Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Author/Jarry1250
Articles by: Jarry1250[edit]
Technology report A technologist's Wikimania preview
2014-08-06
As the start of Wikimania proper on 8 August approaches, the Signpost looks ahead to what its dozens of presentations might offer the technologically-inclined, whether attending in person or taking advantage of what promises to be a strong digital offering.
Technology report In memoriam: the Toolserver (2005–14)
2014-07-02
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Wikimedia Deutschland's Toolserver project was switched off, marking the end of one of the Wikimedia movement's longest running Chapter-led projects. The Toolserver, which was in fact a collection of servers, first came online in 2005, hosting hundreds of webpages and scripts ("tools") made available for use by Wikimedia readers, editors and administrators.
Technology report VisualEditor in midst of game-changing deployment series
2013-07-03
The VisualEditor extension has gone live by default to registered users on the English Wikipedia, marking a huge milestone in a project that has taken the best part of a decade to reach fruition. The extension was previously described as "the biggest and most important change to our user experience we’ve ever undertaken" by the WMF team behind it.
Technology report May engineering report: Flow enters consultation phase and other headlines
2013-06-19
May engineering report published: The WMF's engineering report for May was published recently on the Wikimedia blog and on the MediaWiki wiki ("friendly" summary version), giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month.
Technology report Developers accused of making Toolserver fight "pointless"
2013-06-05
Developers accused of making Toolserver fight 'pointless': Last week, the Signpost reported on a feeling at the Amsterdam hackathon that Toolserver developers were coming round to the idea of migrating to Wikimedia Labs.
Technology report Amsterdam hackathon: continuity, change, and stroopwafels
2013-05-27
Second only to the technical track of Wikimania in terms of numbers, the Berlin Hackathon (2009–2012) provided those with an interest in the software that underpins Wikimedia wikis and supports its editors a place to gather, exchange ideas and learn new skills.
Technology report Foundation successful in bid for larger Google subsidy
2013-05-06
The Wikimedia Foundation will be receiving more than $100,000 worth of free developer time courtesy of internet giant Google, it was announced this week. The funds, allocated as part of Google's Summer of Code programme, will support up to 21 student developers through three months of coding time.
Technology report New notifications system deployed across Wikipedia
2013-04-29
This week saw the deployment of the Echo extension, also known as "notifications".
Technology report A flurry of deployments
2013-04-22
On Monday, the English Wikipedia became the 12th wiki to be able to pull data from the central Wikidata.org repository, with other wikis scheduled to receive the update on Wednesday.
Technology report Testing week for developers and their deployments
2013-04-08
Testing week: The deployment of phase 2 of Wikidata to the English Wikipedia, originally scheduled for 8 April but delayed due to technical problems, may be rescheduled again as the result of community resistance.
Technology report Wikidata phase 2 deployment timetable in doubt
2013-04-01
Users of ten Wikipedias got access to phase 2 of Wikidata following its first rollout to production wikis.
Technology report The Visual Editor: Where are we now, and where are we headed?
2013-03-25
Since its inception in May 2011, the Foundation's Visual Editor project has grown to become one of its main focuses. As the project nears its two-year birthday, the Signpost caught up with Visual Editor project manager James Forrester to discuss the progress on the project.
Technology report Visual Editor "on schedule" for July rollout
2013-03-18
Visual Editor "on schedule": The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month.
Technology report Article Feedback reversal: watershed moment?; plus code review one year on
2013-03-11
Article Feedback reversal: The WMF has aborted a plan to deploy version 5 of the Article Feedback tool (AFTv5) rolled out to all English Wikipedia articles.
Technology report Wikidata development to be continued indefinitely
2013-02-25
Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) this week committed itself to funding the Wikidata development team, ending fears that phase three would be abandoned.
Technology report Better templates and 3D buildings
2013-02-18
As of time of writing, twenty wikis (including the English, French and Hungarian Wikipedias) are in the process of getting access to the Lua scripting language, an optional substitute for the clunky template code that exists at present.
Technology report Wikidata client rollout stutters
2013-02-11
The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week.
Technology report Wikidata team targets English Wikipedia deployment
2013-02-04
Following the deployment of the Wikidata client to the Hungarian Wikipedia last month, the client was also deployed to the Italian and Hebrew Wikipedias on Wednesday. The next target for the client, which automatically provides phase 1 functionality, is the English Wikipedia, with a deployment date of 11 February already set.
Technology report Developers get ready for FOSDEM amid caching problems
2013-01-28
As reported in last week's "Technology Report", the WMF's data centre in Ashburn, Virginia took over responsibility for almost all of the remaining functions that had previously been handled by their old facility in Tampa, Florida on 22 January. The Signpost reported then that few problems had arisen since handover. Unfortunately that was not to remain the case, with reports of caching problems (which typically only affect anonymous users) starting to come in.
Technology report Data centre migration successful
2013-01-21
Data centre switchover a tentative success: On 22 January, WMF staff and contractors switched incoming, non-cached requests (including edits) to the Foundation's newer data centre in Ashburn, Virginia, making it responsible for handling almost all regular traffic. For the first time since 2004, virtually no traffic will be handled by the WMF's other facility in Tampa, Florida.
Technology report Intermittent outages planned, first Wikidata client deployment
2013-01-14
The Wikidata client extension was successfully deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia on 14 January, its team reports. The interwiki language links can now come from wikidata.org, though "manual" interwiki links remain functional, overriding those from the central repository.
