On 05/04/2008, Javier Valcarce García javier.valcarce@gmail.com wrote:
Some time ago, I ask this same question, the solution, given to me by Platonides, was to change a line in the source code of MediaWiki 1.10
if ( 0 == $this->getID() ) { wfProfileOut( __METHOD__ ); $wgOut->setStatusCode(404); // CHANGED
Now, I have MediaWiki 1.12, What are the lines I must change now? Why not include permanently this feature in the main source code?
The one reason I can remember for not doing it be default is that IE won't display 404 error pages if they are too short, it displays its error page instead. A MediaWiki page ought to be long enough to avoid that, though. There are also issues with whether an edit page for a non-existent article should be a 404 or not (and that's what redlinks link to).