[Python-Dev] www.python.org/doc and docs.python.org hotfixed

[Nick Coghlan]

Doug Hellmann wrote:
> Perhaps it has already been suggested and rejected for some reason, but
> we could include the major/minor version numbers in the URLs.  That
> would make it easier to rewrite old URLs, and I assume there will be 2.x
> and 3.x documentation available online for some period of time?

The old doc directories are already kept around (all the way back to 1.4
in fact: http://www.python.org/doc/1.4/)

As a quick fix for the old links, a rewrite rule to map such links to
the 2.5 docs seems like a very good idea to me. Since old URLs all use
abbreviations in the directory name (tut, lib, mac, ref, ext, api, doc,
inst, dist), it should be straightforward to redirect them without
affecting the links to the new docs (tutorial, using, reference, howto,
extending, c-api, install, distutils, documenting).


> Perhaps we should restore the old version of the files until this is
> resolved?  Being redirected to the top landing page is a little
> disconcerting if you come to the site through a search engine and aren't
> familiar with the organization of the manual.

A redirect rule to the 2.5.2 docs for the old naming scheme is probably
a better short-term solution.

>  For example, I went to
> look for the documentation on how slots work, and ended up at the top of
> the reference manual.  The local search didn't work (no results),
> "slots" isn't in the index, and google still has the old URL.

The quick search is actually working for me these days (it wasn't for a
while when the new docs were still in development). (e.g. the first hit
I get when searching for "slots" now is
http://www.python.org/doc/2.6/reference/datamodel.html?highlight=slots#__slots__)

I believe it's a Javascript based search though, so there may be issues
with browser compatibility (or user's with JS disabled).

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
---------------------------------------------------------------
            http://www.boredomandlaziness.org