Re: [Wp-mirror-list] en.wikipedia image sizes and templates

[Jason Cooper]

Kent,

On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 07:27:21PM -0500, wp mirror wrote:
...
> 4) Mediawiki version lifecycle
> 
> I think I am confronted by an `impedance mismatch' between the
> development policies of WMF and of Debian.  According to
> <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle>:
> 
> `MediaWiki operates on a "continuous integration" development model,
> where software changes are pushed live to Wikimedia web sites such as
> Wikipedia on a regular basis.'
> 
> However, LTS versions are released every two years, the next of which,
> mediawiki 1.23 (LTS), is slated for May 2014.  Thereafter, several
> months could elapse before this version finds its way into a Debian
> distribution.
> 
> 5) Debian version lifecycle
> 
> Debian prefers LTS versions such as mediawiki 1.19 and mysql 5.5.
> 
> 6) Defining the problem
> 
> When wp-mirror is used to build a mirror, page rendering erodes over
> time.  This is because WMF follows a `continuous integration' policy
> while wp-mirror instead relies on Debian to satisfy dependencies.
> Poor page rendering discourages use of wp-mirror as a utility for
> building mirrors, and calls into question the suitability of
> distributing such a utility via Debian.
> 
> 7) Planning for wp-mirror 0.7
> 
> I think I need to address the `impedance mismatch' in development cycles.
> 
> One option would be to remove mediawiki 1.19 and related extensions as
> dependencies in the wp-mirror DEB package; and instead include the
> latest version of mediawiki and relevant extensions, as part of the
> wp-mirror DEB package.  This would have some consequences.

Option two:  Host your own debian repository which contains wp-mirror
and the newer versions of mediawiki et al as separate packages.  I think
this would be the easiest for the users (honestly, installing the debian
package from the cli involved a few extra undocumented steps that a lot
of people aren't familiar with) and the most maintainable.

You could even do a stable and a testing repo.  A cron job could check
for new versions of mediawiki etc and auto package them.  Individuals
wanting to help with development could enable the testing repo and
validate the upgrade.  You would then manually push the package to the
stable repo once a suitable amount of time has passed.

If you don't want to host your own repo, ubuntu's PPA infrastructure
might be an option.

thx,

Jason.