[Mediawiki-l] MediaWiki evaluation - question on permissions

[Jack D. Pond]

Mary,

First, and foremost, MediaWiki is not designed to be a CMS, or to protect
sensitive data. To the contrary, it was designed to be as open as possible.
Thus it does not inherently support full featured, air-tight protection of
private or restricted content.

With that said, there are many of us who are cheating and using it exactly
in this manner.  As a matter of fact, we are using it to track projects and
even our strategic planning exactly as you propose.  However, before
considering this tool, you should review the following:

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Security_issues_with_authorization_extensions
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Page_Access_Control_Extensions

I have been using Duesentrieb's lockdown extension
(http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Lockdown) quite successfully, but
it also has its limitations.

Additionally there is the whole problem with files and images that must be
addressed.  To get around this problem, I patched (and made available,
http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9887) versions 1.9.3 and
1.10.0 to use namespace protected images/files using the syntax
Image:[ns]:file.jpg.  I agree with Brion that this is not a good solution
and smells of kludge.

However, if you are desperate, you can go to the lockdown extension and look
in the discussion area to get complete directions.  This approach uses image
authorization which can be VERY complex depending on the platform stack you
choose (LAMP is pretty straight forward, but WIMP is a real bear).
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Image_Authorisation.

With version 1.11.0, Tim Starling has greatly enhanced the file repository
system to allow additional classes which could be extended.  I intend to
work on this over the next few weeks - but no guarantees.

If this is too complicated, there are other wikis out there more focused
toward your requirement.  If you have not yet discovered it, I would
recommend you take a look at this site (www.wikimatrix.org) which might help
you find something more suitable to your needs.

Jack D. Pond
 
"Never confuse movement with action." -- Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mediawiki-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org 
> [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of 
> Johnson, Mary
> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 1:59 PM
> To: mediawiki-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Mediawiki-l] MediaWiki evaluation - question on permissions
> 
> We're evaluating the use of MediaWiki within our environment. 
>  I'd like to get some additional information on the security 
> features supported in the latest release.  We're particularly 
> interested in creating separate 'spaces' within an instance 
> of MediaWiki.  Each 'space' would be managed by separate 
> groups/users.  We have 100+ projects that we want to track 
> within MediaWiki, but each project is managed by separate 
> groups of people. I'm also wondering if pages can be 
> restricted by user?
>  
> Any information you could provide would be much appreciated.  Thanks.
>  
> Mary Johnson
> Sr. Network Engineer
> http://www.terpsys.com/ <http://www.terpsys.com/> 
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