On Apr 8, 2005 9:07 PM, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab(a)gmail.com> wrote: I don't mean to sound rude, but how do you know? If you think we *shouldn't* have such a feature, then I'm happy to hear your reasoning - and indeed I'd tend to agree w.r.t. the Wikimedia projects, simply because there are so many of them to manage at once. But Wikimedia is only one user of the software, and I think for some people web-based administration is far more convenient than command-line scripts or direct database hacking. Given that MediaWiki is an open-source project, I don't see how you can state that there "will not be" - if someone writes the feature, it will exist. Even if it's not included in the distribution, they can host it themselves as an additional download. Unless you just meant that it won't be in 1.5, and I've missed some decision about the kind of new features still being accepted for that release? -- Rowan Collins BSc [IMSoP]

On Apr 8, 2005 9:32 PM, John Fader <jfader(a)gmail.com> wrote: The script to copy that page (or a local page like it) is, I believe, command-line based, and therefore still needs developer (i.e. someone with access to the server) attention, unless it is set as a cron job (i.e. run automatically at regular intervals). Jakob was asking for a way of letting *sysops* do that - i.e. a web-based interface for users with the appropriate rights. While importing wikitext from the command-line may remain useful for the large set of Wikimedia wikis (for ease of synchronisation), other MediaWiki-based sites might find it more appropriate to entrust the management to a particular subset of their users (remember that 1.5 will include a more flexible user-rights system than just 'user' vs 'sysop'). -- Rowan Collins BSc [IMSoP]

On Apr 8, 2005 9:59 PM, John Fader <jfader(a)gmail.com> wrote: That doesn't sound at all unlikely, to be honest. Remember that MediaWiki has a web-based install, so you can install with nothing more than FTP access, as long as there are writable directories and a MySQL server you can point it at [in fact, I think most things will run without a writable directory, to be honest]. And judging from postings on mediawiki-l, plenty do. Besides which, creating a cron job is hardly in the same league, user-friendly-wise, as, say, enabling a particular setting to allow editting in Special:InterMap. There are plenty of people who install MediaWiki who have no "developer"-style expertise, so from their point of view the more tasks that can be achieved in an "admin"-style the better. -- Rowan Collins BSc [IMSoP]