source-permalinks

name	source-permalinks
description	Reference for constructing revision-pinned source, spec, and bug permalinks (Searchfox, GitHub, GitLab, googlesource, Codeberg, Chromium, FFmpeg, Bugzilla, specs). Use when citing code, specs, or bugs in analysis or reports and you need stable, revision-pinned URLs instead of trunk/HEAD links.

Source Permalink Reference

Golden Rule

Always use revision-pinned URLs in analysis documents. Never use trunk/tip/HEAD URLs.

When to Link

• Source files and functions (Firefox, Chromium, any open-source project)
• Specification sections (WHATWG, W3C, TC39, IETF, etc.)
• Bug reports (Bugzilla, GitHub Issues, Chromium Issue Tracker)
• Documentation pages
• Any other web-accessible resource

Anchor Text Rules

• Use function name, identifier, or short description as anchor text — not raw URL
• If citing a line range, use the starting line
• If no specific line known, link to file root
• Apply in all contexts: prose, tables, code snippets, plans

Searchfox (Firefox, WebKit)

URL Format

https://searchfox.org/{repo}/rev/{hash}/{path}#{line}
https://searchfox.org/{repo}/rev/{hash}/{path}#{start}-{end}

Repository Table

Repo ID	Description
firefox-main	Firefox trunk (primary)
firefox-beta / mozilla-beta	Beta branch
firefox-release / mozilla-release	Release branch
firefox-esr115	ESR 115
firefox-esr128	ESR 128
firefox-esr140	ESR 140
wubkat	WebKit

Revision Resolution Strategy

1. Get local revision: git rev-parse HEAD
2. Validate on searchfox: WebFetch https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/rev/{hash}/moz.configure
   • If 200: use this hash for all links in the session
   • If 404 (searchfox hasn't indexed this rev yet): fetch https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/source/moz.configure and extract the indexed revision from the page content
3. Cache the validated revision for the entire session ($SHERLOCK_REV)
4. For ESR/beta branches: repeat with the appropriate repo ID

Mercurial Hash Compatibility

https://searchfox.org/{repo}/hgrev/{hg-hash}/{path}#{line}

Automatically converts Mercurial hashes to Git revisions.

GitHub

https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/blob/{hash}/{path}#L{line}
https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/blob/{hash}/{path}#L{start}-L{end}

GitLab

https://{host}/{owner}/{repo}/-/blob/{hash}/{path}#L{line}

Known hosts: gitlab.xiph.org, code.videolan.org

googlesource.com

https://{host}/{repo}/+/{hash}/{path}#{line}

Known hosts: chromium.googlesource.com, aomedia.googlesource.com, webrtc.googlesource.com

Codeberg

https://codeberg.org/{owner}/{repo}/src/commit/{hash}/{path}#L{line}

Chromium Code Search

https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:{path};l={line}

Note: source.chromium.org does NOT support revision pinning in URLs. For pinned Chromium links, use the googlesource.com mirror:

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/{hash}/{path}#{line}

FFmpeg (via GitHub mirror)

https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/{hash}/{path}#L{line}

The Firefox moz.yaml revision maps to a git commit on this mirror.

Bugzilla

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id={id}

Anchor text: [Bug {id}](URL)

Specifications

Trusted spec domains:

• html.spec.whatwg.org — WHATWG HTML Standard
• w3c.github.io — W3C specs (WebCodecs, MSE, EME, etc.)
• webaudio.github.io — Web Audio API
• tc39.es — ECMAScript
• datatracker.ietf.org — IETF RFCs
• www.rfc-editor.org — RFC editor
• itu.int — ITU-T codec specs (H.264, H.265)

Format: [Section Name](full URL with anchor)

Examples

Searchfox (revision-pinned): MediaDecoder::Shutdown

Searchfox (WebKit): MediaPlayer::pause

GitHub: nestegg_read_packet

GitLab: dav1d_decode

googlesource.com: vpx_codec_decode

Chromium (pinned via googlesource): MediaFoundationCdm::OnHardwareContextReset

Codeberg: SoundTouch::processRemainingFrames

FFmpeg: avcodec_send_packet

Spec: HTML Standard §8.5 — The media element

Bug: Bug 1234567