[tor-bugs] #29076 [Webpages/Website]: Remove experimental branch from js dropdown in debian install guide

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#29076: Remove experimental branch from js dropdown in debian install guide
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     Reporter:  traumschule       |      Owner:  traumschule
         Type:  defect            |     Status:  assigned
     Priority:  Medium            |  Milestone:
    Component:  Webpages/Website  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal            |   Keywords:
Actual Points:                    |  Parent ID:
       Points:                    |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                    |
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 The current javascript dropdown menu is a constant maintenance effort that
 will eventually go away through the migration to a new website.

 #27809 has a patch, that with the latest release needs to be updated to
 0.3.5.7.

 Therefor proposing to remove the experimental branch from the
 [https://www.torproject.org/docs/debian-selector.js pull down menu],
 because it requires manually updating the javascript for every version. A
 better approach is to improve {{{docs/en/debian.wml}}} to be updated from
 [https://www.torproject.org/include/versions.wmi include/versions.wmi].

 Renaming the branch to {{{tor-alpha}}} could ease our life in the future.

 Commit
 [https://github.com/torproject/webwml/pull/54/commits/607e5ac675c2ba887755924bc68c86cc86e2364a
 e3d3adb820e6d8715429cfbe5a71f6e67e7ebbda] makes the development version
 configurable for the non-js version of the page by adding a new variable
 {{{development-branch}}} to {{{versions.wmi}}}:

 {{{
 <define-tag version-stable whitespace=delete>0.3.5.7</define-tag>
 <define-tag version-alpha whitespace=delete>0.3.5.7</define-tag>
 <define-tag development-branch whitespace=delete>0.3.5.x</define-tag>
 }}}

 However this is not optimal because it adds another step when updating,
 using a simple regex via
 [https://web.archive.org/web/20170426133845/http://thewml.org:80/docs/docs/wml_intro.html
 Pass 3] or similar would be preferred.

 Another question is if the guide should reflect if there's no separate
 alpha:
 {{{
 commit 523e14fc1c4eaeadcf6f36decf8dc8dcffca1127
 Author: Nick Mathewson <nickm at torproject.org>
 Date:   Mon Jan 7 16:40:53 2019 -0500

     Stable is 0.3.5.7; there is no alpha for the moment.
 }}}

 CC'ing maintainers to check if this is a wise move.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/29076>
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