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Re: moving to a git-backed wiki

From
Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Date
Feb 4, 2011, 17:50 UTC
Message-ID
<AANLkTimytxjqoCf-LbxQqSgmAW2+FqmSLN5c_8fSJhLy@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<20110204061622.GB2455@sigill.intra.peff.net>
On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 8:16 AM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:
Show 17 quoted lines
> On Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 10:34:38PM +0200, Felipe Contreras wrote:
>
>> > Forget about a git-backed wiki for a moment, and imagine a regular old
>> > Mediawiki. What are the operations you can perform? You can look at
>> > the current or any past version of a page, you can do diffs between
>> > versions of pages, and you can create a new version of a page. All
>> > through some CGI forms.
>>
>> Howe about these?
>
> I've never really used a wiki in any in-depth way, so be gentle if my
> utter cluelessness about these features shows through.
>
>> 1) Support for discussion; since changes can be controversial.
>
> Doesn't this just happen on special Talk: pages? Couldn't these just be
> pages with special names?
Could be.
Show 7 quoted lines
>> 2) Support for article move; so everything is kept organized.
>
> Isn't that even simpler in a git-backed wiki? You just move the files.
> Obviously you would want to update links, too, and presumably the wiki
> software helps with that. But that is outside the scope of data storage.
> In a git-backed wiki, you would get one atomic commit with the move and
> link updating.
Yeah.
Show 5 quoted lines
>> 3) Support for "who is linking here". Also helps reorganization.
>
> Again, is that a fundamental storage issue? It seems like you could
> implement that easily on top of basic storage with a grep (and some
> caching if you are going to let people do it a lot via the web).
I doubt that. That's where you need an SQL database, to make it fast.
>> 4) Support for categories. Ditto.
>
> I have no idea how categories work. Special page naming and/or
> directories?

Each page has a tag [[Category::Tips]], and then the the Category::Tips page gets a new link automatically. Again, SQL helps.

>> 5) Support for watchlist, e-mail notifications. So that you are
>> up-to-date with the changes.
>
> Post-receive hook?
Yeah, but you need to store the watchers, and their preferences. Again, SQL.
>> 6) Support for contribution backtracking. So that it's easy to know who's who.
>
> git log? git blame? :)
Sure, 'git log' would do it... Very inefficiently.
>> 7) Personal wiki pages (with discussion). So you can put information
>> about yourself, and general notes.
>
> Specially named pages for people?
Right.
Show 5 quoted lines
> Obviously I'm just filling in these features off the top of my head.
> MediaWiki is a mature system, and I doubt that either ikiwiki or gollum
> has nearly the same featureset. But that was never my point. In the bit
> you quoted, my point was that a git-interface to a wiki was useful and
> feasible. And I stand by that.

It might be possible to implement some functionality of a full blown wiki such as MediaWiki on a git backed wiki, but my point is that it's not there _now_, and more likely would never be.

Show 8 quoted lines
> Even with just the basic functionality of fetch/diff/push, that still
> makes it a useful interface into an existing wiki for a large number of
> users who just want to do simple stuff (or power users who happen to be
> doing simple stuff at the moment).
>
> I also happen to think you could put all of those features into a
> git-backed wiki, and build the web features on _top_ of git access. But
> I'm not volunteering to work on that.

Exactly, and nobody is volunteering for that. MediaWiki is the best, it has all the features, and it's already there.

Cheers.
-- 
Felipe Contreras
Previous: Jeff KingNext: Joey Hess
Message 26 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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