Since version 1.12.0 alias tags cause tables to break

[CastagnaIT]

Describe the bug
Hi, I'm a developer supporting the Kodi media player software and we've been using doxygen for many years to produce our documentation

starting from version 1.12.0 up to the latest release we have noticed that using aliases in tables causes complete data breakage, up to the total collapse of rows and columns

Attempts to add multiple text or place the alias between other text or change the number of columns does not resolve the situation in any way,
only rolling back to v1.11.0 is the only solution we currently know of but it is not feasible given the large multiplatform user base

Broken table (starting from version 1.12.0 up to the latest release):

window_ids_BROKEN.html.txt

Good table (v1.11.0):

window_ids_GOOD.html.txt

If you compare screenshots, you can see that the broken table end with Peripherals, where instead a good table end with SelectVideoVersion, so doxy completely collapses the tag aliases present on the other rows and remove all rows,
you can compare the HTML files i have attached them above

PR reference where we are trying to workaround the problem: xbmc/xbmc#26453

The table is generated from this file:
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/xbmc/guilib/WindowIDs.dox
Our tag aliases are stored here:
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/docs/doxygen/kodi_values.doxy

I would like to know how we should proceed, because at first sight it seems like a bug of yours, otherwise i would like to know what corrections we should make since i am not aware of any possible changes in the operation of your software

To Reproduce

1. download our source code from https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc
2. from the sources goto folder \docs\doxygen
3. run doxygen Doxyfile.doxy
4. "html" folder will be created under \docs\ path, index.html to run
5. On the menu on the left, select -> Skin development -> WindowIDs

Expected behavior
A way to have a good table by using aliases like versions 1.11.0 and olders

Version
To fullfill issue and tests are made with official releases of doxygen from https://github.com/doxygen/doxygen/releases

v1.11.0 Windows version under Windows 11 64bit, this is the last working version

all version equal and above 1.12 cause the problem:
v1.12.0 Windows version under Windows 11 64bit
v1.13.2 Windows version under Windows 11 64bit (only fast test not shown here)

its not OS dependent

[albert-github]

The xbmc repository on GitHub, in particular the master is not considered persistent (so in near future the problem might not be reproducible anymore), so:

• Can you please attach a, small, self contained example (source+configuration file in a, compressed, tar or zip file!) that allows us to reproduce the problem?
  Please don't add external links as they might not be persistent (also references to GitHub repositories are considered non persistent).

[CastagnaIT]

i dont have so much time to recreate all data to a local new project for test
our project is too large and i dont have so much free time
this is the reason why i add each single step to reproduce it
just fork our repo in your local storage

WindowIDs.dox in particular dont change so much over the years, where at most new rows are added to the table,
if you want i can ask to our team to temporary block changes of WindowIDs.dox file for some weeks if you need some time

Can you please attach a, small, self contained example (source+configuration file in a, compressed, tar or zip file!) that allows us to reproduce the problem?
Please don't add external links as they might not be persistent (also references to GitHub repositories are considered non persistent).

we work entirely with github do not provide separate customizations of code
this is the doxy https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/docs/doxygen/Doxyfile.doxy

[albert-github]

To see what the output from doxygen of the entire project is:

• Where is the documentation of xbmc build with the doxygen 1.11.0 version published?
• Where is the documentation of xbmc build with a newer version of doxygen published?

[CastagnaIT]

the current output of our GH "master" branch can be seen from:
https://xbmc.github.io/docs.kodi.tv/master/kodi-base/
that use the last doxygen version

since the output contains broken table, my tests has been done locally (by using steps specified above)
this to understand which version of doxygen the problem starts from.
When is manually generated on your storage, the output will be in a new folder named html of your hdd (so nothing is sent to our github), then the output data (in the "html" folder) will be the same of when you open the link above (https://xbmc.github.io/docs.kodi.tv/master/kodi-base/)

[albert-github]

When I look at the output on the xrefitems page https://xbmc.github.io/docs.kodi.tv/master/kodi-base/df/d51/skinning_v21.html#_skinning_v21000018 I see:

this doesn't look good either.

In the mean time I've been, in my scarce time, created a small example: example.tar.gz

And this shows already the problem.

To see the problem in the xrefitems page a bit a larger example is necessary like: example_large.tar.gz

that shows the problem for the current master (1.14.0 (44f85e4) and also already for the doxygen version 1.11.0

Looking between 1.11.0 and 1.12.0 it looks like that the problem is caused by:

Commit: 300f73d9ecd6b010a160e5f8cef14ecbabab950b [300f73d]

Date: Thursday, July 4, 2024 8:41:56 PM

issue #10970 Improvement of end of paragraph detection

though seen the output I think that also the 1.11.0 version was not correct in respect to \xrefitems in a table, but the problem in the xrefpage is already older.

[CastagnaIT]

thank you for your report, that confirms my suspicions
we will wait for a future fix hoping that a new fixed release will not take too many months

[albert-github]

I've just pushed a proposed patch, pull request #11460