[Wikitech-l] Re: Upload URL/filesystem restructuring

Brion Vibber wrote: Alternative but very similar idea would be to embed the revision number in the URL, instead of the upload timestamp: Example original: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/P/1/Puppy.jpg Example revised: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/P/2/Puppy.jpg Then internally there needs to be some translation/lookup table from image name --> current revision number, as opposed to a lookup table for image name --> upload date. (Integers are smaller than dates, so small memory saving perhaps). Possibility of a very very very small bandwidth saving from slightly shorter URLs. Maybe also it helps if two people upload Puppy.jpg at the exact same second (not sure what happens in a date timestamp system that's only accurate to the second when this happens, but in a revision number system one is always going to first, even by a few microseconds). Lastly, it's easy for a human with the URL to see what revisions come before/after by incrementing/decrementing the digit in the URL, whereas the date and time of the upload of a previous revision cannot be predicted just from the image name. All other benefits as per timestamp system, I think. All the best, Nick.