Bug #64273 [Com]: Requesting nonexistent files should produce HTTP 404 Not Found

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=64273&edit=1 ID: 64273 Comment by: tyrael@php.net Reported by: php-bugs-2013 at ryandesign dot com Summary: Requesting nonexistent files should produce HTTP 404 Not Found Status: Assigned Type: Bug Package: Website problem PHP Version: Irrelevant Assigned To: tyrael Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: what bjori suggested is using http://uk.php.net/get/php-5.3.222.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror instead of http://uk.php.net/distributions/php-5.3.222.tar.bz2 (or any other mirror you want to use) as that would still fetch the same files but producing 404 when the file can't be found. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-02-23 10:59:42] php-bugs-2013 at ryandesign dot com We would prefer not to use http://www.php.net/get/php-5.3.23.tar.bz2 /from/this/mirror style URLs. In MacPorts, each package (or "port") can specify multiple URLs for each file to be downloaded. To that list are added a number of MacPorts mirror servers located around the globe. When a user wants to install a port, MacPorts pings each server and prefers to download the files from the servers with the lowest ping times. Our hope is this will result in faster downloads for users because they will connect with servers closer to them. Currently for PHP ports we list a handful of PHP mirror servers. If we were to instead list only www.php.net, then our algorithm to determine the fastest server would only take the ping time of www.php.net itself into consideration. The end result might be that a user would be directed to one of our mirror servers, even if a PHP mirror server might be closer to them and deliver a faster download. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-02-22 16:46:51] bjori@php.net Ryan, please use http://www.php.net/get/php-5.3.23.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror style urls. These will give you the correct header and redirect you to the correct mirror if needed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-02-22 10:59:32] tyrael@php.net that sounds like a good compromise (funnyfact: I've checked and trying to download a nonexistent release on apple like iTunes will result in an empty 404 page, so they not showing that nice 404 page for the direct downloads) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-02-22 10:44:32] php-bugs-2013 at ryandesign dot com I have no objection to you making it easier for users to find your software on your web site. But please do so in a way that does not increase the support burden for people trying to help your users install your software, namely me and other people who maintain PHP in package management systems. One solution would be to serve up a custom 404 page that says "The file you requested was not found; go *here* for a list of available files," or some other wording for directing the user to the Releases page. Or even put links to the latest releases on the 404 page. See how Apple does their 404 page: http://apple.com/404notfound ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-02-22 10:27:49] tyrael@php.net Hi, it seems that it is/was an intentional decision so that the it is more convinient for the humans to find what they are looking for when they request a distribution which isn't there: http://git.php.net/?p=web/php.git;a=blob;f=error.php#l120 fixing the problem reported here would be trivial, but it requires a decision which I don't wanna take on alone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=64273 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=64273&edit=1