Deleting a page and replacing with an xref evades the "deleted page" check #1920

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1. shainaraskas

   added

   bug

   on Sep 18, 2025
2. github-actions

   added

   needs triage

   on Sep 18, 2025
3. natasha-moore-elastic commented on Oct 6, 2025

   

   natasha-moore-elastic

   on Oct 6, 2025

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   Another PR where a file was renamed without redirects but CI checks passed: elastic/docs-content#3318
4. shainaraskas commented on May 13, 2026

   

   shainaraskas

   on May 13, 2026

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   elastic/docs-content#5212

   This PR deleted a page without a redirect, resulting in a 404, with no errors
   https://www.elastic.co/docs/solutions/observability/incident-management/create-manage-cases
5. shainaraskas

   linked a pull request that will close this issueTracking: fix redirect validation skipping deleted files at repo root #3316on May 20, 2026
6. shainaraskas commented on May 20, 2026

   

   shainaraskas

   on May 20, 2026

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   the actual cause is that we are not doing redirect checks at the root of docs-content

   being fixed in #3316
7. cotti commented on May 26, 2026

   

   cotti

   on May 26, 2026

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   Triage update — still reproducible on main (xref hypothesis was a red herring)

   The "deleted page → no redirect" check does not read toc.yml or any incoming-link state. Replacing a file: entry with a crosslink: does not satisfy or suppress the redirect requirement.

   The actual bypass is a path-prefix bug in CI mode for repos where the docset lives at the repo root (e.g. elastic/docs-content):

   // src/authoring/Elastic.Documentation.Refactor/Tracking/IntegrationGitRepositoryTracker.cs:12
   private string LookupPath { get; } = $"{lookupPath.Trim(['/', '\\'])}/";

   When the docset is at the repo root, LocalChangesService passes lookupPath = ".", which becomes "./". PR paths in DELETED_FILES look like deploy-manage/foo.md — they don't start with "./", so every entry is filtered out. ValidateRedirects sees zero deletions and exits cleanly. Local runs (LocalGitRepositoryTracker) use real git diff and aren't affected by the prefix bug.

   Other relevant code

   • Validator: src/authoring/Elastic.Documentation.Refactor/Tracking/LocalChangesService.cs lines 64–87
   • Missing redirects.yml → success (Ensure diff validate returns no error if redirects.yml is not found #1940): same file, lines 29–33
   • IsExcluded skip (Skip redirect validation for docset-excluded paths #3095): lines 75 area
   • Composite action: actions/diff-validate/action.yml

   Existing fix

   A fix already exists on the unmerged branch fix/diff-validate-docset-at-root (fc84db91, f6be1ea5, 223d560c) with a NormalizeLookupPath and tests including the docs-content regression case (troubleshoot/deployments/serverless.md).

   Proposed plan

   1. Merge the existing fix branch (after re-checking it still applies cleanly).
   2. Tighten missing-redirects.yml policy: if DELETED_FILES contains .md deletions and redirects.yml is absent, fail with a clear diagnostic instead of returning success.
   3. Fix local rename emission in LocalGitRepositoryTracker.GetCommitChanges (lines 58–62): emit RenamedGitChange, not bare GitChange, so authors see rename-without-redirect failures locally.
   4. Add E2E regression test simulating the docs-content layout: docset at root, deleted .md, no redirect, unrelated crosslink: added to nav.
   5. Docs: add a note to docs/contribute/redirects.md clarifying that swapping file: → crosslink: does not remove the need for a redirect for the old URL.

   Open questions

   • Should the lenient missing-redirects.yml behavior from Ensure diff validate returns no error if redirects.yml is not found #1940 stay or revert? Lenient mode helps initial onboarding of a repo; strict mode prevents this exact bug class. A "strict if any deletions detected" middle-ground seems right but I'd like a maintainer call.
   • Writers/docs-team: is replacing a local page with an xref ever a legitimate alternative to a redirect (e.g., content moved to another repo)? Today, no — the old URL still 404s. If yes, the validator would need to recognize this transition.

   ---

   AI-assisted analysis from current main.
8. cotti

   added

   ai-triagedIssue received an initial assessment through AI-powered current code and architecture checks.Issue received an initial assessment through AI-powered current code and architecture checks.

   on May 26, 2026
9. shainaraskas

   assigned

   reakaleek

   on May 26, 2026
10. github-actions commented on Aug 28, 2026

    

    github-actionsBot

    on Aug 28, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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    This issue is stale because it has been open 90 days with no activity. Remove the stale label, or leave a comment, or this will be closed in 14 days.
11. github-actions

    added

    stale

    on Aug 28, 2026
12. shainaraskas

    removed

    stale

    on Aug 28, 2026
13. shainaraskas commented on Aug 28, 2026

    

    shainaraskas

    on Aug 28, 2026

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    still a bug
14. reakaleek

    closed this as completedin #3316on Nov 4, 2026