On Oct 17, 2024, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 10/17/2024 08:39 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
> > On Oct 17, 2024, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > While trying to follow a discussion involving a deeply nested debian.org
> > > sub-directory, I attempted to find the purpose of that sub-directory by
> > > following a chain of links titled "Parent Directory".
> > >
> > > That led to http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ whose first link is to
> > > "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/README"; [NOTE BENE quotation marks].
> > >
> > > [...]
>
> Though I understand why Dan clipped [...], it was there for a reason.
> I date back to CPUs with 12AX7s and spent three decades in component level
> (engineering support)/(QA/QC)/(end user support).
>
> > >
> > > I pointed my browser to "http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive"; and
> > > got:
> > >
> > > I went back to the link triggering the "404 error" and added a trailing "/"
> > > to the URL. It *then* displayed properly.
> > >
> > > Is this a typo or a server problem?
> > > [ understand "STRANGENESS" in my Subject: line? ;]
> >
> > Both, potentially.
>
> 'Twas afraid of that ;{
>
> >
> > The server SHOULD give you the directory with or without the trailing
> > slash, but it seems it's configured such that if you don't have the
> > trailing slash on the directory, it treats it as a file (which isn't
> > there).
> >
> > I wonder if apache is doing some kind of directory-level virtualization,
> > where it only "exists" if you have the trailing slash on the end (I
> > don't know enough of the internals of apache2 to say one way or the
> > other; but I have run into this with certain configurations of various
> > FTP / SFTP implementations in "commercial" products for business
> > communication).
> >
>
> The *clipped* portion of my post included at least one URL with no
> trailing "/" which worked properly.
If it did, then you didn't clearly indicate as such. As I read the
email, the given story was:
"README" indicated the URL[1] that responded with a 404. I looked at
another reference that was URL[2], which included a trailing slash
that happened to work. Is this a typo or a server-side problem?
To which my answer was "both, potentially"; meaning either
(A) There was an inadvertent typo somewhere in the mix:
- you, or
- author of README
(B) There is a configuration setting in this particular web-server
that is causing it to *NOT* treat "dirname" as a valid for a
directory that otherwise exists.
Now, re-reading; I see I inadvertently cut out the sentence that I tried
both URL[1] and URL[2] within seconds of one another, lending weight to
the idea that server configuration for archive.debian.org was the
underlying cause.
"Both, potentially.
I just tested archive.debian.org/debian-archive (without slash)
and then immediately tried archive.debian.org/debian-archive/
(with slash) and got the same result.
The server SHOULD [...] "
Makes a world of difference, I think. One of these days I'll either get
my greymatter to slow down, or my fingers to speed up. :)
[1]"http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive";
[2]"http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/";
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