[Mediawiki-l] Special:Import, importDump.php will corrupt your data!

[jidanni at jidanni.org]

>>>>> "BV" == Brion Vibber <brion at wikimedia.org> writes:

BV> On 3/18/09 12:44 PM, jidanni at jidanni.org wrote:
>> I think https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18022
>> (Special:Import will eat all ampersands!) is a serious bug that
>> deserves more attention (than I can give today).

BV> This is a combination of bugs in the particular versions of PHP and 
BV> libxml2 you have installed, and has been fixed in the most recent 
BV> versions of those libraries.

BV> See https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16554

OK, I added to that bug:

I would issue an announcement:

"If you have used Special:Import, ...., ....,
since approximately .....
please check your imported pages for subtle corruptions, e.g.,
< Please see my [http://example.com/index.php?title=Resume&uselang=en resume]
> Please see my [http://example.com/index.php?title=Resumeuselang=en resume]
Unnoticed, there corruptions may become entangled in later edits,
making repair even more frustrating.
Users are advised to upgrade to MediaWiki 1.14.xx, 1.13.yy,..
The new versions of Special:Import,...
contain a test that will terminate with an error message:
The following faulty libraries out of MediaWiki's control and must be
updated first to avoid data corruption: ..."

I hope I'm not overdoing it, but subtle data corruption is one of the
most insidious bugs.