[kwlug disc.] Wiki wiki wiki

[Sy Ali]

On 1/18/07, Paul Nijjar <pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
>         How hard is it to keep Mediawiki updated with security fixes? Do
> you have to twiddle with a lot of files? Are data and content separated
> enough that you can just untar a new version of the wiki and have your old
> content and settings preserved?

Updating consists of:

wget archive.tar.gz
tar -xvvzf archive.tar.gz
php maintenance/update.php

I've been doing this since around 1.3 .. it works spectacularly well.
This includes automatic database-updating for new schema and all that.


> > I have mixed feelings about mediawiki - the developer philosophy is
> > totally wrong in my mind.
>         What is the philosophy and what is wrong with it?

"our only user is the wikipedia"

It's one-way open source.  It just happens to be open source and
accepts all the benefits of developers who are tricked into providing
patches, but its main direction never wavers in a direction that would
give back to its public by sating common needs.

It just so happens that occasionally some functionality is added or
hacked in, in response to some demands, but this is largely thanks to
the spare time and good will of one of the developers (mostly Rob).
The project at large pretty much never supports its actual userbase..
just the wikipedia.

So users who would want to add "silly bloat" like security and
per-page permissions are SOL.  Extensions exist for all kinds of
things, but are always two steps behind.  Development often ignores
common uses and common needs.

Here's a good story:  At first they refused to support PHP5, and it
wouldn't work.  Then there were some excellent hacks and instructions
to get it working.  Time passes and one day I learn that the new
version requires PHP5.  There was no discussion or warning on the
mailing list.