Way to update post slug on Publish?

I’m not sure what you mean by “on Publish”, but you can change the post slug both before and after you publish.

I have the same problem. I write the post and then publish it or put it in draft. Later, maybe even two weeks later, I edit it, change the title name to something more appropriate, and then Publish. Unfortunately, because the post-slug reference is way down on the Write Page, I forget to change the post-slug and my old title is now the Permalinks name for the post.

I have to go back into edit mode and then change it, if I remember to pay attention. Just time consuming.

I’d love to have it automatically update to whatever the title is, AND allow me to edit it. Kinda like the date where I could click a check box to allow editing.

@macmanx: I know _how_ to change the post slug. It’s just that I forgot. And the problem with forgetting is that people with RSS feed readers who’s reader has already loaded the URL to the new article have the wrong URL loaded so they just get the 404 error page.

This is by design. Permalinks wouldn’t be very permanent if the slug changed. However, in the scenario JPigford describes, we shouldn’t make the slug stick when saving drafts. Only once published should the slug stick. Changing the draft policy has been on the todo list forever, but has somehow never gotten done.

I think I understand:

John Smith posts a draft on WP.

John Smith calls this draft “My Writing 2”

The post slug automatically changes to “my-writing-2”

A few weeks later, John Smith finished writing the draft and changes the TITLE.

John Smith presses “Publish”.

The slug does not change when the title changes.

Now, John Smith has to go back and manually change the slug.

John Smith wants the slug to change when the title changes.

Is this the problem?

John Smith wants the slug to change when the title changes.

At this time, it can’t. Though, I’m sure someone could develop a plugin.

@matthewrobertson: Yes, you’re understanding correctly and yes it is a problem because of the situation I described with the RSS feed readers.

It makes me bonkers having it NOT change when the post publishes from its draft status. In 1.2 the post-slug was at the top, but in 1.5 it is way down at the bottom and I often forget to manually fix this. If it was up at the top, I might remember better.

https://mosquito.www.ads-software.com/view.php?id=531

According to the bug report, this issue has been “resolved”. Yes, no, solution is coming? I just had more problems with this again and I was just talking about it here….you would think I’d learn. Or at least remember something for more than 2 minutes.

I didn’t even know this, and to be honest I’ve made so many posts I can’t be bothered going back to fix it, but if this hasn’t been fixed, and it has been on the to-do list forever, it seems quite an omission. If it is fixed, then is it fixed in 1.5 or in a nightly release?

Ah well.

1.5 is 1.5. We can’t rewrite that history. It’s fixed in 1.5.1. The very simple patch is linked to in the bug notes. Does no one ever scroll down? ??

Lot’s of people can’t be bothered. That’s why these little things linger.

Instead of taking a moment to double check everything is to add a Redirectmatch 301 ... ... to your .htaccess for every slug that you change. Do that a few times and you won’t soon forget to change the slug.

1.5 is 1.5. We can’t rewrite that history. It’s fixed in 1.5.1. The very simple patch is linked to in the bug notes. Does no one ever scroll down? ??

Lot’s of people can’t be bothered. That’s why these little things linger.

Bug notes? Patch? Is this in the new download? It’s a little cryptic for me…

It means on the page linked above from mosquito
https://mosquito.www.ads-software.com/view.php?id=531
if you scroll down to the notes section there is a link pointing here
https://trac.www.ads-software.com/changeset/2426
where you can find the fix which will be “oficially” implemented in Wp 1.5.1 – till then you can manually update the file in your WP.
It also means it is not in the present stable, official 1.5 download since that one was published on a certain date and all the bugfixes that come in time after that, will go into a new (1.5.1) bugfix release.
At least this is how I understand.