Github link to book on doc.rust-lang.org is broken

[jvns]

the "on github" link at https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ is broken. The link seems to be correct in this repository and at http://rust-lang.github.io/book/first-edition/index.html so maybe the version on doc.rust-lang.org is just an old deploy or something?

[ScottAbbey]

I can answer the "Why?" but can't suggest how to fix it.

The first edition of the book lived at rust-lang/rust/src/doc/book for about 5 years. In March 2017 the docs team did some work to move some of the bookish resources to submodules. The link path was updated to point here when the change was made, but the docs at doc.rust-lang.org follow the stable/beta/nightly 6 week release schedule....the updated version won't hit https://doc.rust-lang.org/book for about 6 or 7 more weeks after today!

I have no idea if the link fix can be sent to the beta or stable release without sitting in nightly for 6 weeks.

You can view the current nightly version of doc.rust-lang.org at https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly, where the links to the book are all a bit different, as the second edition will be published on the main site once the current nightly hits stable in a few weeks.

If you haven't read the book yet, I would recommend starting with the second edition. I read the first edition a few months ago and was a bit displeased to find out afterward that there was a second edition well along with more polish and better organization. It will eventually be published by No Starch Press, but isn't ready for printing yet.

The main authors have been working hard in recent weeks to get at least a draft of every chapter finished, and they are seeking any review and comments they can find. I keep asking them questions for clarification, and then they go fix up the appropriate section of the book as a result. As a result of their focus on the new edition, fixups requested here for the first edition are mostly going to be ignored for right now.

[jvns]

that is a good reason! seems totally fine to wait 6 weeks for it to be fixed :)

[carols10cents]

Hi @jvns!!! @ScottAbbey is right, beta is branching later this week so it'll be about 6 weeks until the page at https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/book/ is available on stable. Thank you for your patience!! It's not often that people are happy waiting 6 weeks for a fix ;)

[steveklabnik]

Other good posts in this thread already, but

I have no idea if the link fix can be sent to the beta or stable release without sitting in nightly for 6 weeks.

beta yes; stable, not really. To fix stable requires putting out a brand-new release; to fix beta requires a backport, which we generally try not to do. It could make sense here; I might send in a PR....