I am not sure how stuff works now but at the time I was working on this project, any features missing in the MediaWiki codebase were first developed as an extension, reviewed, tested and then integrated in the core.
The current version of the SpecialPage looks similar to LoginForm because it was indeed derived from there & one of the main goals for this project was to remove the account creation code from SpecialUserLogin & put it inside its own SpecialPage. I do realize that some refactoring might still be needed but I definitely can say that the efforts to do that would be much lesser than rewriting the entire module because the new module would again have to go through similar iterations through which SignupAPI already went.
Tyler, I really appreciate your efforts in developing a new API & I would encourage you to contribute with all the learning that you have had in this project to getting SignupAPI deployed because the project involves many more things than just an additional API, many of which I have conveyed in my previous mail.
On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 8:27 PM, Derric Atzrott < datzrott@alizeepathology.com> wrote:
User account creation is something that is pretty critical to the
MediaWiki
infrastructure. If we're going to be completely revamping the signup page,
it
should not be done in an extension.
Furthermore, looking at the extension's code now, there are numerous
design
problems that would need to be fixed if this were to be deployed
(primarily the
fact that the entire special page looks pretty much like a copy of
LoginForm's
account creation interface).
Not to mention that an account creation API is something that the core
needs and
site admins should not have to rely on an extension to install it.
I'm welcome to a rewrite and refactoring of the LoginForm, if that's a
goal we
want to aim towards.
Still we should take note of the lessons he learned when he made his extension and apply them to development of a API in the core, should we go that route.
I agree that this should be a core feature and not an extension. This seems like the sort of thing that many Wikis will need and I'm somewhat surprised the request for someone to make it doesn't come up more often.
Thank you, Derric Atzrott
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