Rally: File Links Are Not Clickable in Defects and User Stories

Products

• Rally On-Premise
• Rally SaaS

Issue/Introduction

When creating a custom file:/// anchor in a user story or defect, the resulting file anchor is not followable. The anchor appears to be followable, however clicking the link doesn't bring up the bubble with the link in it.

Environment

Rally/Agile Central SaaS and On-premises

Cause

This is due to a combination of factors.

1. Modern browsers prohibit following file:/// anchor links when they are served from an http or https server.  This is to prevent malicious scripts from tampering with local or network files from remote locations.
2. Because of this behavior, the application strips out references to file:/// links to further prevent security issues.

Resolution

There is no resolution from the product side as this is design behavior of browsers.

Suggested workaround is to add a web server and reference the needed files via a supported protocol such as http/https.