Requests for comment/Global bits and pieces
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The following request for comments is closed. The request was eventually archived as inactive.
There should be a common repository for templates and other bits and pieces such as CSS and JavaScript. How exactly should this work?
Scope
[edit]- Identity (mw:OpenID Provider)
- User pages (mw:GlobalProfile; mw:Extension:GlobalUserPage)
- Gadgets in JavaScript and CSS (phab:T22153, mw:Extension:Gadgets/Roadmap, mw:Gadgets 2.0)
- User JavaScript and CSS (bugzilla:57891; mw:Extension:GlobalCssJs)
- Scribunto modules (mw:Requests for comment/Global scripts; bugzilla:39610 and bugzilla:50329)
- Wiki templates (depends on bugzilla:4547)
- User watchlists (bugzilla:3525)
- User notifications (bugzilla:1066 or bugzilla:35306)
- Datasets (RFC Open Datasets, DataNamespace, bugzilla:62555)
- User preferences (mw:Extension:GlobalPreferences)
We need to put a lot more thought into where each of these items will/should end up, so that we avoid creating a real mess. We currently have three big global Wikimedia projects (Meta-Wiki, Commons, Wikidata). There are proposals for creating new wikis, but this really ought to be avoided, if possible.
- Existing
- Global spam blacklist (Extension:SpamBlacklist) - MediaWiki wide, on Meta
- Global title blacklist (Extension:TitleBlacklist) - Wikimedia wide, on Meta
- Commons image repository (InstantCommons) - MediaWiki wide, on Commons
- Wikidata data repository (mw:Wikibase) - Wikimedia wide, on Wikidata
- Global user CSS/JS (Extension:GlobalCssJs) - Wikimedia wide, on Meta
- Global user pages (Extension:GlobalUserPage) - Wikimedia wide, on Meta
Locations
[edit]- Currently we have
- wikidata.org - is for structured data
- commons.wikimedia.org - is for media
- meta.wikimedia.org - is for discussing the WMF projects
- MediaWiki.org - is the documentation wiki for the MediaWiki software
Plus...
Background
[edit]Other MW wikis templates are either written from scratch or XML exported from Wikipedia.
Problem
[edit]- Similar scripts and templates are developed on more than one project leading to branching and inconsistencies.
- Non-WMF wiki administrators are having to write and debug templates. This is an extra level in difficulty from just install MW, configure slightly and then add extensions.
- Small or new wikis frequently don't have templates because they don't know it's a feature or because these are difficult to implement and maintain.
- Wikipedia specific features and the logo are frequently included in non-WMF wikis.
- After upgrading MW to most recent stable version, following with templates and other bits and pieces is not a trivial task to get neat and tidy results.
How to implement?
[edit]- What would this central repository need to work smoothly?
- Not just templates, CSS, JavaScript and what else to include?
- JavaScript gadgets, Scribunto modules, Lua modules, templates, CSS JavaScript, user pages ...
- Where would this central repository be held?
- Are these interwiki transcluded or installed like extensions and updated in sync with MW releases.
- With interwiki transclusion (bug 9890) there ought to also be a way to avoid name clashes.
- How to make selectable which templates, bits & pieces to include and handle interdependencies.
- The wiki calling a template might not want or require all the available permutations, enhancements or intricate feature richness.
- Localisation of each template or module in many languages. Each debug needs to do the same in all languages.
- Licensing.
Proposed a new project
[edit]See also
[edit]- mw:Requests for comment/Global scripts
- Bug 50329
- Global-Wiki
- Project proposal: GlobalTemplates
- Project proposal: Wikimedia Scripts