Don't list old accounts as aliases in WebFinger #713

Merged
floatingghost merged 1 commit from erincandescent/akkoma:no-old-account-alias into develop 2024-04-12 18:34:15 +00:00
Contributor

Per the XRD specification:

2.4. Element

The element contains a URI value that is an additional identifier for the resource described by the XRD. This value MUST be an absolute URI. The element does not identify additional resources the XRD is describing, but rather provides additional identifiers for the same resource.

(emphasis mine)

In other words, the alias list is expected to link to things which are not just semantically the same, but exactly the same. Old user accounts don't do that

This change should not pose a compatibility issue: Mastodon does not list old accounts here

The use of as:alsoKnownAs is also not quite semantically right here
(DID-CORE, which defines it to be used to refer to identifiers which are interchangable) but that's what DID get for reusing a property definition that Mastodon already squatted long before they got to it

Per [the XRD specification](http://docs.oasis-open.org/xri/xrd/v1.0/os/xrd-1.0-os.html#element.alias): > 2.4. Element <Alias> > > The <Alias> element contains a URI value that is an additional identifier for the resource described by the XRD. This value MUST be an absolute URI. The <Alias> element does not identify additional resources the XRD is describing, **but rather provides additional identifiers for the same resource.** (emphasis mine) In other words, the alias list is expected to link to things which are not just semantically the same, but exactly the same. Old user accounts don't do that This change should not pose a compatibility issue: [Mastodon does not list old accounts here](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/blob/e1fcb02867a0103977062ae11b86f80c5e3fd74f/app/serializers/webfinger_serializer.rb#L12) The use of as:alsoKnownAs is also not quite semantically right here ([DID-CORE](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/#dfn-alsoknownas), which defines it to be used to refer to identifiers which are interchangable) but that's what DID get for reusing a property definition that Mastodon already squatted long before they got to it
Author
Contributor

This one is currently marinating on akko.erincandescent.net to see if we have any issues, but its a minor change so I don't expect any

This one is currently marinating on `akko.erincandescent.net` to see if we have any issues, but its a minor change so I don't expect any
erincandescent force-pushed no-old-account-alias from b63c609103 to 464db9ea0b 2024-04-01 11:35:11 +00:00 Compare
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Contributor

I haven't noticed any issues arising out of this one over the past month 👍

I haven't noticed any issues arising out of this one over the past month 👍

yepyep, makes sense, thankiesss

yepyep, makes sense, thankiesss
floatingghost merged commit 024ffadd80 into develop 2024-04-12 18:34:15 +00:00
floatingghost deleted branch no-old-account-alias 2024-04-12 18:34:15 +00:00
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