"Download as PDF" on an old revision goes to Special:Book rather than Special:DownloadAsPdf
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	Tamzin
	Apr 15 2022, 2:32 AM

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	F36876032: image.png
	Feb 28 2023, 12:19 PM

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Description

List of steps to reproduce (step by step, including full links if applicable):

Go to any old revision of a page in the namespaces 0-5, 8-9, 12-14 & 100-101.
Click "Download as PDF"

What happens?:

You are sent to Special:Book, which at least in the case of enwiki means an error message saying to download as PDF instead.

What should have happened instead?:

I don't know whether DownloadAsPdf supports old revisions—it should, but if not, that's a feature request, not a bug. But if it does, then clicking "Download as PDF" should take you to that, and if it doesn't, the option should just not be there. Interesting how only certain namespaces are affected by this bug, and not others.

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Portlet: Remove non-working download as PDF for old revisions	mediawiki/extensions/ElectronPdfService	master	+39 -33

Customize query in gerrit

Related Objects

Mentioned In: T396823: PDF print is instead Special:Book
rEEPS8bf2a01a40d7: Portlet: Remove non-working download as PDF for old revisions
T370740: "Download as PDF" button links to Special:Book instead of Special:DownloadAsPdf on dewiki
Mentioned Here: T370740: "Download as PDF" button links to Special:Book instead of Special:DownloadAsPdf on dewiki
T172488: Print As PDF of an old revision prints the current revision

Event Timeline

Tamzin created this task.Apr 15 2022, 2:32 AM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptApr 15 2022, 2:32 AM

Tamzin renamed this task from "Download as PDF" on an old revision goes to [[Special:Book]] rather than Special:DownloadAsPdf to "Download as PDF" on an old revision goes to Special:Book rather than Special:DownloadAsPdf.Apr 15 2022, 2:32 AM

Tamzin updated the task description. (Show Details)Apr 15 2022, 2:36 AM

Hi, please always include full links and clear steps to reproduce.
I assume this is about English Wikipedia. I cannot reproduce using "Printable Version": It prints an old version.

"Download as PDF" on an old revision goes to Special:Book rather than Special:DownloadAsPdf

That in itself is not a bug so I'm closing this ticket.

If you want a PDF you should click the "Printable Version". If English Wikipedia still shows "Download as PDF" that should probably be removed and be a separate task asking for removing that. See also T172488 - I guess that https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/620481 was supposed to fix this once upon a time.

@Aklapper Sorry, I thought these steps were clear enough. The reason I think this is a bug is a) that it is inconsistent behavior and b) that there is thus no obvious way to download a PDF of an old revision (if such a thing is possible).

("Printable version" works as expected in both cases.)

Is the "Download as PDF" function unique to enwiki? At a glance, I see it also on frwiki ("Télécharger comme PDF") and enwiktionary.

I can reproduce this bug in commonswiki as well. Steps to reproduce:

Here's the screenshot:

What should have happened instead?:

Should never go to Special:Book, since:

Book Creator is undergoing changes

Due to severe issues with our existing system, the Book Creator will no longer support saving a book as a PDF.

Should clarify if DownloadAsPdf is available for oldrevision, if not
Whenever anyone click "Download As Pdf" from an oldrevision, should redirect to the current revision (e.g. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Commons%3ASimple_media_reuse_guide%2Fid&action=show-download-screen) with explanation that DownloadAsPdf isn't available for oldrevision

Bennylin reopened this task as Open.Feb 28 2023, 12:24 PM

Dragoniez mentioned this in T370740: "Download as PDF" button links to Special:Book instead of Special:DownloadAsPdf on dewiki.Jul 26 2024, 11:23 AM

Change #1057276 had a related patch set uploaded (by TheDJ; author: TheDJ):

[mediawiki/extensions/ElectronPdfService@master] Portlet: Remote download as PDF for old revisions

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1057276

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Jul 26 2024, 10:13 PM

TheDJ merged a task: T370740: "Download as PDF" button links to Special:Book instead of Special:DownloadAsPdf on dewiki.Jul 26 2024, 11:08 PM

TheDJ added subscribers: SCP-2000, TheDJ, Dragoniez.

From the patch commit message:

Remove Download as PDF link on old revisions, as Electron/Proton do
not support it. […]

Couldn’t they be made support it? The merged-in task T370740 highlighted that download as PDF is broken on FlaggedRevs wikis if and only if the current page has unreviewed changes. This means that the feature is broken on a large number of articles (even without oldid= in the URL), and in a confusing way – the reader looks at two articles which look the same apart from the tiny Pending changes tab at a completely different part of the page, yet one of them has a download link, the other doesn’t have one.

In T306232#10021059, @Tacsipacsi wrote:

From the patch commit message:

Remove Download as PDF link on old revisions, as Electron/Proton do
not support it. […]

Couldn’t they be made support it? The merged-in task T370740 highlighted that download as PDF is broken on FlaggedRevs wikis if and only if the current page has unreviewed changes.

The print api Proton, can only print the current revision as of right now: https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/#/Page%20content/get_page_pdf__title_

But it’s possible to add a query or path parameter to it that accepts a revision ID, isn’t it? It may require quite some work, of course (I don’t know how it works), I’m only talking about the possibility. (If it takes a lot of work, merging your patch as a short-term solution probably makes sense, but I hope it won’t be the long-term solution.)

In T306232#10021071, @Tacsipacsi wrote:

But it’s possible to add a query or path parameter to it that accepts a revision ID, isn’t it? It may require quite some work, of course (I don’t know how it works), I’m only talking about the possibility. (If it takes a lot of work, merging your patch as a short-term solution probably makes sense, but I hope it won’t be the long-term solution.)

But that would be a separate issue from this and not the issue i set out to fix.

In T306232#10021097, @TheDJ wrote:

But that would be a separate issue from this

I don’t think it’s a separate issue from T370740: download as PDF is broken with FlaggedRevs, and it will continue to be broken once your patch is merged. It may be a separate issue from T306232 – in that case, the merge was inappropriate.

and not the issue i set out to fix.

Neither did I ask or expect you to fix that one – as I wrote, your patch is okay as a short-term fix, and there’s no rule that the long-term fix should be written by the same person.

Change #1057276 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/ElectronPdfService@master] Portlet: Remove non-working download as PDF for old revisions

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1057276

TheDJ mentioned this in rEEPS8bf2a01a40d7: Portlet: Remove non-working download as PDF for old revisions.Aug 15 2024, 8:48 PM

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.43-notes (1.43.0-wmf.19; 2024-08-20).Aug 15 2024, 9:00 PM

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 15 2024, 9:31 PM

A_smart_kitten mentioned this in T396823: PDF print is instead Special:Book.Jun 13 2025, 8:03 AM

Aklapper merged a task: T396823: PDF print is instead Special:Book.Jul 5 2025, 10:27 AM

Aklapper added subscribers: Anohthterwikipedian, A_smart_kitten.

Anohthterwikipedian updated the task description. (Show Details)Jul 6 2025, 12:16 PM