From 6f10e8f2b61684eb8052764e23744610ae8a4a6c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Justin Mayer <entroP@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2026 19:52:32 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: Don't link to missing category pages

When `CATEGORY_SAVE_AS` is disabled but `CATEGORIES_SAVE_AS` is not,
the category index page was still generated, and its links pointed to
category pages that don't exist. This change shows category names
without links in the Simple and NotMyIdea themes in such cases and also
documents that both settings must be disabled to remove all
category-related output.
---
 docs/settings.rst                             |  3 ++
 pelican/tests/test_theme.py                   | 46 ++++++++++---------
 .../notmyidea/templates/categories.html       |  2 +-
 .../themes/simple/templates/categories.html   |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 7b78a75f..5551a4bf 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -596,6 +596,9 @@ This would save your articles into something like
    The location to save a category. The default is ``"category/{slug}.html"``.
    Set this to ``""`` to disable category pages. Articles still keep their
    categories, which can be used in URL patterns such as ``ARTICLE_SAVE_AS``.
+   To disable all category output, also set ``CATEGORIES_SAVE_AS = None``
+   and ``CATEGORY_FEED_ATOM = None`` (as well as ``CATEGORY_FEED_RSS``, if
+   you have enabled it).
 
 .. data:: TAG_URL
 
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_theme.py b/pelican/tests/test_theme.py
index 7e0fff6a..742f9b73 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_theme.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_theme.py
@@ -184,31 +184,33 @@ class TestTemplateInheritance(LoggedTestCase):
 
         try:
             for theme in ("simple", "notmyidea"):
-                with self.subTest(theme=theme):
-                    settings = read_settings(
-                        path=None,
-                        override={
-                            "THEME": theme,
-                            "PATH": content_dir,
-                            "OUTPUT_PATH": self.temp_output,
-                            "CACHE_PATH": self.temp_cache,
-                            "SITEURL": "http://example.com",
-                            "ARTICLE_SAVE_AS": "{category}/{slug}.html",
-                            "CATEGORY_SAVE_AS": False,
-                            "CATEGORIES_SAVE_AS": False,
-                        },
-                    )
+                for category_save_as in ("", None, False):
+                    with self.subTest(theme=theme, CATEGORY_SAVE_AS=category_save_as):
+                        settings = read_settings(
+                            path=None,
+                            override={
+                                "THEME": theme,
+                                "PATH": content_dir,
+                                "OUTPUT_PATH": self.temp_output,
+                                "CACHE_PATH": self.temp_cache,
+                                "SITEURL": "http://example.com",
+                                "ARTICLE_SAVE_AS": "{category}/{slug}.html",
+                                "CATEGORY_SAVE_AS": category_save_as,
+                            },
+                        )
 
-                    pelican = Pelican(settings=settings)
-                    mute(True)(pelican.run)()
+                        pelican = Pelican(settings=settings)
+                        mute(True)(pelican.run)()
 
-                    with open(
-                        os.path.join(self.temp_output, "blog", "in-blog.html")
-                    ) as f:
-                        content = f.read()
+                        for page in ("blog/in-blog.html", "categories.html"):
+                            with open(os.path.join(self.temp_output, page)) as f:
+                                content = f.read()
 
-                    self.assertIn("blog", content)
-                    self.assertNotIn("/category/", content)
+                            self.assertIn("blog", content)
+                            self.assertNotIn("/category/", content)
+                        self.assertFalse(
+                            os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.temp_output, "category"))
+                        )
         finally:
             rmtree(content_dir)
 
diff --git a/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/categories.html b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/categories.html
index 033f892a..4f64bb60 100644
--- a/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/categories.html
+++ b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/categories.html
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
         <h1>Categories for {{ SITENAME }}</h1>
         <ul>
             {% for category, articles in categories|sort %}
-                <li><a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ category.url }}">{{ category }}</a> ({{ articles|count }})</li>
+                <li>{% if CATEGORY_SAVE_AS %}<a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ category.url }}">{{ category }}</a>{% else %}{{ category }}{% endif %} ({{ articles|count }})</li>
             {% endfor %}
         </ul>
     </section>
diff --git a/pelican/themes/simple/templates/categories.html b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/categories.html
index c723f8a0..700ef657 100644
--- a/pelican/themes/simple/templates/categories.html
+++ b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/categories.html
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     <h2>Categories on {{ SITENAME }}</h2>
     <ul>
         {% for category, articles in categories|sort %}
-            <li><a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ category.url }}">{{ category }}</a> ({{ articles|count }})</li>
+            <li>{% if CATEGORY_SAVE_AS %}<a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ category.url }}">{{ category }}</a>{% else %}{{ category }}{% endif %} ({{ articles|count }})</li>
         {% endfor %}
     </ul>
 {% endblock %}