Stefan Sperling <stsp@stsp.name> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 01:00:53PM +0100, nathanael@dalliard.ch wrote:
> > hi
> > 
> > is there a way to get a permalink to a specific file in a repo?
> > 
> > i've noticed that links in the web interface all include the commit
> > hash, which makes me think this might not be currently possible or is
> > there a workaround i'm missing?
> 
> The current implementation requires a commit hash. In theory we could
> allow references to be passed instead, as is allowed on the command line.
> 
> We have a TODO item about redesigning gotweb URL routing, with the goal
> of simplifying the URL scheme and avoid use of query parameters.
> I assume we could take another look at allowing refs as part of that redesign.
> 
> However, without a commit hash a link to a file cannot really be permanent.
> 
> What should happen if the file gets deleted at some point in time?
> 
> What should happen if the deleted file is reinstated with different content
> at a later point in time?
> 
> What should happen if the file gets replaced several times over in the
> life time of the repository? By a file or a directory?
> 
> Perhaps you don't care about these cases because you'll never delete the
> files you want to link to. But that is a specific use case, not the general
> case which the overall design needs to cope with.

thanks for the answer. i agree that i don't have the whole picture and
my usecase might be niche. just to be clear what i am talking about:

https://codeberg.org/OpenBSD/src/src/branch/master/bin/cat/cat.c
https://openbsd.gothub.org/repos/?action=blob&commit=a944417af3ca44cd189efef88c2299690e2958fd&file=cat.c&folder=%2Fbin%2Fcat&path=src.git

the codeberg link always points to the newest cat.c in the master branch
and the gothub link doesn't (at least if i understand it correctly)

i guess i am used to this from git web interfaces like cgit, stagit and
others. but of course i understand, if that is not wanted for gotwebd