Develop Bugs

[Q] chrome xda-developers.com malware

I tried to log on to xda this morning using chrome and received a Malware warning.
"www.xda-developers.com contains malware. Your computer might catch a virus if you visit this site."
Its not recived on the home page or the forums but only any page located above http://www.xda-developers.com/android/
my browser has no problem with
http://www.xda-developers.com/windows-mobile
Whats going on?

there was an attack on the site I think, at least I got redirected to a malware site once when I clicked page2 on the android news section, but afaik it's all gone now
check this link, should explain all: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=854561

me 2
Firefox 4.0 beta 7 also gives me a warning.
The main site, http://www.xda-developers.com/ is ok to view, but http://www.xda-developers.com/android/the-weekly-qa-week-16/ gets blocked right away.
WTF?

The site admins are aware, and steps are being taken to get the warnings removed, now the infection is gone.

Outside links on xda are broken

There's something wrong with the links on xda. They redirect through api.viglink.com.
This is bad for a couple of reasons:
- Manipulating links so that they point to a different address than displayed in the status bar is generally considered bad behaviour equal to malware.
- It breaks context menu functions like "open in another browser," "send shortcut to desktop," "translate," "search," etc.
Can you repair the links on xda so that what you see in the status bar is what you get? You don't want to modify links in a way that breaks browser functions, do you? I understand that you need to make money somehow, but please try to do so in a non-destructive way.

rogier666 said:
There's something wrong with the links on xda. They redirect through api.viglink.com.
This is bad for a couple of reasons:
- Manipulating links so that they point to a different address than displayed in the status bar is generally considered bad behaviour equal to malware.
- It breaks context menu functions like "open in another browser," "send shortcut to desktop," "translate," "search," etc.
Can you repair the links on xda so that what you see in the status bar is what you get? You don't want to modify links in a way that breaks browser functions, do you? I understand that you need to make money somehow, but please try to do so in a non-destructive way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you may have some malware installed on your PC or your web browser screwing with your links, you might want to check that. All of the outbound links in the XDA forums that I checked just now link directly to the external URL, standard "A" tag links.

My university is gonna like that. It's happening on their computers.
That'll teach them for forcing internet explorer on the entire department
(But it only happens with outside links on xda, not on other sites. Is there some xda-specific malware running wild?)

Nah, it's not malware or anything. It's something the owners decided to implement at some point. Sorry don't have any specific information though. Just letting you know it's not anything on your end.

This happens on almost every link I click on on my nexus 5 from any browser.

[Q] Torrent/Magnet Links?

Hello XDA Moderators!
First of all I want to apologize if this topic has been already discussed or is it forbidden (I didn't found such restrictions in the rules)
Anyway, since I got my HTC Desire S this forum is the primary source of information for me, and most probably for all the other visitors around.
And especially when it comes to custom rom files there are sometimes troubles with dead links, crappy file sharing sites with stupid limitations, etc.
So I think it will be much more convenient for everyone (devs and users) to use the torrent system via magnet link (combined with QR scan maybe) for all the files that are posted around here. The download speed will be much better and all that have downloaded the file once will contribute by seeding it to the others. And of course via the appropriate client the files can be downloaded directly to the SD Card (this is possible now through the phone web browser, but a lot of steps are required - waiting, human security check forms, etc.). And last but not least one of the greatest advantages is that on single torrent there can be multiple files, that one can pick to download or not (for example all radio images for a specific model, etc.)
Looking forward to your comments.

no interest?

Obviously not...

Well... I do direct download links for ROMs, on several gigabit servers. So it's of no interest here...
P2P systems also require client software, meaning people downloading via their phone might have issues...
But I personally see no need for a different download system, and nobody has ever complained about waiting times or ads for direct uploads

Thank you for this reply

Agreed with above commenters but I can't disagree with OP either.
It's true that torrents may present an issue due to the requirement of a client but a torrent has one huge advantage - integrity.
Torrent clients automatically check the files for integrity. Also, torrents can provided reliable downloads for larger files.
However, I hardly think torrents are relevant here. Torrents are useful only for large files. Most of the files shared on XDA are 500MB at the most. Most ROMs are 100MB and apks are around 1-15MB.
Although RapidShare is annoying, there are other pretty reliable file sharing services like MediaFire. MediaFire is by far my most favorite site for mass file sharing and Dropbox is pretty reliable too although Dropbox has a 10GB/day traffic limit per account.
Check out these sites listed at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1210372 for remote uploading to dropbox where you download the file directly to dropbox and then download it from dropbox. Pretty useful if the download speeds are too low.

