Re: [Savannah-hackers-public] Don't multiplex mirror URLs that use nonfree JavaScript ?

[Thérèse Godefroy]

Le 05/02/2024 à 12:02, Ineiev a écrit :
> On Mon, Feb 05, 2024 at 10:52:01AM +0100, Thérèse Godefroy wrote:
> > > * marking mirrors rather than URLs,
> >
> > Some JS mirrors have ftp/rsync URLs that are safe.
>
> Yes; but coincidentally, these URLs aren't used in redirections,
> so in effect, the script is to either accept or reject all URLs
> with applicable protocols in the mirror.
>
> > > * using uniform markers so that (0) any number of them could be
> > >     attached to a mirror, and (1) /prep/FTP-to-mirmon list converter
> > >     could distinguish the lines where markers are present,
> >
> > OK, but I think that's overkill. We have yet to see a centralized
> > surveillance mirror that doesn't use JS.
>
> The scripts won't need changing when we see such a mirror, or when
> we find other reasons to avoid mirrors in redirections.

If a mirror is marked, it won't be used for redirections; _why_ it is
marked is unimportant. We want to keep /prep/FTP as simple as possible,
so I think one marker per mirror is enough for the time being. If we
need more in a few years, we can easily change a few lines in
ftp_convert.pl. This will no affect the FTP-to-mirmon script.

> > > * adding footnotes explaining what each marker is for.
> >
> > So you want footnotes? Not sure they are necessary, but it can be done.
> > I will rewrite the paragraph about JS and add anchors.
>
> People will visit /prep/ftp.html; we should explain why one mirror
> differs from the others, shouldn't we?

That's what anchors in the text are for. The explanation doesn't have to
be in footnotes.

A new version is in staging:
https://www.gnu.org/server/staging/prep/