On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:26:50 +1100, Tim Starling wrote:
On 07/12/11 08:55, Dan Nessett wrote:
This is a (admittedly long and elaborate) question, not a proposal. I ask it in order to learn whether anyone has given it or something like it some thought.
Has anyone thought of creating MW 2.0? I mean by this, completely rewriting the application in a way that may make it incompatible with MW 1.x.y.
[...]
- Get rid of mediawiki markup and move to html with embedded macros
that are processed client side.
- Move extension processing client side. * Replace templates with a
cleaner macro-based language (but, KISS).
Keeping the same name ("MediaWiki") implies some level of compatibility with older versions of the same software. If you abandon existing installations and their needs altogether, then it makes sense to choose a new project name, so that the 1.x code can continue to be maintained and improved without causing user confusion.
I think MediaWiki 2.0 should just be a renumbering, like Linux 2.6 -> 3.0, rather than any kind of backwards compatibility break.
-- Tim Starling
OK. Call it something else. The motivation for my question is getting server costs under control. Moving as much processing as possible client side is one way to achieve this. Cleaning up the security architecture may be overly ambitious, but a rewrite would provide the opportunity to take a rational look at MW's vulnerabilities and security services.
I don't know where WMF is on the cost question, but we would benefit from reducing our hosting costs.