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&am…
-- brion vibber (brion @
pobox.com)