Sunday 8 March 2009

Getting ready for the next level of functionality

When the Wikiation Extension Testing Environment currently installs an extension, it uses the latest version of that extension. This is fine when you are testing the very latest version of MediaWiki.

We want to provide better support for all the wikis who are using stable versions of MediaWiki. To do this, we have to be able to install a particular version of an extension, the latest version of an extension for a particular release or for a stable version of an extension for a particular release.

The other thing we are actively working on is increasing the number of extensions that can be installed by the installer. MinuteElectron asked for the output of installer scripts. As Kim was already collecting this information, it was easy to add a debug flag that makes this information available. This will make it easier to get extensions to install properly.

Another improvement is that there is now a default settings handler, this is intended to prevent future updates of the software using the "update_self" functionality from breaking. This makes the installer more robust.

Our intent is that the installer may be used for installing both production and test environments of MediaWiki. As the software creates and destroys instances of a MediaWiki wiki, it is vital that you do not experiment on a production system. It is equally important that you are aware that at this stage the software is not ready for production systems.
Thanks,
GerardM

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