Re: [Mediawiki-l] Is MediaWiki-l dysfunctional? What is it good for, really?

Thanks, Gary. "Fill in the form and those "database details" are an undocumented, unexampled, very deep mystery for newbies (and oldies alike), provided they can even get to that point - usually we get lost long before that and we don't have any troubleshooting checklist to find out what went wrong, especially if we don't get an error message, but just get either no response or a blank screen ... or worse, we do everything as mentioned without any failure notices, but nothing works! Where do we go next? Here? Well, I'm HERE! I appreciate that you don't get it. May I suggest that try documenting and share your own MediaWiki installation steps, detail by detail, and why you made any choices? Please actually try to document every single exact on-screen prompt and response (I've found that Apache "default" has more than half a dozen install screen choices alone, and Apache "custom" install offers a dozen-and-a-half screens plus at least 5 changeable areas - Apache HTTP Server, Apache Runtime, Build Headers and Libraries, APR Iconv Code Pages, and Apache Documentation - and produces 1,140 files IF all goes well, and PHP has 144 installation screen decisions to make after which I got 14 errors and a no way to confirm that PHP was actually installed successfully and supportive of anything, and MySQL and MediaWiki and PHPMyAdmin each have dozens more challenges where the uninitiated can get lost). And also document the exact responses an installer must decide on at each screen, and also explore the determinants of why an installer would make one choice or another. And include installation exception handling and error recovery. And once any installation completes, include how to confirm that the installation was successful, that it is then appropriate to move on the next steps knowing that all previous steps are properly in place. Whew.

Oh, and that "...the wiki is not set up, and that you need to do that first. Click the appropriate link and then fill in form..." has 25 choices the inexperienced novice newbie has to guess about with scant little explanation (and no examples), then later wonder if something doesn't work, was it their choices that went wrong ... or what? Let's just all admit that a: "...contemporaneous, complete, accurate, *linking steps and confirmation checks* for [installing] the entire suite of OS/WS/DB/PI/WP/E&E..." ...ain't out there, and it's up to Peter Blaise to do it if he wants one (unless someone beats me to it?). I understand the challenge. I once documented a 70-second task setting up a new user on a network and on their private workstation, and it took 2 hours to accurately document very screen, menu choice, and proper answer, handle exceptions and so on, and test it so a novice could follow the steps and do it from there. I appreciate many people think it totally unnecessary, or too hard, a waste of time ... and that a brief cheat sheet is enough for them. Fine. Anybody else? - Peter Blaise _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l