|staticDateInXliffFiles      |By default, the date attribute in language files is updated every time you     |
-|                            |save in the Extension Builder.                                                 |
-|                            |This can be confusing in a version control system if all language files are    |
-|                            |marked as changed even if no labels have been added or changed.                |
-|                            |To prevent this effect, you can set a static date –                            |
-|                            |although this is not recommended because the modification date can be useful   |
-|                            |in the translation context.                                                    |
-+----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 |ignoreWarnings              |Some modeling configurations result in warnings.                               |
 |                            |For example, if you configure a show action as a default action, you are       |
 |                            |warned that you need to define a parameter of a domain object to be shown.     |
@@ -195,7 +186,5 @@ This is an example of the :file:`settings.yaml` file:
 
 .. code-block:: yaml
 
-   staticDateInXliffFiles: 2021-11-18T12:37:00Z
-
    ignoreWarnings:
      503

Resources/Private/CodeTemplates/Extbase/Configuration/ExtensionBuilder/settings.yamlt

@@ -68,9 +68,6 @@ overwriteSettings:
 ## add declare strict types in php files
 declareStrictTypes: true
 
-## use static date attribute in xliff files
-#staticDateInXliffFiles: '{f:format.date(format:'Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z',date:'now')}'
-
 ## skip docComment (license header)
 #skipDocComment: false
 

Resources/Private/CodeTemplates/Extbase/Resources/Private/Language/locallang.xlft

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {namespace k=EBT\ExtensionBuilder\ViewHelpers}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>
 <xliff version="1.0">
-	<file source-language="{extension.sourceLanguage}" datatype="plaintext" original="{fileName}" date="{f:if(condition:extension.settings.staticDateInXliffFiles, then:'{extension.settings.staticDateInXliffFiles}', else: '{f:format.date(format:\'Y-m-d\\TH:i:s\\Z\',date:\'now\')}')}" product-name="{extension.extensionKey}">
+	<file source-language="{extension.sourceLanguage}" datatype="plaintext" original="{fileName}" date="{f:format.date(format:'Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z',date:'now')}" product-name="{extension.extensionKey}">
 		<header/>
 		<body><f:for each="{labelArray}" as="label" key="index">
 			<trans-unit id="{index}" resname="{index}">

Tests/Fixtures/TestExtensions/eb_astrophotography/Configuration/ExtensionBuilder/settings.yaml

@@ -68,9 +68,6 @@ overwriteSettings:
 ## add declare strict types in php files
 declareStrictTypes: true
 
-## use static date attribute in xliff files
-#staticDateInXliffFiles: '2026-04-06T19:20:13Z'
-
 ## skip docComment (license header)
 #skipDocComment: false
 

Tests/Fixtures/TestExtensions/test_extension/Configuration/ExtensionBuilder/settings.yaml

@@ -70,9 +70,6 @@ overwriteSettings:
 
 #  ext_tables.sql: merge
 
-## use static date attribute in xliff files ##
-#staticDateInXliffFiles: ###YEAR###-01-01T01:00:00Z
-
 ## list of error codes for warnings that should be ignored ##
 #ignoreWarnings:
   #503

Tests/Unit/Service/FileGeneratorXlfTest.php

@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the TYPO3 CMS project.
+ *
+ * It is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+ * the terms of the GNU General Public License, either version 2
+ * of the License, or any later version.
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please read the
+ * LICENSE.txt file that was distributed with this source code.
+ *
+ * The TYPO3 project - inspiring people to share!
+ */
+
+namespace EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Tests\Unit\Service;
+
+use EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Service\ClassBuilder;
+use EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Service\FileGenerator;
+use EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Service\LocalizationService;
+use EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Service\Printer;
+use EBT\ExtensionBuilder\Service\RoundTrip;
+use org\bovigo\vfs\vfsStream;
+use org\bovigo\vfs\vfsStreamDirectory;
+use ReflectionClass;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Configuration\ExtensionConfiguration;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\View\ViewFactoryInterface;
+use TYPO3\TestingFramework\Core\Unit\UnitTestCase;
+
+class FileGeneratorXlfTest extends UnitTestCase
+{
+    private FileGenerator $fileGenerator;
+    private vfsStreamDirectory $vfsRoot;
+
+    protected function setUp(): void
+    {
+        parent::setUp();
+
+        $this->vfsRoot = vfsStream::setup('root');
+
+        $this->fileGenerator = new FileGenerator(
+            $this->createMock(ClassBuilder::class),
+            $this->createMock(RoundTrip::class),
+            $this->createMock(Printer::class),
+            $this->createMock(LocalizationService::class),
+            $this->createMock(ViewFactoryInterface::class),
+            $this->createMock(ExtensionConfiguration::class),
+        );
+    }
+
+    private function callXlfContentIsUnchanged(string $targetFile, string $newContent): bool
+    {
+        $ref = new ReflectionClass($this->fileGenerator);
+        $method = $ref->getMethod('xlfContentIsUnchanged');
+        return $method->invoke($this->fileGenerator, $targetFile, $newContent);
+    }
+
+    private function xlf(string $date, string $label = 'Hello'): string
+    {
+        return <<<XML
+            <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>
+            <xliff version="1.0">
+                <file source-language="en" datatype="plaintext" original="locallang.xlf" date="{$date}" product-name="my_ext">
+                    <header/>
+                    <body>
+                        <trans-unit id="general.yes" resname="general.yes">
+                            <source>{$label}</source>
+                        </trans-unit>
+                    </body>
+                </file>
+            </xliff>
+            XML;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     */
+    public function returnsFalseWhenFileDoesNotExist(): void
+    {
+        $path = vfsStream::url('root/locallang.xlf');
+        self::assertFalse($this->callXlfContentIsUnchanged($path, $this->xlf('2025-01-01T00:00:00Z')));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     */
+    public function returnsTrueWhenOnlyDateAttributeDiffers(): void
+    {
+        $path = vfsStream::url('root/locallang.xlf');
+        vfsStream::newFile('locallang.xlf')
+            ->withContent($this->xlf('2020-01-01T00:00:00Z'))
+            ->at($this->vfsRoot);
+
+        self::assertTrue($this->callXlfContentIsUnchanged($path, $this->xlf('2026-04-11T12:00:00Z')));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     */
+    public function returnsFalseWhenLabelChanged(): void
+    {
+        $path = vfsStream::url('root/locallang.xlf');
+        vfsStream::newFile('locallang.xlf')
+            ->withContent($this->xlf('2020-01-01T00:00:00Z', 'Hello'))
+            ->at($this->vfsRoot);
+
+        self::assertFalse($this->callXlfContentIsUnchanged($path, $this->xlf('2026-04-11T12:00:00Z', 'Goodbye')));
+    }
+}