[Enhancement] Redirect/resolve /channel/brand_name

[SamantazFox]

Is your enhancement request related to a problem? Please describe.
Going to /channel/linustechtips gives an error saying that the channel info can't be extracted.

I've discovered that I have many bookmarks in the /channel/brand_name form, and those doesn't work anymore.

Describe the solution you'd like
Either redirect to /c/channel_name or resolve the channel's name directly.

Describe alternatives you've considered
None.

[unixfox]

We can use the resolve_url endpoint of youtube innertube API for that :).

[TheFrenchGhosty]

A 20$ bounty has been added to this issue.

Anyone opening a PR fixing this issue, will receive 20$ (in BTC) from the Invidious project.

More details: #1898

[syeopite]

I don't think Invidious should've ever supported /channel/<brand> considering the /channel endpoint was always meant to be used with only a UUID. It's more of a bug that's now been patched on Invidious' end.

We should just be a frontend to YouTube that replicates its functionality and nothing more. I personally vote for the bounty to be revoked and this issue to be closed.

[TheFrenchGhosty]

I don't think Invidious should've ever supported /channel/ considering the /channel endpoint was always meant to be used with only a UUID.

It's legacy, it's how youtube used to do it: brands and ID on the same endpoint. We should definitely support it.

[syeopite]

I don't think that has ever been implemented in YouTube considering they don't ever seem to remove legacy channel endpoints. /user has been deprecated for years and yet /user/pewdiepie works.

Assuming /channel/<brand name> was a valid endpoint, and YouTube's deprecation cycle is larger than even the life cycle of even /user, /channel/<brand name> would be such an ancient endpoint that supporting it is useless.

Plus, if you look at data on archive.org, usage of /channel/<brand name> is almost nonexistent and always returns a missing channel.

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Either way, do you have a /channel/<brand name> URL that's either on archive.org or got indexed by Google? I need to look more into this, but from what I can see /channel/<brand name> was never an endpoint on YouTube.

[kubo6472]

Some official info.
Basically /channel/uuid is valid for everyone
/c/CustomURL or /CustomURL (ommiting the /c/) are valid for everyone who claimed one (100+ subs requirement)
and for legacy channels /user/username is and will be valid for the time being.