[DevOps] Create broken link tests for markdown files across all documentation folders

[Copilot]

This PR implements comprehensive broken link testing for all markdown files in the repository, with folder-specific validation rules and automated GitHub workflow integration.

What's New

• Comprehensive Link Validation: Added BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1 in src/powershell/Tests/Lint that validates links across all markdown files
• Folder-Specific Rules: Each documentation folder has tailored validation logic:
  • docs/: Relative links for files within docs, root-relative for MS Learn content, fully qualified for external links, Jekyll template support
  • docs-mslearn/: Folder-relative for same folder files, root-relative for learn.microsoft.com content, fully qualified for external (prohibits explicit learn.microsoft.com URLs)
  • docs-wiki/: Relative links for files within docs-wiki, fully qualified for external links
  • Other repo files: Relative for repository files, fully qualified for external links
• Tag-Based Testing: Independent test execution using tags (Docs, DocsMslearn, DocsWiki, Other)
• GitHub Workflow Integration: Updated dev.yml to trigger broken link tests when markdown files change in any documentation folder

Technical Implementation

The tests automatically integrate with the existing lint test infrastructure and validate:

• ✅ Link format compliance per folder requirements
• ✅ File existence for relative links
• ✅ Proper boundary enforcement (links stay within intended scopes)
• ✅ Language/locale validation (fails for non-Azure blog links with locales)
• ✅ Jekyll template variable recognition for docs folder

Test Results

Successfully identifies 70 broken links across the repository, demonstrating the tests are working correctly to catch real issues.

# Run all broken link tests
pwsh src/scripts/Test-PowerShell.ps1 -Lint

# Run specific folder tests
Invoke-Pester -Path 'src/powershell/Tests/Lint/BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1' -Tag 'Docs'
Invoke-Pester -Path 'src/powershell/Tests/Lint/BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1' -Tag 'DocsMslearn'

Fixes #1690.

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[flanakin]

Create a separate workflow documentation tests and only run the broken link test there. Don't change the PowerShell code tests. Rename dev.yml to powershell.yml.

[Copilot]

Created separate documentation.yml workflow for broken link tests and renamed dev.yml to powershell.yml. The PowerShell code tests remain unchanged. Commit bccd13f

[flanakin]

Update the src/scripts/Test-PowerShell.ps1 script to add a -Markdown option that runs this broken links test.

[Copilot]

Added -Markdown parameter to Test-PowerShell.ps1 that runs the broken links test. The script can now be called with src/scripts/Test-PowerShell.ps1 -Markdown. Commit bccd13f

To fix the issue, we will add a permissions block to the root of the workflow file. This block will specify the least privileges required for the workflow to function. Since the workflow only needs to read the repository contents to check for broken links, we will set contents: read. This ensures that the workflow has no write access to the repository.

The permissions block will be added at the root level, applying to all jobs in the workflow.

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[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR adds automated broken link validation for all markdown files, integrates it into the existing PowerShell test runner, and wires it up in GitHub Actions.

• Introduce a -Markdown switch in Test-PowerShell.ps1 to run only broken link tests
• Add BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1 with folder-specific link validation logic
• Update the documentation CI workflow to trigger markdown broken link tests on PRs

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/scripts/Test-PowerShell.ps1	Added -Markdown parameter and special-case logic to run broken link tests
src/powershell/Tests/Lint/BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1	New comprehensive Pester tests that verify link formats and existence across docs, docs-mslearn, docs-wiki, and other markdown
.github/workflows/documentation.yml	Workflow that runs the broken link tests on markdown changes in docs folders

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

.github/workflows/documentation.yml:9

• [nitpick] The file path filter '.md' only matches Markdown files in the repository root; consider using '**/.md' to cover Markdown files in subdirectories and ensure tests run for all documentation changes.

      - '*.md'

[Copilot]

[nitpick] The test path for BrokenLinks.Tests.ps1 uses only the filename, which may not resolve correctly; consider using the full path or a consistent glob pattern to ensure Pester locates the test file.

[Copilot]

[nitpick] Helper functions Get-MarkdownLinks and Test-LinkValidity are duplicated across each Describe block; consider extracting them to BeforeDiscovery or a shared module to reduce duplication and improve maintainability.

Suggested change

	}
	Describe 'Broken Links - docs folder [<_>]' -Tag 'BrokenLinks', 'Docs' -ForEach $docsFiles.FullName {
	BeforeAll {
	$rootPath = ((Get-Item -Path $PSScriptRoot).Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent).FullName
	$file = $_
	function Get-MarkdownLinks {
	param([string]$FilePath)
	$content = Get-Content -Path $FilePath -Raw -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
	if (-not $content) { return @() }
	# Find markdown links [text](url) and reference links [text]: url
	$linkPattern = '\[([^\]]*)\]\(([^)]+)\)'
	$refLinkPattern = '^\s*\[([^\]]+)\]:\s*(.+)$'
	$links = @()
	# Extract inline links
	[regex]::Matches($content, $linkPattern) | ForEach-Object {
	$links += @{
	Text = $_.Groups[1].Value
	Url = $_.Groups[2].Value.Trim()
	}
	}
	# Extract reference links
	$content -split "`n" | ForEach-Object {
	if ($_ -match $refLinkPattern) {
	$links += @{
	Text = $matches[1]
	Url = $matches[2].Trim()
	}
	}
	}
	return $links
	}
	function Test-LinkValidity {
	param(
	[string]$FilePath,
	[string]$LinkUrl,
	[string]$FolderType
	)
	function Get-MarkdownLinks {
	param([string]$FilePath)
	$content = Get-Content -Path $FilePath -Raw -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
	if (-not $content) { return @() }
	# Find markdown links [text](url) and reference links [text]: url
	$linkPattern = '\[([^\]]*)\]\(([^)]+)\)'
	$refLinkPattern = '^\s*\[([^\]]+)\]:\s*(.+)$'
	$links = @()
	# Extract inline links
	[regex]::Matches($content, $linkPattern) | ForEach-Object {
	$links += @{
	Text = $_.Groups[1].Value
	Url = $_.Groups[2].Value.Trim()
	}
	}
	# Extract reference links
	$content -split "`n" | ForEach-Object {
	if ($_ -match $refLinkPattern) {
	$links += @{
	Text = $matches[1]
	Url = $matches[2].Trim()
	}
	}
	}
	return $links
	}
	function Test-LinkValidity {
	param(
	[string]$FilePath,
	[string]$LinkUrl,
	[string]$FolderType
	)
	Describe 'Broken Links - docs folder [<_>]' -Tag 'BrokenLinks', 'Docs' -ForEach $docsFiles.FullName {
	BeforeAll {
	$rootPath = ((Get-Item -Path $PSScriptRoot).Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent).FullName
	$file = $_
	# Functions moved to BeforeDiscovery