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Re: moving to a git-backed wiki

From
Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
Date
Feb 4, 2011, 14:34 UTC
Message-ID
<20110204143421.GA6449@gnu.kitenet.net>
In-Reply-To
<20110203174518.GA14871@sigill.intra.peff.net>
Jeff King wrote:
> If it sounds like I'm handwaving away scalability problems, I am. I'd be
> curious to see some performance numbers for gollum or ikiwiki versus
> more traditional wiki formats.

Ikiwiki builds static pages, this tends to mean it doesn't have performance, because there is little more to perform than httpd < file > network :) So I've routinely had ikiwiki sites slashdotted, and not noticed.

Ikiwiki is not enormously fast in the rare cases when it does have to run as a CGI, but little of that has to do with git. About the worst case is that saving a page edit leads to a git commit -- if git decides to gc the repository right then, it could make the save stall for a while. There are easy ways to avoid that. (ie, git gc in cron job) In general, though ikiwiki as a CGI is fast enough to not be annoying -- although it won't scale to a site the size of wikipedia.

Since I'm lazy, ikiwiki does not include a history or diff viewer. It just points off to gitweb or a similar tool. As you say, gitweb can be fast enough, and really most wiki users do read their current content, or maybe make an edit; digging in the history is comparatively rare. And once users realize the wiki is in git, they can use gitk to dig in the history without using any server resources. :)

The feature I like best with using git for a wiki (besides ease of branching) is that it can actually make a legitimate use of the woefully underused git push over git:// feature. Ikiwiki can be configured to check such pushes, running via the pre-receive hook. This allows it to limit the changes that can be pushed anonymously to changes that could be made using the web interface. So if you've chosen to lock some pages, or virus filter attachments, or whatever, in the web side of the wiki, that all applies to the anonymous git pushes too. Details at <http://ikiwiki.info/tips/untrusted_git_push/>

