Reminder: stop writing aliases from the engine (rename, move, slug change, lang-add flip) #194

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opened 2026-10-10 20:39:51 +02:00 by dominik.polakovics · 1 comment

dominik.polakovics commented

2026-10-10 20:39:51 +02:00

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Reminder, not a spec

Dominik's decision while reviewing #193 (2026-10-10): in the future the engine should stop writing aliases into front matter altogether. This issue only records that intent; it needs a proper design before anyone implements it.

What writes aliases today

pageops rename and move: the page's old URL (and every descendant's) is appended to aliases.
pageops create, rename, move: the shadowing guard strips an assigned URL from every other page's aliases.
PR #193 adds: translation slug change, deletion of a slugged section translation, Translate's strips, and the one-time harness lang add flip that aliases every old unprefixed URL.

Why it is "far more complicated"

Old published URLs stop redirecting (SEO, external links) unless something else provides redirects.
The alias rules are where the engine's URL model and Hugo's published addresses must agree byte for byte (see the concerns on #193: double hyphens, accents, section slugs). Dropping aliases removes that coupling.
Page-scoped undo does not restore the files the shadowing guard strips (#193 concern 1); without aliases that whole class disappears.
Open questions: keep hand-written aliases untouched? still strip them when they shadow a real page? what replaces the lang-add flip's redirects?

PR #193, concerns 1, 3 and 4 of the second lander verdict.

## Reminder, not a spec Dominik's decision while reviewing #193 (2026-10-10): in the future the engine should stop writing `aliases` into front matter altogether. This issue only records that intent; it needs a proper design before anyone implements it. ## What writes aliases today - `pageops` rename and move: the page's old URL (and every descendant's) is appended to `aliases`. - `pageops` create, rename, move: the shadowing guard strips an assigned URL from every other page's `aliases`. - PR #193 adds: translation slug change, deletion of a slugged section translation, Translate's strips, and the one-time `harness lang add` flip that aliases every old unprefixed URL. ## Why it is "far more complicated" - Old published URLs stop redirecting (SEO, external links) unless something else provides redirects. - The alias rules are where the engine's URL model and Hugo's published addresses must agree byte for byte (see the concerns on #193: double hyphens, accents, section slugs). Dropping aliases removes that coupling. - Page-scoped undo does not restore the files the shadowing guard strips (#193 concern 1); without aliases that whole class disappears. - Open questions: keep hand-written aliases untouched? still strip them when they shadow a real page? what replaces the lang-add flip's redirects? ## Related - PR #193, concerns 1, 3 and 4 of the second lander verdict.

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2026-10-10 20:39:51 +02:00

dominik.polakovics referenced this issue from a commit

2026-10-10 21:01:43 +02:00

feat(l10n): drop every engine-written alias and resolve the review concerns

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2026-10-10 21:01:59 +02:00

feat(l10n): multilingual sites — content model, translation API and harness lang #193

dominik.polakovics commented

2026-10-10 21:01:59 +02:00

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Done in PR #193 (commit e4d8138) after all: the engine writes no aliases any more — rename, move, translation slug change, slugged section translation deletion, Translate and the lang-add flip record nothing, and a hand-written aliases key is never edited. A redirect scheme, if ever wanted, is a new design topic; this reminder is closed as implemented.

Done in PR #193 (commit e4d8138) after all: the engine writes no aliases any more — rename, move, translation slug change, slugged section translation deletion, Translate and the lang-add flip record nothing, and a hand-written `aliases` key is never edited. A redirect scheme, if ever wanted, is a new design topic; this reminder is closed as implemented.

dominik.polakovics closed this issue

2026-10-10 21:01:59 +02:00

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2026-10-10 21:06:09 +02:00

Multilingual sites: theme i18n, language switch, hreflang and render-time link resolution #191

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2026-10-10 21:06:09 +02:00

Multilingual editor (1/3): language switch, tree translation state, untranslated page, Translate page dialog #192

dominik.polakovics referenced this issue from a pull request that will close it,

2026-10-10 21:15:23 +02:00

feat(l10n): multilingual sites — content model, translation API and harness lang #193

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