Super Secret Expert WordPress Trac Tips

I thought I had a fourth earlier when I was thinking about this, but I guess not. Here are 3 super secret expert tips. There are probably others. 🙂

Attachment uploads don’t generate notifications

If a tree falls….

Even if you add a note when uploading an attachment to Trac, no notification is generated. Make sure to leave a new comment after uploading so that those subscribed to the ticket are aware of your work.

Auto incrementing attachment names

Someone told me this early or I saw it come through on IRC. Either way, I had no idea at the time and then I was very glad I was in the know.

If you upload an attachment with a filename matching that of an existing attachment on the ticket, the filename will be incrementally updated.

Example: 13237.diff will become 13237.2.diff because 13237.diff already exists. The next 13237.diff will become 1337.3.diff.

This makes it super easy to deal with patches locally. Diff your work to the a filename with the ticket number, upload, and boom!

There are two ways to link attachments, one is cooler than the other

This is a total matter of opinion, but Helen hooked me on it early. I have no idea how many others do this, but I do.

It’s easy to reference an attachment on a ticket by using syntax like this: [attachment:13237.2.diff]. This will create a link automatically with a fancy download icon in the web view that allows you to download the patch in just a click. However, in a notification email, it will appear as just that, [attachment:13237.2.diff].

It’s cooler to reference an attachment on a ticket by using syntax like this: [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/13237/13237.2.diff 13237.2.diff]. This will link the text of “13237.2.diff” and provide the full link to the patch in email notifications.

Now anyone browsing their Trac notifications in a mobile email client is only one tap away from a code review. No need to load up the entire ticket!