[Rd] URL checks

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> Viechtbauer, Wolfgang (SP) 
>>>>>     on Fri, 8 Jan 2021 13:50:14 +0000 writes:

    > Instead of a separate file to store such a list, would it be an idea to add versions of the \href{}{} and \url{} markup commands that are skipped by the URL checks?
    > Best,
    > Wolfgang

I think John Nash and you misunderstood -- or then I
misunderstood -- the original proposal:

I've been understanding that there should be a  "central repository" of URL
exceptions that is maintained by volunteers.

And rather *not* that package authors should get ways to skip
URL checking..

Martin


    >> -----Original Message-----
    >> From: R-devel [mailto:r-devel-bounces using r-project.org] On Behalf Of Spencer
    >> Graves
    >> Sent: Friday, 08 January, 2021 13:04
    >> To: r-devel using r-project.org
    >> Subject: Re: [Rd] URL checks
    >> 
    >> I also would be pleased to be allowed to provide "a list of known
    >> false-positive/exceptions" to the URL tests.  I've been challenged
    >> multiple times regarding URLs that worked fine when I checked them.  We
    >> should not be required to do a partial lobotomy to pass R CMD check ;-)
    >> 
    >> Spencer Graves
    >> 
    >> On 2021-01-07 09:53, Hugo Gruson wrote:
    >>> 
    >>> I encountered the same issue today with https://astrostatistics.psu.edu/.
    >>> 
    >>> This is a trust chain issue, as explained here:
    >>> https://whatsmychaincert.com/?astrostatistics.psu.edu.
    >>> 
    >>> I've worked for a couple of years on a project to increase HTTPS
    >>> adoption on the web and we noticed that this type of error is very
    >>> common, and that website maintainers are often unresponsive to requests
    >>> to fix this issue.
    >>> 
    >>> Therefore, I totally agree with Kirill that a list of known
    >>> false-positive/exceptions would be a great addition to save time to both
    >>> the CRAN team and package developers.
    >>> 
    >>> Hugo
    >>> 
    >>> On 07/01/2021 15:45, Kirill Müller via R-devel wrote:
    >>>> One other failure mode: SSL certificates trusted by browsers that are
    >>>> not installed on the check machine, e.g. the "GEANT Vereniging"
    >>>> certificate from https://relational.fit.cvut.cz/ .
    >>>> 
    >>>> K
    >>>> 
    >>>> On 07.01.21 12:14, Kirill Müller via R-devel wrote:
    >>>>> Hi
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> The URL checks in R CMD check test all links in the README and
    >>>>> vignettes for broken or redirected links. In many cases this improves
    >>>>> documentation, I see problems with this approach which I have
    >>>>> detailed below.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> I'm writing to this mailing list because I think the change needs to
    >>>>> happen in R's check routines. I propose to introduce an "allow-list"
    >>>>> for URLs, to reduce the burden on both CRAN and package maintainers.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> Comments are greatly appreciated.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> Best regards
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> Kirill
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> # Problems with the detection of broken/redirected URLs
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> ## 301 should often be 307, how to change?
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> Many web sites use a 301 redirection code that probably should be a
    >>>>> 307. For example, https://www.oracle.com and https://www.oracle.com/
    >>>>> both redirect to https://www.oracle.com/index.html with a 301. I
    >>>>> suspect the company still wants oracle.com to be recognized as the
    >>>>> primary entry point of their web presence (to reserve the right to
    >>>>> move the redirection to a different location later), I haven't
    >>>>> checked with their PR department though. If that's true, the redirect
    >>>>> probably should be a 307, which should be fixed by their IT
    >>>>> department which I haven't contacted yet either.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> $ curl -i https://www.oracle.com
    >>>>> HTTP/2 301
    >>>>> server: AkamaiGHost
    >>>>> content-length: 0
    >>>>> location: https://www.oracle.com/index.html
    >>>>> ...
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> ## User agent detection
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> twitter.com responds with a 400 error for requests without a user
    >>>>> agent string hinting at an accepted browser.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> $ curl -i https://twitter.com/
    >>>>> HTTP/2 400
    >>>>> ...
    >>>>> <body>...<p>Please switch to a supported browser...</p>...</body>
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> $ curl -s -i https://twitter.com/ -A "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux
    >>>>> x86_64; rv:84.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/84.0" | head -n 1
    >>>>> HTTP/2 200
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> # Impact
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> While the latter problem *could* be fixed by supplying a browser-like
    >>>>> user agent string, the former problem is virtually unfixable -- so
    >>>>> many web sites should use 307 instead of 301 but don't. The above
    >>>>> list is also incomplete -- think of unreliable links, HTTP links,
    >>>>> other failure modes...
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> This affects me as a package maintainer, I have the choice to either
    >>>>> change the links to incorrect versions, or remove them altogether.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> I can also choose to explain each broken link to CRAN, this subjects
    >>>>> the team to undue burden I think. Submitting a package with NOTEs
    >>>>> delays the release for a package which I must release very soon to
    >>>>> avoid having it pulled from CRAN, I'd rather not risk that -- hence I
    >>>>> need to remove the link and put it back later.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> I'm aware of https://github.com/r-lib/urlchecker, this alleviates the
    >>>>> problem but ultimately doesn't solve it.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> # Proposed solution
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> ## Allow-list
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> A file inst/URL that lists all URLs where failures are allowed --
    >>>>> possibly with a list of the HTTP codes accepted for that link.
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> Example:
    >>>>> 
    >>>>> https://oracle.com/ 301
    >>>>> https://twitter.com/drob/status/1224851726068527106 400
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