On 22 September 2010 06:34, Trevor Parscal <tparscal(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
In response to recent comments in our code review
tool about whether
some extensions should be merged into core MediaWiki, or not. I would
like to try and initiate a productive conversation about this topic in
hopes that we can collaboratively define a set of guidelines for
evaluating when to move features out of core and into an extension or
out of an extension and into core.
I'm generally against adding random extensions to the core, and there
are many things I would like to rip of the core code if possible.
I don't think we can come up with any clear rules. I'd imagine the
rule would just be:
* if it's useful to most users (=installations) of mediawiki, add it to the core
With the "most users" getting a slightly less important if the feature
is small but useful.
I think that for example the new edit toolbar or one-button search are
clearly such usability improvements, that only enhance existing core
features and thus should be in the core, replacing the poor original
ones where possible.
Maybe also code quality and stability plays a role, since making an
extension is kind of like making a branch - you can develop mostly
freely and nobody cares. On the other hand the extension code might
also need extensive rewriting if merged to the core.
We have a quite free access policy even to the trunk code, so I do not
see it as a limitation for including code in the core. On the other
hand putting code in the trunk seems to be the only sure way to get
your code reviewed even a little and deployed into WMF (it may still
take a year).
In short: I agree keeping the core slick and clean, but I think the
case is clear for (at least part of) the usability enhancements.
-Niklas
--
Niklas Laxström