How do exact redirects interact with other redirects?

[astrojuanlu]

Details

• Read the Docs project URL: https://readthedocs.org/projects/kedro/

We have some questions about redirects - I was hesitant whether to send a private support request (as encouraged by the issue form), but since one could consider this a documentation bug, I went ahead and opened an issue instead.

Comes from https://stackoverflow.com/q/75321853/554319, opened by my colleague @stichbury

I currently have docs on RTD (and have had them there for 3 years). We have moved pages around as versions changed, so have a set of about a hundred exact redirects, something like this:

/en/stable/introduction/intro.html -> /en/stable/introduction/setup-guide.html

Now I have a custom domain and want to point everything with a canonical link over there.

What will happen to those redirects? Are they applied first so someone with a bookmark to intro.html is pointed to setup-guide.html over on project.readthedocs.io and then the redirect to myprojectname.com/docs/ applied?

That is, will this happen?

/en/stable/introduction/intro.html --> myprojectname.com/docs/en/stable/introduction/setup-guide.html

Basically we're too scared we'll break the whole edifice and end world order.

[humitos]

This is a good question.

I'll have to double check with the code, but I'd say that people will be redirected twice:

1. project.readthedocs.io/path/ -> custom domain/path/
2. /path/ -> /new-path/

First redirect is called "system redirect" in the source code and the second one "user redirect"

[ANA885874]

Ok

[humitos]

I found a project in a similar state to what you described and ran a small test. It seems my theory was correct:

▶ curl -IL https://civicactions-handbook.readthedocs.io/en/latest/04-how-we-work/agile-practices/template/
HTTP/2 302 
date: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:20:57 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-length: 0
location: https://guidebook.civicactions.com/en/latest/04-how-we-work/agile-practices/template/
x-rtd-redirect: canonical-cname
x-rtd-domain: civicactions-handbook.readthedocs.io
x-rtd-project: civicactions-handbook
x-rtd-version: latest
x-rtd-project-method: subdomain
x-rtd-version-method: path
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
vary: Accept-Language, Cookie
content-language: en
x-served: Django-Proxito
x-backend: web-i-0e412ebb03a01c338
cf-cache-status: HIT
age: 25
expires: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:40:57 GMT
cache-control: public, max-age=1200
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 798cd59dbe0628de-BCN
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400, h3-29=":443"; ma=86400

HTTP/2 302 
date: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:20:58 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-length: 0
location: https://guidebook.civicactions.com/en/latest/practice-areas/project-management/templates/
x-rtd-redirect: user
x-rtd-domain: guidebook.civicactions.com
x-rtd-project: civicactions-handbook
x-rtd-version: latest
x-rtd-project-method: cname
x-rtd-version-method: path
referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
vary: Accept-Language, Cookie
content-language: en
x-served: Proxito-404
x-backend: web-i-068afd8a5914c2450
cf-cache-status: HIT
age: 79
expires: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:40:58 GMT
cache-control: public, max-age=1200
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 798cd5a02ad028de-BCN
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400, h3-29=":443"; ma=86400

HTTP/2 200 
date: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:20:58 GMT
content-type: text/html
vary: Accept-Encoding
x-amz-id-2: uYGGqjrxLza1DEGgFDrzJXFrnwGA4J62IcPHRSA1/SY1qM2Lr2bULX2CXgIrz7pNtzLzwghZb6Q=
x-amz-request-id: ENC9ZGK9RWGN304V
last-modified: Wed, 08 Feb 2023 16:45:38 GMT
etag: W/"df69f7550e2a5c0c6a5df597fbe5dcc0"
x-amz-server-side-encryption: AES256
x-served: Nginx-Proxito-Sendfile
x-backend: web-i-0c47dadd065d2106a
x-rtd-project: civicactions-handbook
x-rtd-version: latest
x-rtd-path: /proxito/html/civicactions-handbook/latest/practice-areas/project-management/templates/index.html
x-rtd-domain: guidebook.civicactions.com
x-rtd-version-method: path
x-rtd-project-method: cname
referrer-policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
cf-cache-status: HIT
age: 79
expires: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:40:58 GMT
cache-control: public, max-age=1200
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 798cd5a04b2328de-BCN
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400, h3-29=":443"; ma=86400

Is this helpful for you? Does it work as you want?

[astrojuanlu]

Thanks a lot! This is really helpful. I think the conclusion is that adding a custom domain redirect should not break anything 😄 and in any case, seems like something that can be easily rolled back if the world crumbles.

cc @tynandebold @stichbury

Closing this for now!

[stichbury]

Thanks @humitos and @astrojuanlu -- That's good to know and I think we have to take a deep breath and try it. I appreciate the ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ help! Thanks again.

[astrojuanlu]

FTR, we launched today docs.kedro.org and everything worked like a charm 💯

[humitos]

That's excellent news! Thanks for the feedback and sharing it back here 💪🏼