Does nodewords work? Which release should I install?

Hi Kiam,

I think this is an useful question, and something that may be worth to having on the project's page, just wondering what you think.

Nodewords is going through constant changes and some of them appeared to have triggered critical issues in tags saving/upgrading/etc. I am currently using the latest stable recommended 1.11 version but I always wonder if there's anything critical going on and I tend to come to look on the issue queue, which is not always best as it does have some noise in it. I am also aware of all the 1.12-betas you were releasing, but for the same reason, I rather stick to a stable version and not a beta.

So I wonder if it may be useful, being such an important/critical module in which critical issues did make into stable releases, if you can have some kind of KNOWN ISSUES (if any) section in the project page, matching the latest stable version, in order for us developers/users know what we may expect from the latest stable version, and by having those issues. You could flag what issues are critical and recommend patch applying.

I know it's not the best, but the experience of having that many stable releases that quick does worry's me, not as a developer, but as a production site maintainer.

Also, not planning on adding even more work (maintaining a known issues list on the project's page), but just wondering what you think, and I do believe the question of this issue is somehow important.

PS: I am doing an important upgrade on one of my site and I am planning on ussing 1.11, is that stable enough?

Thanks!
a.=

This module is not working at all for me, and it's being a lot frustating to make this which should be a simple module to work.

Well, I experienced the dreaded upgrade wipeout issues because I've just installed 1.11 which is marked as a recommended release on the project page. Sorry, I did not read the entire project page because it's just too verbose and it's standard Drupal that a recommended release is a recommended release, period. I'd never expect a recommended release to contain untested and dangerous code. That's why -dev (and -beta, -alpha, -rc, etc.) version exists (and I usually try to keep myself away from them).

Fortunately, my site had few pages with meta tags, and restoring the backup at database level would be more work than re-enter my keyworks and descriptions manually. And so I did it by opening my staging installation and copying metatags from one site to the other, just to realize that metatags and keywords were not being output at all.

Yes, I configured the module properly. Keyword and description are marked to be both present on edit form and output on the HTML, etc.

After hours reading several posts on the issue queue, I decided to disable and uninstall the module and remove manually all related tables and Drupal variables. Then I installed the module again and repeated the procedure. The result: no keyword, no descriptions.

Upon inspecting the database tables, I can see that the metatags are being stored. They just don't get output.

At some point, I read #613376: How to downgrade broken nodewords 1.1+ to 1.0 for a smooth upgrade to 1.3 and thought maybe it would be good to go to a old, known and stable version. I'm updating a Drupal 5.x installation, so a simple and unbloated module that allows me to set just the keyword/description looked very good. However, that topic doesn't make it clear to which version I should upgrade (or at least the title hints that we should go to 1.0), not to say that no download URL is provided.

Well, should we go 1.0 straight then?

However, the project page says:

Version 6.x-1.10, and later versions, have been created as official releases to make them visible on the front page, but it should be considered beta versions. Do not update to such versions, if not to help in the development of the module.

Well, can 1.9 (which, AFAICT, is not "1.10 or later" and BTW can be downloaded from http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/nodewords-6.x-1.9.tar.gz) be used then? If so, why it was not mentioned?

Can 1.0 (or perhaps 1.9) be considered safe, in the sense that they do not contain nasty bugs or (worse) security holes?

Sorry for the rant-ish post, but it's 5am and I had just upgraded a big 5.x site with lots of users, contents and enabled modules to D6 in about 30 minutes (everything was planned before the upgrade -- except that we didn't notice the metatags wipeout), and I'm already spent about 3+ hours only struggling with nodewords to make it work again, without success.

IMHO this module performs a fundamental task and it looks like it has a big user base, so it urges that the original issue questions be answered clearly and definitively: Does nodewords work? Which release should I install?

Is 1.11 with critical problems, I thought that one was more or less stable, isn't it?

Could anybody recommend which version of this module to use?

I installed 6.x-1.11 on a new Drupal build a while back and only now it is evident that the meta tags are not being rendered in the source.

*Edit

After very close examination buried in the project page is this "For most users, it is probably best to use 6.x-1.9."

And it seems to work, still not sure about an upgrade though and the following security notice is a concern.

So 1.9 works but has security issue recommended version 1.11 doesn't work......

* Advisory ID: DRUPAL-SA-CONTRIB-2009-060
* Project: Meta tags / Nodewords (third-party module)
* Version: 6.x
* Date: 2009-September-23
* Security risk: Less critical
* Exploitable from: Remote
* Vulnerability: Access bypass

-------- DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------

The Meta tags (also known as Nodewords) module provides meta tags based on
node titles. In certain conditions, the node meta tags were not respecting
access permissions, potentially exposing content not available otherwise.
-------- VERSIONS AFFECTED ---------------------------------------------------

* Meta tags for Drupal 6.x before Meta tags 6.x-1.1

Drupal core is not affected. If you do not use the contributed Meta tags
module, there is nothing you need to do.
-------- SOLUTION ------------------------------------------------------------

Install the latest version:
* If you use Drupal 6.x upgrade to Meta tags 6.x-1.1 [1].

Also see the Meta tags [2] project page.
-------- REPORTED BY ---------------------------------------------------------

Barry Jaspan [3] and Ben Jeavons [4], both of the Drupal Security Team [5]
-------- FIXED BY ------------------------------------------------------------

Alberto Paderno [6], the module co-maintainer
-------- CONTACT -------------------------------------------------------------

The security contact for Drupal can be reached at security at drupal.org or
via the form at http://drupal.org/contact.

[1] http://drupal.org/node/585706
[2] http://drupal.org/project/nodewords
[3] http://drupal.org/user/46413
[4] http://drupal.org/user/91990
[5] http://drupal.org/security-team
[6] http://drupal.org/user/55077

@Kiam Glad you pointed that out, all those 1s got a bit confusing, especially as I was having problems with 6.x-1.11. Feel reassured that 6.x-1.9 (which is working) is not an issue security wise thanks.

To back step form 6.x-1.11 to 6.x-1.9, do I just uninstall the module and delete the 2 tables: nodewords and nodewords_custome before installing older version?

Is there other tables that are receiving information from this module?

For me, only 1.9 works.

To downgrade the module, I disable it, uninstall it, clear cache (for tables), delete it from the server.
And then install 1.9 as usual;

This seems to still be active on 6.x-1.11. Re-categorizing for clarification.

Any known conflicts witht the i18n modules and this one? It seems that I can't get the "Meta tag ROBOTS for lists :" working. Whenever I select one option and save, it doesn't work and no errors.

Lot's of confusion with the version and documentation...