Curious..
Browser add-ons bring torrent to your normal browser download. Opera has had one for quite some time out of the box. But you can even get a real torrent client for Android now.
And to be frank, as long as the OP provides checksums, the value of integrety should remain. I get eered out downloading from some of these file share sites, plus with all the spammy ads and what not!
Maybe somebody should make an XDA related torrent cache?

[REQ][XDA WIKI]: Feature request thread

Request 1: Add HTML Tidy to the xda wiki stack
Template:Navbox @ Wikipedia said:
Using this template on other wikis requires HTML Tidy to be turned on. A version that does not require Tidy can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Transwiki/Template:Navbox. (That version generally shouldn't be used here on the English Wikipedia.) More detailed information on copying {{Navbox}} to other wikis can be found on the talk page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing a LOT of work adding stuff to the xda wiki, but I've hit an impasse, some of the most complex templates used on Wikipedia depend on it being 'scripted' with HTML instead of pure wikimarkup.
The main example is Template:Navbox. While this specific template does have a pupre wikimarkup equivilent (if it even is an equivilent, it's not maintained at the level of the normal one). The other templates I wish to use dont have equivilents.
Template:Navbox subgroup is the one (among others) that I wish to add in but cant because it depends on HTML Tidy. The Template itself is already on the xda wiki, but if you attempt to use it it's completely broken.
I cant say it's as simple as "install on server and turn it on" but the fact of the matter is that without it most of the fun/magic stuff on wikipedia cant be brought over to the xda wiki.
Some examples of recent stuff i've made (for reference):
Samsung Galaxy S Series Navbox
Samsung Galaxy S II Series Navbox
New Samsung Portal on Main page
Entirety of Dell devices page
If you look at the several navboxes I've made they have hacks in the code to get around the fact that I'm just a normal level editor.
Request 2: We need MOAR editors!
Also this doubles as a request for more editors on the wiki: XDA is the largest android development based site on the internet, yet here we are weeks after the release of the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note and the pages didnt even exist until I made stubs for them.
As of this past quarter I've generated more edits then possibly nearly every other user combined, but there's only so much I can do at this point by my self. (With my primary style being to organize page layouts and tidying stuff up vs writing new content for devices)
[Edit count itself is a bad metric, but edits that arnt mine only number in the dozens a month]
Sure it's reasonable for minor devices and varients to be stubs, but the Note has sold over a million units and yet not a single person has even bothered to make as much as a scribble on the wiki about the device. That's just an example, but ultimately if this were wikipedia, the amount of pages rated 'good' or higher would only number in the dozens. (There's also the fact that my belief is that it's a bad idea to add anything intensive for a device you dont own, standard fare on one device can super-brick another due to quirks)
It's a rather sad state of affairs that for such a large web site with 22000 active users at any one time that there's not a single good consistant repeat editor besides me.
Edit: changed wording to not be inflammatory
Request 3: Turn on Subpages on the main namespace
Mediawiki:Subpages are by default enabled on the template and user namespaces, but not on the main namespace. I believe it's done this way because of editor policy and not technical reasons.
The xda wiki would HEAVILY benefit from having it enabled since it already currently manually uses them, the previous example of:
Samsung <Series>/<model number>/article has long existed this way but without the automatically generated anchors.
The majority of pages are already ready to accept it, it might simply need to be turned on.

XDA Wiki
TheManii said:
there's not a single good editor besides me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO that is a rather sweeping statement and is likely to put off anyone from editing the Wiki. I would dispute even your claim as a good editor would not make sweeping changes to categories without discussion on the pages involved. Should I just "undo" them?
XDA has a problem with repetitive questions leading to user dissatisfaction with overlong forums and the loss of good developers such as AdamG.
One solution may be to create a FAQ Wiki for any thread over a certain size (for example 1,000 posts) and automatically link to that thread at the top of every page and above the reply box.
Cheers
Tom

