Bug 358049

I think that your url is "example.com?ff=bla" etc ?
not just "example.com?" ?

No; then the URI wouldn't *end* in the question mark.

(In reply to kdex from comment #2)
> No; then the URI wouldn't *end* in the question mark.

Clearly, the parsing code needs to take into account both what valid URLs are *and* what people type in mails. When a URL comes at the end of a sentence, people write punctuation after it, such as a period and a question mark. So if nothing comes after that, i.e., there is white space or a line break, the most likely situation is that those symbols are punctuation and not part of the URL, although they could be. So the question is, do those user names in URLs you mention end with a period?

I tested the following (in 4.14.10):

http://example.com/whatever.
http://example.com/whatever. you
http://example.com/whatever.you

http://example.com/whatever?
http://example.com/whatever? q
http://example.com/whatever?q

In both cases, the first two links in KMail end before the punctuation and the last one includes the punctuation and what follows. (So, FWIW, I would say this issue can be CONFIRMED.) This seems a reasonable choice to me. I guess there need to be a sufficient number of URLs in the wild ending with punctuation symbols for it to counteract the argument that these symbols are usually not part of URLs in email messages.

I suggest closing as WONTFIX based on that argument.

I don't see a clear benefit from teaching people to misunderstand URLs. Suggesting that they might not end in a dot will naturally break lots of valid URLs, and the same goes for question marks (and potentially other tokens that I haven't checked).

Also, expecting that users will put punctuation symbols after their URLs to end a sentence is a constructed heuristic; the majority of my sent and received mails actually contain footnotes such as "[1]", which will be completed with their URLs at the bottom of the mail, line by line. This format is also very wide-spread and suffers from KMail's heuristic.

Next, observe that this is not just about usernames that might end in punctuation. See [1] to agree that a dot at the end of a domain is, too, valid syntax and should be parsed to reflect that. In the case of usernames or other dynamic parts in a URL, KMail *will* break websites (like [2], which allows trailing dots in usernames and thus, in their profile page URLs).

[1] https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/73934/how-can-urls-have-a-dot-at-the-end-e-g-www-bla-de/73937
[2] https://www.npmjs.com

(In reply to kdex from comment #4)

Thanks for your reply.

> I don't see a clear benefit from teaching people to misunderstand URLs.
> Suggesting that they might not end in a dot will naturally break lots of
> valid URLs, and the same goes for question marks (and potentially other
> tokens that I haven't checked).

Well, that is an URL entry issue. KMail could suggest people to encapsulate URLs it detects in mails about to be sent out using <...>.

> Also, expecting that users will put punctuation symbols after their URLs to
> end a sentence is a constructed heuristic; the majority of my sent and
> received mails actually contain footnotes such as "[1]", which will be
> completed with their URLs at the bottom of the mail, line by line. This
> format is also very wide-spread and suffers from KMail's heuristic.

Indeed this format is common. URLs ending with periods or question marks less so, and that is where it breaks. Nevertheless a valid point.

> Next, observe that this is not just about usernames that might end in
> punctuation. See [1] to agree that a dot at the end of a domain is, too,
> valid syntax and should be parsed to reflect that.

I would need to be convinced that this is a practical issue. I haven't come across mails with domains in this format. I have come across plenty of mails with periods as punctuation at the end of URLs, i.e., that won't resolve if the period is parsed as part of the URL.

> In the case of usernames
> or other dynamic parts in a URL, KMail *will* break websites (like [2],
> which allows trailing dots in usernames and thus, in their profile page
> URLs).

Indeed; that is problematic. You've convinced me that this is a real issue. Nevertheless, always parsing periods as part of the URL will also break links. The KMail devs will have to decide what is most important.

Thank you for reporting this bug in KDE software. As it has been a while since this issue was reported, can we please ask you to see if you can reproduce the issue with a recent software version?

If you can reproduce the issue, please change the status to "CONFIRMED" when replying. Thank you!

Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as
possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug
tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with
no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

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mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is
ready to be confirmed.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!