Layouts with fully numeric names are not recognized

[denzel-morris]

• I believe this to be a bug, not a question about using Jekyll.
• I updated to the latest Jekyll (or) if on GitHub Pages to the latest github-pages
• I ran jekyll doctor to check my configuration
• I read the CONTRIBUTION file at https://jekyllrb.com/docs/contributing/
• This is a feature request.

---

• I am on (or have tested on) macOS 10+
• I am on (or have tested on) Debian/Ubuntu GNU/Linux
• I am on (or have tested on) Fedora GNU/Linux
• I am on (or have tested on) Arch GNU/Linux
• I am on (or have tested on) Other GNU/Linux
• I am on (or have tested on) Windows 10+

---

• I was trying to install.
• There is a broken Plugin API.
• I had an error on GitHub Pages, and I have reproduced it locally.
• I had an error on GitHub Pages, and GitHub Support said it was a Jekyll Bug.
• I had an error on GitHub Pages and I did not test it locally.
• I was trying to build.
• It was another bug.

My Reproduction Steps

Create three files (one 404 file, and two layout files):

• ./404.html
• ./_layouts/404.html
• ./_layouts/404a.html

Both layouts have the same content, they differ only in filename.

Firstly, the error is produced when ./404.html has the first layout specified:

---
layout: 404
---
# Hello, world!

jekyll build shows:

Build Warning: Layout '404' requested in 404.html does not exist.
                    done in 13.086 seconds.

When we change the layout to include one alphabetic character, there are no warnings:

---
layout: 404a
---
# Hello, world!

jekyll build shows no build warnings, and the layout is rendered as expected.

Gemfile

source 'https://rubygems.org'
gem 'github-pages', group: :jekyll_plugins
gem 'execjs'
gem 'therubyracer'
gem 'html-proofer'
gem 'jekyll'

/cc @jekyll/build

[mattr-]

Does the site build correctly if with the 404 layout or is it incorrect?

[denzel-morris]

I may be misunderstanding your question, but I believe you're asking whether the site builds correctly while ./_layouts/404.html is present.

Yes, the site builds correctly while ./_layouts/404.html is present. As long as the layout is not used by any page, the site builds correctly.

[pathawks]

What if you change your YAML to:

---
layout: "404"
---

[denzel-morris]

Yes, that fixed it, thanks @pathawks. Didn't expect it to be a type problem. Would we still consider this a bug or no?

I'm not sure why layout would be treated as anything other than a string, but I'm sure you have more context than I do.

[ashmaroli]

Lets assume that you ignored the build warning for layout: 404.., did the page render properly?
If yes, then there's a bug in the layout detection otherwise we'll have to implement a type conversion so that the value of layout: is always a String..

[denzel-morris]

@ashmaroli the page does not render properly with layout: 404 which is why I was asking about implementing the type conversion. Makes sense.

[ashmaroli]

I'm not sure why layout would be treated as anything other than a string

Because, the Front Matter is just plain ol' YAML data, without any intermittent processing..

[ashmaroli]

IMO, instead of silently converting, we should warn the user that layout: has been defined with an object other than String and the user should consider rectification..

[denzel-morris]

Sure, I understand insofar as Jekyll has a number of predefined front matter properties that it uses for very specific purposes, e.g., to specify filenames.

I'd be more in favor of treating String and Numeric (or its YAML equiv) as valid values, and warning on other objects. It's a minor annoyance to be able to say layout: file but then layout: "404".

But, either resolution is fine with me. I appreciate you taking the time out to work on this. Thank you.

[pathawks]

I'd be more in favor of treating String and Numeric (or its YAML equiv) as valid values, and warning on other objects. It's a minor annoyance to be able to say layout: file but then layout: "404".

Yup.

[mattr-]

IMO, instead of silently converting, we should warn the user that layout: has been defined with an object other than String and the user should consider rectification..

Nah, we should just silently convert in this case because the user is specifying a file and shouldn't have to care about YAML's String vs. Number type conversions. If we can take care of that for a user and give them a better user experience, we should.

This is the fix I'll be implementing a later today.

[qaisjp]

@mattr- was this implemented?

[mattr-]

Nope. I never should have said "later today" because, of course, I ran out of time. I've made a note to myself to circle back around and do this. My ability to contribute to open source has been wildly inconsistent as of late.

[jekyllbot]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not been commented on for at least two months.

The resources of the Jekyll team are limited, and so we are asking for your help.

If this is a bug and you can still reproduce this error on the 3.3-stable or master branch, please reply with all of the information you have about it in order to keep the issue open.

If this is a feature request, please consider building it first as a plugin. Jekyll 3 introduced hooks which provide convenient access points throughout the Jekyll build pipeline whereby most needs can be fulfilled. If this is something that cannot be built as a plugin, then please provide more information about why in order to keep this issue open.

This issue will automatically be closed in two months if no further activity occurs. Thank you for all your contributions.

[qaisjp]

@mattr-, how about now 😉

[mattr-]

oh geez. two months already?

[pathawks]

Closed via #6442