nextcloud / nextcloud/server

Propagate software name through meta HTML tags properly

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#39,875 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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0. Needs triage enhancement feature: files
Dominant language
PHP
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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Currently, Nextcloud does expose its name over /status.php which is very nextcloud-specific, not many software do it and maybe others have different purpose for it. Also scanning for x-nextcloud-foo in HTTP headers isn't always an option as then special code needs to be added to check that header. Sometimes it best to read the software's name nextcloud directly.

As discussed over there the software's name should be propagated at least in generic meta tags like <meta name="generator" content="Nextcloud x.y" /> or the full set of <meta property="og:*" content="foo" /> fields. Also other non-federating software like hugo and tons of web software more does this.

Describe the solution you'd like
Add said <meta /> tags to the HTML "base" template. They shouldn't add much overload to the total HTML output.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I guess there are not much good alternatives, as discussed in community forum /.well-known/nodeinfo should only be reachable when Nextcloud Social is installed.

Additional context
The issue here is, that some people change the software's name to really fancy names (I have a list of ~360 candidates) which makes it harder to know that nextcloud is behind it. og:platform is really common to be set to the software's name.

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the HTML base template responsible for the rendered page head. Review how the software name is currently exposed, then add the requested generic generator or Open Graph metadata there. Done means the rendered HTML includes the software name in the selected meta tags without unnecessary output overhead.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
php
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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