[Mediawiki-l] Setting up a new wiki with pre-known user categories and namespaces

Hi Folks,

I've got a fresh new installation of a mediawiki (1.6.10 for MySQL compatibility with other company apps) and I'm now in the process of writing a script which will pre-populate it with new (orphaned) pages using the importDump.php script. Because I know the exact scope of the use of this wiki, I have been able to pre-determine the exact number of additional namespaces and categories in advance.

My questions are:

1) From a fresh wiki, is it better to add the category and namespace data into the XML files before importing them and then running the maintenance/refreshLinks.php -- or -- is it better to set-up the wiki with the categories and namespaces first (using the LocalSettings.php file???). Or is there another 'best' way.

2) Also, I wish to "lock-down" the categories and namespaces to all users other than admins. What is the right way to do this?

Thanks folks! - Rich