It is sweeping, but the fact is there arent many repeat editors, many devices havnt not seen edits in months because a great deal of the changes dones are a one-time batch job with a single theme.
I'm not at all saying that the other editors are bad, though yes that what the impression was (and perhaps I should have worded it better). I'm saying that few wish to stay with it for the long-haul.
There's few editors that consistantly return to add/update/expand artitles for their own devices or other devices. That's my main issue. I actively want to be proven wrong in this regard, I'm inviting other to prove me wrong. I myself am somewhat guilty of this myself, I primarly concentrate on the dell devices, but I've kept them very up to date for the previous year.
One example I have issue with is: Acer A500 -xda wiki the entire page are just forum links. I have no issue at all with the contents of the posts (just as much my opinion on them is irrelevent) but the fact they are just links and not part of the article. The fact it's not on the wiki means that other editors cannot make changes themselves, which rather defeats the point of the wiki, which leads to,
The other issue is, unless the OP is excellent at keeping the thread organizied, you often have to wade though the entire thread to keep up to date. With a thread with +200 posts even if you wanted to it's a huge effort to do that. Even in the most complex of topics, they can be broken down a couple bullet points and approx a paragraph each to elaborate. There's also 'bad' advise that doesnt get edited away on topics ('bad' as in it may simply be the case that it was the right thing at the moment but there was eventually a more 'correct' method discovered later and the original 'bad' one is still reposted for whatever reason)
I could copy the posts onto the wiki verbaitm, but you really should have the poster's permission, what if the poster isnt active? It would be a bad idea to paraphrase advise/guides without context, what if you remove an important small detail. The right way to be to frequent the device and get context, but that triples the amount of work to do so properly.
It's no secret that there's always users that refuse to read topics and simply skip straight to posting repeat questions. Short pages with clear instructions are much easier to recommend then having them read though dozens and dozens of posts (which they skipped as they posted without reading in the first place)
Discussions dont really work on a wiki, esp one without consistant-repeat (or even repeat) editors. There's a fair amount of edits for various devices, but there are obviously more devices then editors. Lets walk though it: I want to make an edit, do I post it on the topic's talk page? Short of doing so on wikipiedia proper on a popular change, you wont recieve much feedback.
Do you make a post on each of their device's forums? XDA has sub-forums for each device, but not really a sub-forum for the family itself (back to the SGS/SGS2, there's the main device's subforum and each varient's subforum but none for the entire family, i think) That means making dozens of posts to talk about each major change.
What if it's an old device such as the winmo devices? The HTC HD2 is the only one left on the active part of the xda forums, because it's obviously not just a winmo device now. You're going to have to wait a very long time as they naturally only get a couple posts a month now.
Just as much, unless a mod/admin states to the contrary, you can always assume Wikipedia:Be Bold is implied to apply. I honestly have no issue if my edits are reverted if they are constructive reverts, as that's how wikis work.
If anyone has a issue with the edits I make, you're welcome to discuss it with me and hopefully we'll find a middle road.
Also I've made a reply on User_talkaveShaw#Page Name & Categories (as a fun note: & is translated to _.26_ in links while / isnt, though mediawiki has no issue with either of them, though you cannot directly use & in page names while you can use /) You should read it if the critisim is directed towards me.
tl;dr prove me wrong, Be Bold, help make the wiki better
Edit: HTC_HD2 - NexusHD2 ICS CM9 FAQ is an excellent example of why things should be on the wiki as articles instead of just merely links to a thread. It's about 3 pages of topic points and contains the majority of the topic points instead of having to read 225 (currently) pages to get the same info. (Also, just as much if I inadvertently remove valid content, revert/add it back! That was not my intention, everyone makes mistakes. The xda wiki is pretty well off in that it has little/no intentional vanadalism, you can always assume an edit is in good faith, I dont recall more then 1-2 legitamitely bad edits in nearly a year)

I've asked someone to look at Request 1.
I'm not sure what can be done about Request 2, if people don't want to maintain it, we can't make then

Thanks!
I dont really expect req 2 to be fullfilled in any real manner. Just pointing it out.

Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace

TheManii said:
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our server admin has told me this has been done.
Dave

I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now

TheManii said:
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Dave

XDA Clone

I just stumbled across another site that is a 1:1 clone of much of XDA: forum.freelatestmovies.org.
A lot of images are missing, and a lot of links don't work, but if you search the site via Google, there are a significant number of subforums/threads that do work, are current, and are direct copies (including XDA's 404 page lol). The homepage doesn't seem to want to load at all on my Mac, but a number of subforums and individual threads do, and the homepage loads on my mobile.
I'm not sure if it's someone phishing for xda usernames/passwords or if it's hosting any malware, or if it's just some bot that's crawling around copying everything, but it's clearly not legit, whatever it is.
Anyway, just wanted to bring it to the staff's attention.

Thanks for letting us know :good:
@bitpushr

Morningstar said:
I just stumbled across another site that is a 1:1 clone of much of XDA: forum.freelatestmovies.org.
A lot of images are missing, and a lot of links don't work, but if you search the site via Google, there are a significant number of subforums/threads that do work, are current, and are direct copies (including XDA's 404 page lol). The homepage doesn't seem to want to load at all on my Mac, but a number of subforums and individual threads do, and the homepage loads on my mobile.
I'm not sure if it's someone phishing for xda usernames/passwords or if it's hosting any malware, or if it's just some bot that's crawling around copying everything, but it's clearly not legit, whatever it is.
Anyway, just wanted to bring it to the staff's attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Morningstar, I was searching for your notipanel smali mod and google brought me to this site:
http://www.ttnairport.com/developer...notification-panel-background-t3189731/page3#
This might be an other clone as well.