MDL-79986 added a new course section page. The url pointing to the section page is used in the course index, as url wrapped around the title of a section on the course page and as permalink for a section (independent of the position of the section inside course). It would be great if this url would also be encoded and decoded, so that it is preserved by the backup/restore framework.

This issue might appear as a duplication of MDL-79497, but it is not: The permalink before MDL-79986 had a very different form. The link used for sections in the course index was another one (being dependent on the numbering of the section inside the course) and it was preserved by the backup/restore framework.

From a user point of view the missing feature occurs for example in the following scenario:

Currently with an installation of Moodle 4.4 or newer:

• Create a course "Original course" with at least two sections: section A and section B
• Turn on editing and add a resource label (Text and Media area) to section A containing a url pointing to section B. This url can be obtained for example from the action menu of section B as permalink or by copying the link to section B from the course index and has the form <mysite>/course/section.php?id=XXX.
• After saving, confirm that by clicking on the link in the label content you navigate to the page of section B in your course "Original course".
• Now obtain a new course from "Original course" by for example duplicating it (performing a backup and then restoring this backup in new course would have the same effect). Call this new course for example "Copy of original course".
• Navigate to "Copy of original course"
• Confirm that this new course contains two sections: section A and section B
• Confirm that section A contains a label and that the content of this label contains a link. One might expect this link to point to the page of section B in this current course, that is "Copy of original course"
• Confirm that what instead happens it that by clicking on this link you navigate to the page of section B in "Original course".