Updating to 4.4.1 causes new pretty permalinks for media to break existing permalinks

[nyodulf]

When updating a site from v4.0.9 to v4.4.1 at least one page (which is a top-level page for the site) is getting "-2" added on to its slug while an unattached image takes the original slug. This causes problems for SEO as well as breaking things that depend on results from functions like is_page('slug').

[wonderboymusic]

See #1914

[dd32]

@nyodulf Can you explain how you updated? Did you do a manual update? An export/import? Did you use the in-dashboard update functionality?

The reason I ask this, is that the slugs should have stayed the same..

[nyodulf]

@dd32 It was a manual update using the in-dashboard functionality.

After some further testing, I got a slightly different result. This time the slug for the image and the slug for the page remained the same, which meant that clicking on the permalink in the images-edit screen brought me to the page.

However when I go to the edit screen for the *page*, the slug is shown with a "-2" suffix. (though hovering over the permalink shows the correct, unsuffixed URL in my browser's status bar). This remains the case even after re-saving the permalinks settings.

[kraftbj]

I didn't quite duplicate this, but got close.

Steps to duplicate:

0. Starting with an older version of WP (core.svn/branches/4.0 in this case)
1. Upload a media file directly to the media library with a simple name "picturetest.jpg", which auto-titles as "picturetest"
2. Create a page with a matching title (e.g. "picturetest" which auto-slugs "picturetest")
3. Update to trunk
4. In the media library, the image has a slug displayed of "picturetest". The link displays the page, not the attachment page.
5. Updating the media attachment updates the slug to the expected "picturetest-2"

[nyodulf]

@kraftbj - I mostly followed your procedure on a fresh install; differneces in bold:

1. Starting with an older version of WP (core.svn/branches/4.0.9 in this case)
2. Upload a media file directly to the media library with a simple name "picturetest.jpg", which auto-titles as "picturetest"
3. Create a page with a matching title (e.g. "picturetest" which auto-slugs "picturetest")
4. Update to latest via dashboard
   • Set permalink structure to /%postname%/
5. In the media library, the image has a slug displayed of "picturetest". The link displays the page, not the attachment page.
   • On the page-edit screen things are quite strange; Visually the page's permalink is set to "pictureset-2" but hovering over it shows just "pictureset" in the browser status bar. So at this point, both items are actually pointing to /pictureset/, but the page is displaying the wrong info in the permalink.
6. Updating the media attachment updates the slug to the expected "picturetest-2"
   • Updating the media attachment updates the visual display of the page slug to the expected "picturetest"

I realise this is different to what I originally posted. I'm sorry that I can't remember what the difference in the procedures between them was, that created the incorrectly functioning slug for the pre-existing page. It's possible that it was because the permalink structure was already set up, whereas this time I set it up after the update. I will test that tomorrow.

It does seem that something is amiss at the moment. As there is no way to bulk-update media items, this could result in a lot of broken media permalinks.

[kraftbj]

I ran into a case of this in the wild on dotcom as well.

[nyodulf]

A bit later than promised, but I ran the sequence above with the following changes:

1. Starting with an older version of WP (core.svn/branches/4.0.9 in this case)
   • Set permalink structure to /%postname%/
2. Upload a media file directly to the media library with a simple name "picturetest.jpg", which auto-titles as "picturetest"
3. Create a page with a matching title (e.g. "picturetest" which auto-slugs "picturetest")
4. Update to latest via dashboard
5. In the media library, the image has a slug displayed of "picturetest". The link displays the page, not the attachment page.
   • On the page-edit screen things are quite strange; Visually the page's permalink is set to "pictureset-2" but hovering over it shows just "pictureset" in the browser status bar. So at this point, both items are actually pointing to /pictureset/, but the page is displaying the wrong info in the permalink.
6. Updating the page updates the slug to "picturetest-2"

So in this version, the page's permalink is now broken, as per my original post. I don't know if it's specifically to do with setting the permalink structure before the update, but either way it's russian roulette as to how this process turns out, depending on which sequence you follow.

[samuelsidler]

This needs investigation and work before it can be targeted for 4.4.x. @kraftbj Want to take a stab at figuring this out for 4.5?

[kraftbj]

@samuelsidler I'll give it a spin and welcome other eyes too.

[chriscct7]

@kraftbj + @samuelsidler any thoughts on this one getting punted?

[chriscct7]

@dd32 as well

[kraftbj]

I've been able to duplicate it well, but haven't had a solid block of time to dive deep enough. I'll make one more push, but okay with punting.

[chriscct7]

Going to punt this out for now, but if it can be reliably reproduced and a patch comes in, it can be put back in.

[mdgl]

Related #34972.

[desrosj]

@kraftbj Would you be able to take another look at this one to see if it's still reproducible?