In file i18n/confirmaccount/en.json the link used in the Welcome message links internally but should be an external wiki link:
Now: [[{{MediaWiki:Helppage}}|help pages]]
Should be: [{{MediaWiki:Helppage}} help pages]
Thanks
Version: REL1_23-branch
Severity: normal
Hi Bill! Thanks for investigating and reporting this!
Just in case you feel like fixing the code, you are welcome to use Developer access
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Developer_access
to submit this as a Git branch directly into Gerrit:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Git/Tutorial
Putting your branch in Git makes it easier to review it quickly. If you don't want to set up Git/Gerrit, you can also use https://tools.wmflabs.org/gerrit-patch-uploader/
MediaWiki:Helppage is allowed to be either an internal or external link. You should use Skin::makeInternalOrExternalUrl() to generate a correct one.
That's great, but doesn't make sense to me. The link is to a MediaWiki.org help page, which would mean that it is only an internal link to the MediaWiki.org site. Given that, shouldn't it at least be an external link by default?
And how would I or anyone else know to use Skin::makeInternalOrExternalUrl()?
Change 134063 had a related patch set uploaded by Nemo bis:
Make "helppage" link relative
(In reply to Bill Traynor from comment #3)
Given that, shouldn't it at least be an external link
by default?
Yes but it used to be the opposite before; there is an ongoing standardisation towards external https links.
And how would I or anyone else know to use Skin::makeInternalOrExternalUrl()?
That's something for the code, see patch linked above. For core we had added notes about the only case we noticed, sorry for this oversight.
https://git.wikimedia.org/blob/mediawiki%2Fcore.git/HEAD/RELEASE-NOTES-1.23#L44
Change 155344 had a related patch set uploaded by Legoktm:
Make "helppage" link relative