LaTeX: render in PDF hyperlinks located inside titles

Fix #12821

Author: jfbu

CHANGES.rst

@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ Features added
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
+* #12821: LaTeX: URLs/links in section titles should render in PDF.
+  Patch by Jean-François B.
 * #13369: Correctly parse and cross-reference unpacked type annotations.
   Patch by Alicia Garcia-Raboso.
 * #13528: Add tilde ``~`` prefix support for :rst:role:`py:deco`.

sphinx/texinputs/sphinxlatexstyletext.sty

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 %% TEXT STYLING
 %
 % change this info string if making any custom modification
-\ProvidesPackage{sphinxlatexstyletext}[2024/07/28 v8.1.0 text styling]
+\ProvidesPackage{sphinxlatexstyletext}[2025/05/24 v8.3.0 text styling]
 
 % 7.4.0 has moved all that is related to admonitions to sphinxlatexadmonitions.sty
 % 8.1.0 has moved topic/contents/sidebar to sphinxlatexshadowbox.sty
@@ -57,7 +57,11 @@
 % reduce hyperref "Token not allowed in a PDF string" warnings on PDF builds
 \AtBeginDocument{\pdfstringdefDisableCommands{%
 % all "protected" macros possibly ending up in section titles should be here
-% TODO: examine if \sphinxhref, \sphinxurl, \sphinnolinkurl should be handled
+% next four were added so that URLs and internal links in titles can be allowed
+    \let\sphinxurl      \@firstofone
+    \let\sphinxnolinkurl\@firstofone
+    \let\sphinxhref     \@secondoftwo
+    \def\hyperref[#1]#2{#2}% for PDF bookmark to ignore #1
     \let\sphinxstyleemphasis        \@firstofone
     \let\sphinxstyleliteralemphasis \@firstofone
     \let\sphinxstylestrong          \@firstofone

sphinx/writers/latex.py

@@ -1962,7 +1962,7 @@ def visit_reference(self, node: Element) -> None:
         uri = node.get('refuri', '')
         if not uri and node.get('refid'):
             uri = '%' + self.curfilestack[-1] + '#' + node['refid']
-        if self.in_title or not uri:
+        if not uri:
             self.context.append('')
         elif uri.startswith('#'):
             # references to labels in the same document

tests/roots/test-root/markup.txt

@@ -469,3 +469,9 @@ Smart quotes
 
 .. [#] Like footnotes.
 
+
+Link in a title: `Field lists <https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html#field-lists>`_
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Again: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html#field-lists
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------