Last modified: 2011-08-13 18:22:55 UTC
If an image is uploaded and the description page is edited to be a redirect, MediaWiki generally seems to ignore the redirect and use the existing image. However, prop=imageinfo treats it as if it is a redirect with no image present at the title. To reproduce: 1. Upload an image, e.g. File:Test.png 2. Edit the description page to make it a redirect to another image. 3. Use an image link to [[File:Test.png]] in the page. Note that it displays the image at File:Test.png, not whatever the redirect points to. 4. Use the API's prop=imageinfo with titles=File:Test.png. Note that it displays no imagerepository="" instead of imagerepository="local", and gives no other information about the image. I personally don't care whether the API is changed to match the in-page behavior, or the in-page behavior is changed to match the API. But one or the other needs fixing.
I see that the general action=query&redirects=1 option also follows image redirects unconditionally, rather than only when no file actually exists for the name as the normal interface does.