Relative HTML links in Readme files aren't working? #2270

markseuffert commented 2025年12月23日 23:59:06 +01:00

Comment

Hello,

I migrated a repository from GitHub to Codeberg and found a small compatibility problem. On Codeberg the link normalisation in Readme files works differently depending on your current location. I checked existing issues and found out that relative links can be improved with a prefix, using ./README-de.md instead of README-de.md, unfortunately this only helps under certain conditions.

Here's an example which doesn't work on our repository's start page:

<p align="right"><a href="README-de.md">Deutsch</a> &nbsp; <a href="README.md">English</a> &nbsp; <a href="README-sv.md">Svenska</a></p>

The first link points to https://codeberg.org/datenstrom/README-de.md
instead of pointing to https://codeberg.org/datenstrom/yellow/src/branch/main/README-de.md.

A prefix like ./ helps if you use Markdown links, but unfortunately not if you use HTML <a> elements.

First impression, everything works well. We were a bit puzzled as to why our language switcher only worked on subpages and not on the repository's start page. We tried various Markdown workarounds and suspected that absolute URLs are required on Codeberg. That would fix the problem, but also make forking harder. By the way, for images it makes apparently no difference at all, we can use the same HTML format on Codeberg and GitHub.

Please let me know if this is the expected behaviour. I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions.

### Comment Hello, I migrated a repository from GitHub to Codeberg and found a small compatibility problem. On Codeberg the link normalisation in Readme files works differently depending on your current location. I checked existing issues and found out that relative links can be improved with a prefix, using `./README-de.md` instead of `README-de.md`, unfortunately this only helps under certain conditions. Here's an example which doesn't work on our repository's start page: ``` html <p align="right"><a href="README-de.md">Deutsch</a> &nbsp; <a href="README.md">English</a> &nbsp; <a href="README-sv.md">Svenska</a></p> ``` The first link points to `https://codeberg.org/datenstrom/README-de.md` instead of pointing to `https://codeberg.org/datenstrom/yellow/src/branch/main/README-de.md`. A prefix like `./` helps if you use Markdown links, but unfortunately not if you use HTML `<a>` elements. First impression, everything works well. We were a bit puzzled as to why our language switcher only worked on subpages and not on the repository's start page. We tried various Markdown workarounds and suspected that absolute URLs are required on Codeberg. That would fix the problem, but also make forking harder. By the way, for images it makes apparently no difference at all, we can use the same HTML format on Codeberg and GitHub. Please let me know if this is the expected behaviour. I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions.

Gusted commented 2025年12月28日 04:50:12 +01:00

Hi, please check forgejo/forgejo#6360

Hi, please check https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/issues/6360

markseuffert commented 2025年12月28日 20:44:03 +01:00

Thank you for the link, there was a similar issue in #252. Maybe this is about a different problem, I am using relative links that do not start with a slash. When testing documentation four days ago, I found out that some links are rendered/transformed differently, not only on the repository's start page, but also if you use Markdown or HTML format for links. To be fair, I should mention my colleague Steffen, who also tested for several hours and we expected that this problem would not be easy to pin down. Today I did another test. If I am not mistaken then the behaviour on Codeberg has changed since last time. There is no longer a problem with relative Markdown links, what remains is a problem with relative HTML links.

Here's a reduced test case. You need a README.md and README-de.md, both files could have the same content:

# Yellow test
Documentation test on Codeberg for language switcher.
## Markdown
Test 1 [Deutsch](README-de.md) - [English](README.md)
## HTML
Test 2 <a href="README-de.md">Deutsch</a> - <a href="README.md">English</a>

Results:

• Test 1 with the relative Markdown links works fine.
• Test 2 with the relative HTML links does not work as expected.
• On the repository's start page, the links in test 2 point to the wrong URL and browser shows a 404.
• On a sub page, for example if you navigate to a Readme file first, all links point to the correct URL.

Thank you for the link, there was a similar issue in #252. Maybe this is about a different problem, I am using relative links that do not start with a slash. When testing documentation four days ago, I found out that some links are rendered/transformed differently, not only on the repository's start page, but also if you use Markdown or HTML format for links. To be fair, I should mention my colleague Steffen, who also tested for several hours and we expected that this problem would not be easy to pin down. Today I did another test. If I am not mistaken then the behaviour on Codeberg has changed since last time. There is no longer a problem with relative Markdown links, what remains is a problem with relative HTML links. Here's a reduced test case. You need a `README.md` and `README-de.md`, both files could have the same content: ``` # Yellow test Documentation test on Codeberg for language switcher. ## Markdown Test 1 [Deutsch](README-de.md) - [English](README.md) ## HTML Test 2 <a href="README-de.md">Deutsch</a> - <a href="README.md">English</a> ``` Results: - Test 1 with the relative Markdown links works fine. - Test 2 with the relative HTML links does not work as expected. - On the repository's start page, the links in test 2 point to the wrong URL and browser shows a 404. - On a sub page, for example if you navigate to a Readme file first, all links point to the correct URL.

markseuffert commented 2026年01月03日 13:45:27 +01:00

I think the wiki has the same problem as the Readme files. Which makes sense, I suspect they use the same Markdown renderer for the content. Here's how to reproduce the problem. Create a wiki Home with the content below, you also need to create two wiki pages,deutsch and english with any content.

# Yellow test
Wiki test on Codeberg for relative links.
## Markdown
Test 1 [Deutsch](deutsch) - [English](english)
## HTML
Test 2 <a href="deutsch">Deutsch</a> - <a href="english">English</a>

Results:

• Test 1 with the relative Markdown links works fine.
• Test 2 with the relative HTML links does not work as expected.
• On the wiki home page, the links in test 2 point to the wrong URL and browser shows a 404.

I am not sure if this the expected behaviour or a bug. Any thoughts?

I think the wiki has the same problem as the Readme files. Which makes sense, I suspect they use the same Markdown renderer for the content. Here's how to reproduce the problem. Create a wiki `Home` with the content below, you also need to create two wiki pages,`deutsch` and `english` with any content. ``` # Yellow test Wiki test on Codeberg for relative links. ## Markdown Test 1 [Deutsch](deutsch) - [English](english) ## HTML Test 2 <a href="deutsch">Deutsch</a> - <a href="english">English</a> ``` Results: * Test 1 with the relative Markdown links works fine. * Test 2 with the relative HTML links does not work as expected. * On the wiki home page, the links in test 2 point to the wrong URL and browser shows a 404. I am not sure if this the expected behaviour or a bug. Any thoughts?