[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #20379: dashboard_incoming_links fails to update when 'home' changes, so google rss is wrong

[WordPress Trac]

#20379: dashboard_incoming_links fails to update when 'home' changes, so google rss
is wrong
--------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  kitchin       |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Feeds         |    Version:  3.3.1
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
--------------------------+-----------------------------
 When the user changes 'home', the wp_option 'dashboard_widget_options' is
 updated. But WP fails to update it completely, so the default Google RSS
 syndication URL is broken.

 The borked value is:

 dashboard_widget_options: dashboard_incoming_links: url

 which is of the form

 http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=10&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:http://example.com/

 The string at the end, example.com, is supposed to change but it does not.

 Here is the problem.
 (Trunk has the same code as the current ver. 3.3.1.)

 http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-
 admin/includes/dashboard.php#L59
 constructs 'url' as follows, expanded for readability:

 {{{
 'url' => isset($widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links']['url'])
         ? apply_filters(
                 'dashboard_incoming_links_feed',
                 $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links']['url']
         )
         : apply_filters(
                 'dashboard_incoming_links_feed',
 'http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=' .
 $num_items . '&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:' . trailingslashit(
 get_option('home') )
         ),
 }}}

 Since 'url' is already set, it never changes! The value of
 get_option('home') is not used.

 This code block is only reached when 'home' has changed, or on initial
 setup, so it does not make much sense to ignore 'home'.

 I'm not sure if there is any reason to keep the tertiary. Solution 1 below
 is the simple fix.
 Solution 2 is a heuristic fix to handle the case where a plugin or theme
 has updated the database, instead of using the filter. It mimics the
 current (possibly wrong) behavior in that case.

 Solution 1:
 {{{
 $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links'] = array(
         ...
         'url' => apply_filters( 'dashboard_incoming_links_feed',
 'http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=' .
 $num_items . '&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:' . trailingslashit(
 get_option('home') ) ),
 }}}

 Solution 2:
 {{{
 $url_prefix =
 'http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=' .
 $num_items . '&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:';
 $url = $url_prefix . trailingslashit( get_option( 'home' ) );
 if ( isset ( $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links']['url'] ) ) {
         if ( 0 !== strpos(
 $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links']['url'], $url_prefix ) ) {
                 $url = $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links']['url'];
         }
 }
 $widget_options['dashboard_incoming_links'] = array(
         ...
         'url' => apply_filters( 'dashboard_incoming_links_feed', $url ),
 }}}

 The importance of this bug is twofold:
 1. No clear workaround for the user, even with basic PHPMyAdmin skills.
 The incorrect value is in a serialized array in the table 'wp_options'.
 2. Users may not realize the feed is borked, since there is no Dashboard
 UI. I think there used to be. The WP forums have several 5-year old
 threads about it.

 By the way, $num_items never changes by default. It could only be updated
 by plugins or themes, and Solution 2 assumes they know what they are doing
 there too.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/20379>
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