# Not resolving .jl links if https://juliaregistries.github.io doesn't have it

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989>\
**Category:** Meta Discussion\
**Created:** [January 11, 2026, 7:49am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989 "2026-01-11T07:49:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Syx\_Pek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/syx_pek/32/6364_2.png) [@Syx\_Pek](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Syx_Pek)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 7:49am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989/1 "2026-01-11T07:49:45Z")

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I’ve noticed that discourse has been eagerly putting links to [https://juliaregistries.github.io](https://juliaregistries.github.io) for anything of the form `[A-Za-z]+\.jl`. However, it is a bit too eager in doing so in many places where the project is shared that isn’t in the General Repository.

We should make it such that it only generates links if it actually is in the General Repository.

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**Author:** ![abraemer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/abraemer/32/51403_2.png) [@abraemer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/abraemer)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 10:40am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989/2 "2026-01-11T10:40:56Z")

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See previous thread for some more context about the current mechanism:

> [@Automatic package links](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/automatic-package-links/106275/17):
>
> We’re now using these linkifiers on Zulip and it’s really nice. Thank you again for putting in the work to make these redirect pages @jules. @mbauman what do you think? Can we switch the Discourse linkifiers to use these redirect pages from the General Registry? I think this solution is a much better fit than the JuliaHub pages because it’s significantly faster to load Authors intend for people to visit their repos, and they have control over those repos, unlike the JuliaHub pages (i.e. if a …

The problem is that discourse provides only quite basic tools. The linkification is done via regexes and these cannot perform additional logic to e.g. check whether the package actually exists in General.

If anything, we could try to make the script that generates the redirects smarter somehow. Although I don’t see how it could divine the existence of some package that’s not registered in General.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989/3 "2026-01-11T13:36:20Z")

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> [@Syx\_Pek](#):
>
> However, it is a bit too eager in doing so in many places where the project is shared that isn’t in the General Repository.

But the page NonExistingPackage.jl points to is clear about that and suggests searching on the internet as an alternative. What do you suggest instead as a practical solution? As explained above, it’s not technically feasible to linkify only certain patterns but not others.

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**Author:** ![Syx\_Pek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/syx_pek/32/6364_2.png) [@Syx\_Pek](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Syx_Pek)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989/4 "2026-01-11T13:55:16Z")

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An alternative I had in mind, is for it to just link back to the current discourse thread that send it there. Perhaps, this might be technically feasible, not sure if it is any more or less confusing.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/not-resolving-jl-links-if-https-juliaregistries-github-io-doesnt-have-it/134989/5 "2026-01-11T14:02:13Z")

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Links are opened in a new tab anyway, so you’d end up with two tabs on the same page. That looks confusing to me.