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Maniphest T381232

Misleading error message when accessing an invalid URL at upload.wikimedia.org
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Description

Steps to replicate the issue (include links if applicable):

What happens?:
An incorrect error message is displayed: "Our servers are currently under maintenance or experiencing a technical issue"

What should have happened instead?:
The error message should be "not found" or similar.

Software version (on Special:Version page; skip for WMF-hosted wikis like Wikipedia):

Other information (browser name/version, screenshots, etc.):

image.png (1,000×286 px, 32 KB)

(I'm not going to share the part at the bottom which includes my IP address)

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectAuthorRepoBranchLines +/-
C:varnish::common::errorpage update 404 error messageSlyngshedeoperations/puppetproduction+45 -0
Customize query in gerrit

Event Timeline

Ioaxxere created this task.Dec 2 2024, 3:40 AM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptDec 2 2024, 3:40 AM
Bugreporter added a project: MediaWiki-File-management.Dec 2 2024, 4:08 AM
Maintenance_bot added a project: Commons.Dec 2 2024, 4:30 AM
Pppery edited projects, added: WMF-General-or-Unknown; removed: Commons, MediaWiki-File-management.Dec 2 2024, 6:45 AM
Wargo subscribed.Dec 2 2024, 11:53 AM
Aklapper added a comment.Dec 3 2024, 7:43 AM

It correctly says Error: 404, Not Found at the bottom.

If you wanted to write a patch to change the text, see the files modules/varnish/templates/errorpage.inc.vcl.erb and modules/varnish/files/tests/text/52-backend-error.vtc in the operations/puppet Gerrit repository.

Wargo added a comment.Dec 3 2024, 9:16 AM
In T381232#10374631, @Aklapper wrote:

It correctly says Error: 404, Not Found at the bottom.

Yes, but this is not prominent message. And the "main" message says about maintenance or more serious technical problem.

Aklapper added a comment.Dec 3 2024, 10:29 AM

Sure, and anyone could propose a patch in Gerrit to change the message. However, "Our servers are currently under maintenance or experiencing a technical issue" is pretty correct if the technical issue is that the file does not exist. :) So I'm not convinced this is worth the efforts.

Pppery awarded a token.Dec 3 2024, 10:42 PM
A_smart_kitten added a project: Traffic.Dec 5 2024, 10:32 AM
A_smart_kitten subscribed.

Adding to Traffic per the note on the Varnish tag

Pppery removed a project: WMF-General-or-Unknown.Feb 24 2025, 1:13 AM
gerritbot added a comment.Nov 26 2025, 10:58 AM

Change #1210600 had a related patch set uploaded (by Slyngshede; author: Slyngshede):

[operations/puppet@production] C:varnish::common::errorpage update 404 error message

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1210600

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Nov 26 2025, 10:58 AM
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