Launchpad itself

After project rename, should automatically redirect previous incoming bug URLs

Bug #449092 reported by Paul Sladen

This bug report was converted into a question: question #95607: 'ubunet' project name should redirect to 'ubuntuone-servers'.

6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Launchpad itself
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

If the interweb already has an existing link to:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubunet/+bug/375345

and the project named in the base URL is renamed, then the existing link will now be *broken* generating an unhelpful "Lost something?" error page. Ideally Launchpad should just do the right thing(tm) and return a permanently-moved redirect including the new project name; in this case:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntuone-servers/+bug/375345

This could probably be done by the existing bug URL canonicalisation code simply being run for a *all* +bug/NNNNN link requests.

Revision history for this message
Eleanor Berger (intellectronica) wrote :

The solution you proposed is problematic because we want to capture the relation between a bug and one of the targets in which it manifests in the URL. However, there's a much simpler solution that will work for other objects. Launchpad should rewrite the URL for a renamed project.

affects: malone → launchpad
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

One way of fixing this would be (as I suggested in bug 317136 for a different reason) to make https://launchpad.net/bugs/NNN the canonical non-redirecting URL for any bug report in its first, and usually only, context.

See also bug 153763, the equivalent problem for disabled projects rather than renamed ones.

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

Launchpad does support this feature. The person who requested the project rename should have also requested an alias to enable the redirect.

Changed in launchpad:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

< sladen> wgrant: if the solution is to add a tick box (selected by default of course) to the LP admin renaming interface ("add redirect for old project name") then that's a solution---it's a change of workflow where something happens automatically
<wgrant> sladen: It's well known that if URLs need to not break, an alias should be added. I don't think there's much value in adding a special case.
<wgrant> But perhaps it is a valid request that such a checkbox should be added.

summary: - After project rename, should redirect previous incoming bug URLs
+ After project rename, should [provide a tickbox to] redirect previous
+ incoming bug URLs
Paul Sladen (sladen)
Changed in launchpad:
status: Invalid → New
summary: - After project rename, should [provide a tickbox to] redirect previous
- incoming bug URLs
+ After project rename, should automatically redirect previous incoming
+ bug URLs
Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

Add the alias ubunet to ubuntuone-servers so that links to the old project continue to work

Changed in launchpad:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

This bug got hijacked to cover a specific instance (the one provided in the example). The generic issue is now at bug #501525 ("Include an option to add an alias when a project is rename").

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