What is the status of this project?
This issue is from https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon/issues/144, I created an issue here as well to make sure it was noticed but I want to clarify that everything I outline down here is also applicable to the GitLab repos as well
First of all, thanks for the project! I'd like to inquire about the status of this project.
There hasn't been an update of the rules json in almost a year and there do seem to be lots of issues (in both this repo and the rules repo) about links breaking or trackers not being stripped off that just sit untouched since January.
The reason I ask this is because I maintain a downstream project that relies on clearURLs called https://github.com/JaneJeon/normalize-url-plus and it uses clearURLs because AFAIK it is (so far) the best list of URL trackers.
I understand that the extension is undergoing a rewrite, but it would be nice to know if the rules at the very least are still being actively being maintained/fixed/updated, or if it's not, whether it is planned to be picked up anytime soon (if so, what's the timeline?), whether the rules are abandoned, whether the author(s) are intending to keep the rules up to date but just need some help, etc.
Thanks!
TL;DR: even if the extension is undergoing a rewrite or is dropped outright, there is enough value in frequently updating and actively maintaining the tracker rule list independently from the rewrite, and I think there would be enough people willing to do that if you are too short on time/need some help.
Also a quick pimp: a LOT of the "oh my god this tracker doesn't get stripped out!" can be resolved (actually, I have been able to successfully normalize/clean all of the URLs for ALL of the current open issues except for tiktok and aliexpress (neither of which provide any "hints" to normalize/canonicize the link), which does need custom rules on clearURLs side) by using normalize-url-plus which does link following + canonical link extraction.
So the ruleset (and the support requests!) I think could be slimmed down a lot by integrating just link following + canonical extraction, or just using normalize-url-plus directly.