Hyperlinking Bug
0
Messieurs,
by coincidence (using my beloved PM system), I happened upon the following little bug, which has not been posted before if the Known Bugs List and/or search function are to be believed. The bug affects not only the PM system; as demonstrated below, it is prevalent in regular post composition as well.
CURRENT BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{url}" tag to insert a hyperlink into a post, and the link contains parentheses () or square brackets [], the tag is not being parsed correctly, and hyperlinking fails. I tried some other obvious candidates as they came to mind, but these four friends ("(,),[,]") seem to be the only ones triggering this bug.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{url}" tag to insert a hyperlink into a post, and the link contains parentheses () or square brackets [], the tag is being parsed correctly, and hyperlinking succeeds.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
fails (parentheses)
.txt]fails (square brackets)
-vs.-
works (parentheses elided)
works (square brackets elided)
Renaming files not to include parentheses or square brackets is not always a valid solution, because the user does rarely have control over the naming of hyperlinked files. Using link-shorteners is likewise not always an option, because security-conscious users tend to avoid clicking those. Therefore, filing this bug seemed justified.
by coincidence (using my beloved PM system), I happened upon the following little bug, which has not been posted before if the Known Bugs List and/or search function are to be believed. The bug affects not only the PM system; as demonstrated below, it is prevalent in regular post composition as well.
CURRENT BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{url}" tag to insert a hyperlink into a post, and the link contains parentheses () or square brackets [], the tag is not being parsed correctly, and hyperlinking fails. I tried some other obvious candidates as they came to mind, but these four friends ("(,),[,]") seem to be the only ones triggering this bug.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{url}" tag to insert a hyperlink into a post, and the link contains parentheses () or square brackets [], the tag is being parsed correctly, and hyperlinking succeeds.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
fails (parentheses)
.txt]fails (square brackets)
-vs.-
works (parentheses elided)
works (square brackets elided)
Renaming files not to include parentheses or square brackets is not always a valid solution, because the user does rarely have control over the naming of hyperlinked files. Using link-shorteners is likewise not always an option, because security-conscious users tend to avoid clicking those. Therefore, filing this bug seemed justified.
0
RELATED BUG:
Noticed this bug through post 413242.
In this post, before his later edit, a user tried to embed an image with a filename containing an ampersand.
CURRENT BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{img}" tag to embed an image in a post, and the link to the image contains an ampersand (&), or question mark (?) the tag is not being parsed correctly, and image embedding fails. While ampersands in filenames should be relatively rare, question marks are likely more popular, e.g. in dynamically generated content/images.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{img}" tag to embed an image in a post, and the link to the image contains any of the symbols above, the tag is being parsed correctly, and image embedding succeeds.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
Noticed this bug through post 413242.
In this post, before his later edit, a user tried to embed an image with a filename containing an ampersand.
CURRENT BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{img}" tag to embed an image in a post, and the link to the image contains an ampersand (&), or question mark (?) the tag is not being parsed correctly, and image embedding fails. While ampersands in filenames should be relatively rare, question marks are likely more popular, e.g. in dynamically generated content/images.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOR:
When using the "{img}" tag to embed an image in a post, and the link to the image contains any of the symbols above, the tag is being parsed correctly, and image embedding succeeds.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
0
UPDATE FOR BUG 395537:
This bug also extends to the use of apostrophes (" ' "). Wikipedia articles, for example, do not escape apostrophes, and so can not be linked to using the BBcode method.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
link title
real-world example
This bug also extends to the use of apostrophes (" ' "). Wikipedia articles, for example, do not escape apostrophes, and so can not be linked to using the BBcode method.
PROOF OF CONCEPT:
link title
real-world example