docs(readme): record the TLS configuration and why Full (strict) must not be restored - #229
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… not be restored The origin certificate's ACME renewal is stuck at bad_authz and only GitHub can clear it. Until it is fixed, the Cloudflare SSL/TLS mode must stay on Full (non-strict) — Full (strict) validates the origin certificate, so the 2026-09-19 expiry would take the site fully offline with a 526. #209's preflight instruction to use Full (strict) predates this and is superseded. Also records the two settings that now depend on this (Always Use HTTPS at the edge replacing the stuck https_enforced, and the www Page Rule replacing GitHub's canonicalization), and documents that detaching the custom domain does not clear bad_authz at any duration while poisoning GitHub's Fastly cache per path.
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Adds a
TLS & certificatessection to the README, next to the existing DNS & hosting note.Why
The GitHub Pages origin certificate for
wxyc.orgis stuck athttps_certificate.state: "bad_authz"("The ACME authorization is in a bad state. We need to start over.") and has not renewed. Only GitHub can clear that state, and the WXYC org is on GitHub Free, whose support form offers no Pages category — so there is no ticket path and this will persist for a while.The operational consequence is a trap: #209 instructs that the Cloudflare SSL/TLS mode must be Full (strict), and that issue is closed, so it is what the next reader inherits. Full (strict) validates the origin certificate — meaning that restoring it would turn the 2026-09-19 expiry into a full site outage (526). The zone is currently on Full (non-strict), which is what keeps the expiry harmless. That reasoning lived only in issue comments; this puts it where someone changing the setting will actually see it.
What the section records
wxyc.organdwww.wxyc.org, no CAA records), and only GitHub can fix it.bad_authzrecord either way, and the detach poisons GitHub's Fastly cache per-path with 404s that outlive their ownmax-age. Includes the origin-directHost:header verification technique that avoids creating those cache entries.https_enforcedis stuckfalseand cannot be re-enabled while the certificate is unissued) and thewwwPage Rule (replacing GitHub's www→apex canonicalization).Notes
prettier --checkpasses (the addition initially failed it and was reformatted).