feat!: Put "How It Works" Page Behind Waffle in Preparation for Removal (#36496)

We add a a new Waffle toggle:

* legacy_studio.logged_out_home

Unless enabled, unauthenticated users accessing Studio will now be sent
to the login page, and then redirected to the logged-in Studio home (the
course listing). By the Ulmo release, the Waffle will be removed along
with the howitworks page, and the new redirect-to-login behavior will
become the only available behavior.

The howitworks page is implemented as a legacy frontend, and we are not
seeing enough value in it to justify a rewrite in React. Via the DEPR
process we confirmed that the new behavior is acceptable, or even
preferable, as it removes edX.org-oriented language from the community
release and reduces the number of clicks needed for Studio users to log
in. We add an a new Waffle toggles

Part of: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/issues/36269
which is part of: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/issues/36275

cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py

@@ -2164,9 +2164,13 @@ class EntryPageTestCase(TestCase):
         resp = self.client.get_html(page)
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, status_code)
 
-    def test_how_it_works(self):
+    @override_waffle_flag(toggles.LEGACY_STUDIO_LOGGED_OUT_HOME, True)
+    def test_how_it_works_legacy(self):
         self._test_page("/howitworks")
 
+    def test_how_it_works_redirect_to_signin(self):
+        self._test_page("/howitworks", 302)
+
     def test_signup(self):
         # deprecated signup url redirects to LMS register.
         self._test_page("/signup", 301)

cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/tests.py

@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ class AuthTestCase(ContentStoreTestCase):
         (True, 'assertContains'),
         (False, 'assertNotContains'))
     @unpack
+    @override_waffle_flag(toggles.LEGACY_STUDIO_LOGGED_OUT_HOME, True)
     def test_signin_and_signup_buttons_index_page(self, allow_account_creation, assertion_method_name):
         """
         Navigate to the home page and check the Sign Up button is hidden when ALLOW_PUBLIC_ACCOUNT_CREATION flag

cms/djangoapps/contentstore/toggles.py

@@ -637,3 +637,25 @@ def enable_course_optimizer(course_id):
     Returns a boolean if course optimizer is enabled on the course
     """
     return ENABLE_COURSE_OPTIMIZER.is_enabled(course_id)
+
+
+# .. toggle_name: legacy_studio.logged_out_home
+# .. toggle_implementation: WaffleFlag
+# .. toggle_default: False
+# .. toggle_description: Temporarily fall back to the old Studio "How it Works" page when unauthenticated
+# .. toggle_use_cases: temporary
+# .. toggle_creation_date: 2025-03-14
+# .. toggle_target_removal_date: 2025-09-14
+# .. toggle_tickets: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/issues/36275
+# .. toggle_warning: In Ulmo, this toggle will be removed, along with the legacy page. The only available
+#  behavior will be to send the user to the log-in page with a redirect to Studio Course Listing (/home).
+LEGACY_STUDIO_LOGGED_OUT_HOME = WaffleFlag('legacy_studio.logged_out_home', __name__)
+
+
+def use_legacy_logged_out_home():
+    """
+    Returns whether the old "how it works" page should be shown.
+
+    If not, then we should just go to the login page w/ redirect to studio course listing.
+    """
+    return LEGACY_STUDIO_LOGGED_OUT_HOME.is_enabled()

cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/public.py

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from django.shortcuts import redirect
 from common.djangoapps.edxmako.shortcuts import render_to_response
 
 from ..config.waffle import ENABLE_ACCESSIBILITY_POLICY_PAGE
+from ..toggles import use_legacy_logged_out_home
 
 __all__ = [
     'register_redirect_to_lms', 'login_redirect_to_lms', 'howitworks', 'accessibility',
@@ -62,11 +63,12 @@ def _build_next_param(request):
 
 
 def howitworks(request):
-    "Proxy view"
-    if request.user.is_authenticated:
-        return redirect('/home/')
-    else:
+    """
+    Deprecated logged-out home page. New behavior is just login w/ redirect to studio course list.
+    """
+    if use_legacy_logged_out_home() and not request.user.is_authenticated:
         return render_to_response('howitworks.html', {})
+    return redirect('/home/')
 
 
 def accessibility(request):