Copilot flagged two stragglers on editors.md where the previous
file-by-file conversion stopped halfway. Sweeping for the same
pattern across the active content tree found 76 bare relative
internal links total — 14 in this PR's already-modified files
(Copilot's two plus twelve more) and 62 in unchanged files.
Why the build doesn't catch this
─────────────────────────────────
`onBrokenLinks: 'throw'` (set in this PR) only validates *file-based*
markdown references — links whose URL ends in `.md` / `.mdx`. Those
go through Docusaurus's file resolver, which can prove the target
exists. Bare relative URL paths like `[Foo](../foo)` skip that
resolver entirely; Docusaurus emits them as raw hrefs. The browser
then resolves them against the *current* page URL, and for
trailing-slash routes that almost always lands in the wrong
directory. Page navigates client-side and 404s. The linkinator job
in CI *can* catch these, but it's `continue-on-error: true` so
findings are advisory.
What this commit does
──────────────────────
1. Fix all 76 bare relative internal links across the active docs
tree by appending `.md` to each one (preserving anchors / query
strings). All 76 targets resolved to real files; no link
targets changed, only the form of the reference.
2. Fix the component-page generator. 54 of the 76 bare links lived
in two auto-generated index files (`components/ui/index.mdx`
and `components/design-system/index.mdx`). The next regeneration
would have undone the manual fixes without this. The two
emission sites in `generate-superset-components.mjs` now emit
`.md`-suffixed links; comment at the call site explains why.
3. Add `docs/scripts/lint-docs-links.mjs` — fast source-level
linter that scans `.md`/`.mdx` files under the active content
trees (skipping `versioned_docs/` snapshots) and fails if it
finds any markdown link whose URL starts with `./` or `../` and
does not end in `.md`/`.mdx`. Excludes asset paths (.png,
.json, etc.) and ignores fenced code blocks. Wired up as
`yarn lint:docs-links`.
4. Add a `Lint docs links` step to `superset-docs-verify.yml`,
running before the build step so PRs that introduce the pattern
fail in seconds rather than at build-time / not at all. Blocking,
not advisory — exactly the gap linkinator's `continue-on-error`
leaves open.
Verified
────────
- `yarn lint:docs-links` exits 0 on the cleaned tree
- Re-introducing one bare link makes the linter report the exact
file:line with the offending URL, exit code 1
- All 76 originally-flagged targets resolved to real `.md` / `.mdx`
files; only the form of the reference changed
Previously docusaurus.config.ts had `onBrokenLinks: 'warn'`, so broken
internal links produced advisory warnings during build but didn't gate
merges. Tightening to `throw` surfaces every broken internal route at
build time. Three classes of issue fell out:
1. Stale `/docs/...` and `/docs/6.0.0/...` references in the 6.0.0
versioned snapshot. The user-facing docs section was renamed
`docs` → `user-docs` (routeBasePath) at some point after 6.0.0 was
cut, but the snapshot's links still pointed at the old prefix. The
live site redirects /docs/* → /user-docs/* at runtime, but
Docusaurus's onBrokenLinks checker doesn't honor redirects.
Bulk-rewrote /docs/* → /user-docs/* across the snapshot (and one
/docs/api → /developer-docs/api).
2. Bare-relative MDX links like `[Label](./mcp)` (no .md/.mdx
extension). Docusaurus renders an absolute href in SSR HTML, so
static crawlers see correct links — BUT React Router's `<Link>`
component on the client side resolves the bare path relative to
the current URL on click, so when the page URL has a trailing
slash (e.g. /extensions/overview/), `./mcp` becomes
/extensions/overview/mcp (404). This is exactly the broken-flow a
user reported on /developer-docs/extensions/overview/. Added the
`.md`/`.mdx` extension to all 44 such links across 17 files; this
makes Docusaurus resolve them to the canonical doc URL at the
<Link> level, so SPA navigation works regardless of trailing slash.
3. Miscellaneous content fixes:
- 4 `/configuration/feature-flags` references in 6.0.0 snapshot
pointed at a page that doesn't exist in that version (the
dedicated feature-flags page was added later). Repointed to the
`#feature-flags` anchor inside `configuring-superset.mdx`.
- 3 references to `superset-core/src/superset_core/rest_api/decorators.py`
in extensions docs were rendered as relative URLs, resolving to
/developer-docs/extensions/superset-core/... (404). Converted to
absolute GitHub URLs.
- 1 `/storybook/?path=...` link in extensions/components/index.mdx
pointed at a non-existent route. Repointed to the existing
`/developer-docs/testing/storybook` page that explains how to
run Storybook locally.
- 4 unclosed-paren markdown links in 6.0.0 installation-methods.mdx
(pre-existing source bugs).
Build now passes with `onBrokenLinks: 'throw'`. Note that
`onBrokenAnchors` is still `'warn'` (default); a separate effort
should tighten that and fix the surviving anchor warnings (currently
~60 instances of `/community#superset-community-calendar`).