-- 
see shy jo
Previous: Felipe ContrerasNext: david@lang.hm
Message 27 of 126 in “What's cooking in git.git (Jan 2011, #06; Sun, 30)”
  1. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  2. Sverre RabbelierJan 31, 2011
  3. Sverre RabbelierFeb 8, 2011
  4. Junio C HamanoFeb 8, 2011
  5. Planning for 1.7.5 and 1.8.0Junio C Hamano, Jan 31, 2011
  6. [1.8.0] default "git merge" without argument to "git merge @{u}"Junio C Hamano, Jan 31, 2011
  7. Jeff KingJan 31, 2011
  8. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  9. Felipe ContrerasJan 31, 2011
  10. [1.8.0] (v2) default "git merge" without argument to "git merge @{u}"Junio C Hamano, Jan 31, 2011
  11. Jeff KingJan 31, 2011
  12. Thomas AdamFeb 1, 2011
  13. Scott ChaconFeb 1, 2011
  14. moving to a git-backed wikiJeff King, Feb 1, 2011
  15. Jay SoffianFeb 1, 2011
  16. J.H.Feb 1, 2011
  17. Vincent HanquezFeb 2, 2011
  18. Felipe ContrerasFeb 2, 2011
  19. Jakub NarebskiFeb 2, 2011
  20. J.H.Feb 3, 2011
  21. Jeff KingFeb 3, 2011
  22. Sverre RabbelierFeb 3, 2011
  23. Jeff KingFeb 4, 2011
  24. Felipe ContrerasFeb 3, 2011
  25. Jeff KingFeb 4, 2011
  26. Felipe ContrerasFeb 4, 2011
  27. Joey HessFeb 4, 2011
  28. david@lang.hmFeb 5, 2011
  29. Thomas HochsteinFeb 4, 2011
  30. Add support for merging from upstream by default.Jared Hance, Feb 4, 2011
  31. [1.8.0] Unify "pathspec" semanticsJunio C Hamano, Jan 31, 2011
  32. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 1, 2011
  33. [1.8.0] reorganize the mess that the source tree has becomeNicolas Pitre, Jan 31, 2011
  34. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  35. Matthieu MoyJan 31, 2011
  36. Nicolas PitreJan 31, 2011
  37. Nicolas PitreJan 31, 2011
  38. Jeff KingJan 31, 2011
  39. Nicolas PitreJan 31, 2011
  40. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  41. João P. SampaioJan 31, 2011
  42. Nicolas PitreJan 31, 2011
  43. Jeff KingJan 31, 2011
  44. Nicolas PitreFeb 1, 2011
  45. Jeff KingFeb 1, 2011
  46. Nicolas PitreFeb 1, 2011
  47. Thomas RastFeb 1, 2011
  48. Jonathan NiederFeb 1, 2011
  49. Jonathan NiederFeb 1, 2011
  50. Nicolas PitreFeb 1, 2011
  51. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 1, 2011
  52. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  53. Erik Faye-LundFeb 1, 2011
  54. Jeff KingFeb 1, 2011
  55. Sverre RabbelierFeb 1, 2011
  56. Jeff KingFeb 1, 2011
  57. Jay SoffianFeb 1, 2011
  58. Andreas EricssonFeb 1, 2011
  59. Jakub NarebskiJan 31, 2011
  60. Nicolas PitreJan 31, 2011
  61. Alex BudovskiFeb 1, 2011
  62. Nicolas PitreFeb 1, 2011
  63. Jakub NarebskiFeb 1, 2011
  64. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  65. Sam VilainFeb 2, 2011
  66. [1.8.0] split largest remaining scripts, gitk and gitwebJakub Narebski, Feb 1, 2011
  67. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  68. Jakub NarebskiFeb 1, 2011
  69. Martin von ZweigbergkFeb 5, 2011
  70. [1.8.0] make two-argument fetch update remote branchesThomas Rast, Jan 31, 2011
  71. Matthieu MoyJan 31, 2011
  72. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  73. Eugene SajineJan 31, 2011
  74. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  75. Eugene SajineJan 31, 2011
  76. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  77. Jeff KingJan 31, 2011
  78. Jay SoffianFeb 1, 2011
  79. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 1, 2011
  80. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  81. A Large Angry SCMFeb 1, 2011
  82. Thomas RastFeb 1, 2011
  83. A Large Angry SCMFeb 1, 2011
  84. [1.8.0] forbid full fetchspecs in git-pullThomas Rast, Jan 31, 2011
  85. Junio C HamanoJan 31, 2011
  86. Dmitry PotapovJan 31, 2011
  87. Thomas RastFeb 1, 2011
  88. Dmitry PotapovFeb 1, 2011
  89. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 1, 2011
  90. Nicolas PitreFeb 1, 2011
  91. [1.8.0] Tag namespacesMarc Branchaud, Feb 1, 2011
  92. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 1, 2011
  93. [1.8.0] Remove deprecated commandsRené Scharfe, Feb 1, 2011
  94. Junio C HamanoFeb 1, 2011
  95. Jonathan NiederFeb 2, 2011
  96. René ScharfeFeb 10, 2011
  97. Jonathan NiederFeb 10, 2011
  98. Junio C HamanoFeb 10, 2011
  99. René ScharfeFeb 12, 2011
  100. Jonathan NiederFeb 12, 2011
  101. Junio C HamanoFeb 13, 2011
  102. [1.8.0] Handle submodule config options consistently in diff plumbingJens Lehmann, Feb 1, 2011
  103. [1.8.0] Tracking empty directoriesJakub Narebski, Feb 2, 2011
  104. Jay SoffianFeb 2, 2011
  105. David AguilarFeb 2, 2011
  106. Jakub NarebskiFeb 2, 2011
  107. Wesley J. LandakerFeb 3, 2011
  108. Jonathan NiederFeb 3, 2011
  109. Matthieu MoyFeb 3, 2011
  110. Pete HarlanFeb 5, 2011
  111. Thomas KochFeb 5, 2011
  112. Sverre RabbelierFeb 5, 2011
  113. Jared HanceFeb 5, 2011
  114. Junio C HamanoFeb 6, 2011
  115. Sverre RabbelierFeb 6, 2011
  116. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyFeb 6, 2011
  117. [1.8.0] git-stash invocation changesThomas Rast, Feb 2, 2011
  118. Shawn PearceFeb 2, 2011
  119. Matthieu MoyFeb 2, 2011
  120. Thomas RastFeb 2, 2011
  121. Pat NotzFeb 9, 2011
  122. [1.8.0] Don't copy "submodule.<name>.update" to .git/config on submodule initJens Lehmann, Feb 23, 2011
  123. Junio C HamanoFeb 23, 2011
  124. Jens LehmannFeb 23, 2011
  125. Junio C HamanoFeb 24, 2011
  126. Jens LehmannFeb 24, 2011

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