Files also include .sketch.

The links https://devdocs.magento.com/download/ will be tested as internal by link checker since https://devdocs.magento.com is set as an internal domain in the link checker config.

To avoid link checking issues on those links, the :file_ignore: list at _config.checks.yml needs another item:

- !ruby/regexp /\/download\//

As long as those files exist on our domain, I want to validate links to them.

As long as those files exist on our domain, I want to validate links to them.

They can only be validated as external links, since they will not be present in the _site directory after each build.

Technically, you're correct. However, since we control where they are stored on our subdomain, we are accountable for ensuring that the links work. Ignoring them effectively means we will never validate links because the external link testing pipeline won't validate them either.

we are accountable for ensuring that the links work

I agree. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do this, I'm saying that it is impossible to test those links on each build, because they will not be internal anymore.

because the external link testing pipeline won't validate them either.

I don't see a reason why it won't.

Oh, I see what you're saying. I assumed that as long as the files exist at the location, then the link will resolve. I haven't tested that yet though.

The external link checker does not only validates links outside the devdocs.magento.com subdomain. Why would it validate the links to the binaries at https://devdocs.magento.com/download?

The external link checker does not validate links outside the devdocs.magento.com subdomain

It does, this is its main purpose.
Clarification of terminology:

• external link checking is run by rake test:external_links, it tests all absolute links within _site directory
• internal link checking is run by rake test:html, it validates HTML output as well as links to pages within the _site

Sorry, what I meant to write was that it only tests links outside the devdocs.magento.com subdomain.

So the external link check runs on any https://devdocs.magento.com link as long as it uses an absolute path? That doesn't make a lot of sense. "External" should mean all other domains besides devdocs.magento.com.

So the external link check runs on any https://devdocs.magento.com link as long as it uses an absolute path?

Yes.

"External" should mean all other domains besides devdocs.magento.com.

This can be set in a separate link checking config. But with such setup we won't be able to test links to files that exist in S3 bucket only and are not part of the build, such as downloads in this case.

Looks like some images were not even linked. For example, I've got an empty search result for RWD_icon_sprite.psd.

By the way, the link checker can help to identify the downloadables that have actual references from topics.
It finds 34 failures in this branch now. (The cause of failures is discussed in the above conversation.)

I'd still like to test that to be sure. I'm sure you're right, but I'm curious...

Confirmed with @meker12 that we can move the cloud launch readiness PDF along with the rest of the binaries.

You were right. It fails even when the files exist in production. I'll add the exclude.

running tests

running tests

To avoid link checking issues on those links, the :file_ignore: list at _config.checks.yml needs another item:

It should be :url_ignore:. Sorry for the mistake.

Hi @jeff-matthews, thank you for your contribution!
Please, complete Contribution Survey, it will take less than a minute.
Your feedback will help us to improve contribution process.