id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
31914	Django does not pick up .mo files when LOCALE_PATHS is unset	Ondřej Kolín	nobody	"Update: Kinda resolved, see my comment. 

1. Set LANGUAGE_CODE and LANGUAGES in settings.py
2. You are able to makemessages and compilemessages
3. Django is not picking up the translated messages
4. Set the LOCALE_PATHS variable in the settings.py
5. django now picks the messages

Fragment of settings.py
{{{
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en'
LANGUAGES =[ ('en', _('English')), ('cs', _('Czech')) ]
LOCALE_PATHS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'locale'),
)
}}}

If this is intended, I think that makemessages/compile messages should fail as well. If not, the discovery should work as well. 

Basic dir structure
.
├── db.sqlite3
├── locale
├── manage.py
├── safecloud
├── secshare
└── static

cat ./../venv/pyvenv.cfg 
home = /usr/bin
include-system-site-packages = false
version = 3.8.3"	Bug	closed	Internationalization	3.1	Normal	fixed			Unreviewed	0	0	0	0	0	0