[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #34544: Attaching metadata to shared terms can result in data corruption

[WordPress Trac]

#34544: Attaching metadata to shared terms can result in data corruption
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 Reporter:  boonebgorges           |       Owner:  boonebgorges
     Type:  defect (bug)           |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  high                   |   Milestone:  4.4
Component:  Taxonomy               |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                 |  Resolution:  fixed
 Keywords:  has-patch 2nd-opinion  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by dd32):

 Replying to [comment:6 boonebgorges]:
 > @johnjamesjacoby Thanks for the feedback.
 >
 > > If the problem is that splitting terms causes metadata to be orphaned
 >
 > Actually, this is the first time I'd actually thought of the metadata
 being orphaned. My immediate concern is a situation like this. Two
 taxonomies, `cool_band` and `city`; a term `Chicago` with ID `45`, in each
 taxonomy. If you `add_term_meta( 45, 'thumbnail', $photo )`, where
 `$photo` is a picture of the Sears Tower, then the thumbnail will also
 apply to the `cool_band` Chicago. This is clearly incorrect. More briefly:
 the termmeta functions accept only a `$term_id` for identifying a term,
 but when terms are shared, `$term_id` is insufficient.

 I think it's far enough an edgecase that this would be the expected
 outcome if you add metadata to a shared term that's later split. ie. that
 is, that the meta is added to the shared term, and meta is duplicated upon
 eventual split.

 Use-cases like the one outlined above are so edgecase that if you're
 using/relying upon that and still using shared terms, you've got bigger
 problems that we can't automagically fix.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34544#comment:11>
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