Redirects from rufus.akeo.ie Not Working - older versions broken

[own3mall]

http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys 404 not found

https://rufus.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys exists...

Log from Rufus 2.18.1213 on Windows 7:

Using image: BookwormPup64_10.0.8.iso (777 MB)
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Extended version was not found, trying main version...
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/ldlinux.sys
Unable to access file: 404
Could not download the file - cancelling

[pbatard]

That's expected. This will never be fixed because I would have to release a new version of Rufus for Windows 7 and XP, which will NEVER, EVER HAPPEN.

If you want support with Rufus, please use Windows 10 or later.

[own3mall]

Or you could fix your web redirects properly if you know anything about web servers. How embarrassing! I don't understand the hatred for "unsupported" products that are superior to the crap being released today (Windows 10 & Windows 11). Oh well... and all it would take in this instance is fixing your web redirects :-1:

[pbatard]

all it would take (...)

Yeah, sure, all it would take.

rufus.akeo.ie is hosted by GitHub (whose webserver configuration I do not have access to) from https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/tree/gh-pages and must redirect to rufus.ie (which is itself served by https://github.com/pbatard/rufus-web, another GitHub pure static hosting) so that people visiting older links do get redirected to the new URL. Oh and, for obvious reasons, I want an HTTP to HTTPS redirect on rufus.ie.

And, before you ask, no I am not going to duplicate content between 2 GitHub static hosts (even with an automated GitHub Actions script in the background) just to keep a dwindling bunch of entitled Windows 7 and XP users happy.

So, if you have a solution I can apply to https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/tree/gh-pages and https://github.com/pbatard/rufus-web that'll make your "all it would take" solution works in the context of GitHub static hosting and limited CNAME handling, and that doesn't require duplicating the content, I'm all ears. Otherwise, you can take your annoyance at people not wanting to jump through a lot of hoops, and investing a lot of time trying to support OBSOLETE platforms, somewhere else.

[own3mall]

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you hand cuffed yourself to being dependent on Microsoft and GitHub. That's why it's always better to do as much as you can yourself than rely on third parties. Thanks for Rufus, but it really is a shame that a lot of developers have become so lazy and arrogant when it comes to making their software work on as many platforms as possible. It should not be up to the developer to limit what his software works on, or to tell me what I'm running is obsolete. That is not for you to judge. Target XP in your development and it should work on anything that comes after unless MS does some dumb stuff to break it, which they probably will. No one cares anymore, so yeah, I guess that's that... Just keep writing more and more inefficient software while more e-waste is generated for no good reason... It's a shame we are short sighted and believe "security" is the number one priority over functional and working software...

[pbatard]

I didn't realize you hand cuffed yourself to being dependent on Microsoft and GitHub.

I used to host the Rufus content on a dedicated VPS. Until a user, probably not that dissimilar to you, took objection to my approach to software development and thought they could teach me a lesson by DDoSing that server... which helped me decide, that I might as well make use of the contingency plan I had for web server hopping, and let GitHub handle the DDoS in order to concentrate on what really matters (which is my software running well on current platforms). I haven't looked back since.

Target XP in your development and it should work on anything that comes after

LOL. Yeah, great. So that means no Windows 11 customisation for Rufus users and especially no TPM bypass, unless I write my own ISO mounting driver. And no Windows To Go. And no VDS facility. And the constant agony of having to adjust the layout and localization so that no platform visibly feels left behind. Oh and please don't remind me how GPT and USB 3.0 support were an absolute blast on Windows 7 and XP and how it took the Windows 10 Creators Update to finally have the vast majority of USB Flash Drives be able to mount multiple partitions...

If you think Windows does not evolve between major versions, and does not bring welcome changes to both users and software developers, then I guess there's a lot I could say too about short-sightedness...

The software might be free. My time isn't. I don't have the luxury of thinking that my software is "good enough" so that it doesn't need to evolve to cater to current needs (that did not exist at the time of XP and 7 and that can also not properly be serviced by XP and 7) or that I will have all the time in the world to properly test and ensure that Rufus works well on 6 different versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11).

IMO, what really is a shame is that people continue to believe that everything they haven't been closely involved with can be summarized to an easily digestible fallacy, such as that something that runs on XP will be more than good enough for later versions of Windows, or that it shouldn't really need that much time investment.

[own3mall]

I understand that it's not easy. It sucks. I'm a developer too. It's hard to support everything, especially as new stuff is released, and a lot of times, Microsoft does make things easier for a developer, but by doing so, they drop support for older operating systems. So, while it may be easier for the developer to use this new easy solution, realize that there are trade-offs. But, there are always some things that can be done to prevent things like this from happening. Such as, not moving to a new domain. Why didn't you just stay on rufus.akeo.ie rather than have rufus.ie? Was that necessary?

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/commit/e6d8f25bf1ca9fcda32edebfcb498e1a76cb4f6f

Looks like if I can find the rufus-2.18 source, it would be an easy update and and re-build. Do you obfuscate your strings somehow? A patcher utility I wrote (because this evidently happens far too often) is not able to find rufus.akeo.ie as a string value to replace with rufus.ie and null bytes in the compiled exe...

[pbatard]

Feel free to fork the project and release and maintain your own versions of Rufus for Windows XP.

You do realize that if I were to produce a new version of Rufus that is compatible with XP, it would imply that I am still supporting XP. Which I don't.

So, I will reiterate what I say to users who insist on running Rufus on Windows XP or Windows 7: You are 100% on your own.