Erik Moeller wrote:
Brion Vibber schrieb:
I've taken it out for the moment as a) like adding random domain names, it's a really bad idea to encourage a dependency on inherently unstable URLs, and b) there was an infinite looping problem.
a) I don't see why these URLs should be, by necessity, inherently unstable. Unlike domain names, they don't require registration, they're purely software.
As we add things on the servers or to the software, portions of the URL space become unusable for redirection because there really are files there.
b) is fixed in the version on the server, to my knowledge. Am I missing something?
Well, it's fixed now that I've had a chance to hack at it. The tests for URL regions where actual files are known to exist (which would also have prevented the infinite redirect loop) were *all* wrongly written and failed on the actual strings tested. (The tests required the path not to have a '/' at the start, but it always does.)
I understand that it's annoying to track down a weird bug like this in an obscure script, but I don't think that is sufficient reason to turn off the short URLs completely.
For the meantime I've got it using a timed refresh plus a clickable link. Still relatively convenient for the lazy, without lulling people into a false sense of security thinking it's a legit URL they should be able use, link, or advertise like here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Home&diff=2048&...
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)