Technology report Looking ahead to 2013
2013-01-07
Following on from last week's reflections on 2012, this week the Technology report looks ahead to 2013, a year that will almost certainly be dominated by the juggernauts of Wikidata, Lua and the Visual Editor.
Technology report Looking back on a year of incremental changes
2012-12-31
In the first of two features, the Signpost this week looks back on 2012, a year when developers finally made inroads into three issues that had been put off for far too long (the need for editors to learn wiki-markup, the lack of a proper template language and the centralisation of data) but left all three projects far from finished.
Technology report Efforts to "normalise" Toolserver relations stepped up
2012-12-24
Our tool- and bot-hosting servers are currently operated by Wikimedia Germany, with assistance from the Foundation and volunteers — but they've failed to see eye-to-eye on the trajectory for the Toolserver, scheduled to be replaced by Wikimedia Labs in late 2013.
Technology report MediaWiki groups and why you might want to start snuggling newbie editors
2012-12-17
MediaWiki users (including Wikimedians) can now organise themselves into groups, receiving recognition and support-in-kind from the Wikimedia Foundation. The project, backed by new Wikimedia technical contributor coordinator Quim Gil, has seen five proposals lodged in its first week of operation. The idea of MediaWiki groups mimics that of Wikimedia User Groups.
Technology report The new Visual Editor gets a bit more visual
2012-12-10
The first WMF-deployable WYSIWYG editor will go live on its first Wikipedias imminently following nearly six months of testing on MediaWiki.org.
Technology report MediaWiki problems but good news for Toolserver stability
2012-12-03
Deployments of MediaWiki 1.21wmf5 cause widespread problems for users across wikis when HTML and CSS updates came temporarily out of sync. On the first wikis targeted for deployment, this was caused by the different cache invalidation rates for HTML (typically one month) and CSS (typically five minutes). The retrospective on the problem highlighted the fact that that the test wiki – the WMF's answer to a production environment that individual developers can no longer practically emulate themselves – actually demonstrated the exact problem that would later manifest itself on production wikis. It went unnoticed.
Technology report Structural reorganisation "not a done deal"
2012-11-19
WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner was forced to clarify this week that proposed structural changes to the Foundation's Engineering and Product Development Department were not a "done deal" and that it was "important that you [particularly affected staff] realise that ... your input is wanted". The reorganisation, announced on November 5 and planned for the middle of next year, will see its two components split off into their own departments.
Technology report MediaWiki 1.20 and the prospects for getting 1.21 code reviewed promptly
2012-11-12
In late September, the Technology report published its findings about (particularly median) code review times. To the 23,900 changesets analysed the first time (the data for which has been updated), the Signpost added data from the 9,000 or so changesets contributed between September 17 and November 9 to a total of 93,000 reviews across 45,000 patchsets. Bots and self-reviews were also discarded, but reviews made by a different user in the form of a superseding patch were retained. Finally, users were categorised by hand according to whether they would be best regarded as staff or volunteers. The new analyses were consistent with the predictions of the previous analysis.
Technology report Hue, Sqoop, Oozie, Zookeeper, Hive, Pig and Kafka
2012-11-05
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for October 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month. TimedMediaHandler also went live.
Technology report Improved video support imminent and Wikidata.org live
2012-10-29
The TimedMediaHandler extension (TMH), which brings dramatic improvements to MediaWiki's video handling capabilities, will go live to the English Wikipedia this week following a long and turbulent development, WMF Director of Platform Engineering Rob Lanphier announced on Monday ... Wikidata.org, a new repository designed to host interwiki links, launched this week and will begin accepting links shortly. The site, which is one half of the forthcoming Wikidata trial (the other half being the Wikidata client, which will be deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia shortly) will also act as a testing area for phase 2 of Wikidata (centralised data storage). The longer term plan is for Wikidata.org to become a "Wikimedia Commons for data" as phases 2 and 3 (dynamic lists) are developed, project managers say.
Technology report Wikivoyage migration: technical strategy announced
2012-10-22
Planning for Wikivoyage's migration into the WMF fold built up steam this week following a statement by WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller about what the technical side of the migration will involve. Wikivoyage, which split from sister site Wikitravel in 2006, is hoping to migrate its own not-inconsiderable user base to Wikimedia, as well as much of its content, presenting novel challenges for Wikimedia developers
Technology report Wikidata is a go: well, almost
2012-10-15
Wikidata is a go: well, almost: A trial of the first phase of Wikimedia Deutschland's "Wikidata" project–implementing the first ever interwiki repository—may soon get underway following the successful passage of much of its code through MediaWiki's review processes this week.
Technology report The ups and downs of September and October, plus extension code review analysis
2012-10-08
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for September 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project, phase 1 of which is edging its way towards its first deployment). Three of the seven headline items in the report have already been covered in the Signpost: problems with the corruption of several Gerrit (code) repositories, the introduction of widespread translation memory across Wikimedia wikis, and the launch of the "Page Curation" tool on the English Wikipedia, with development work on that project now winding down. The report also drew attention to the end of Google Summer of Code 2012, the deployment to the English Wikipedia of a new ePUB (electronic book) export feature, and improvements to the WLM app aimed at more serious photographers.
Technology report WMF and the German chapter face up to Toolserver uncertainty
2012-10-01
The Toolserver is an external service hosting the hundreds of webpages and scripts (collectively known as "tools") that assist Wikimedia communities in dozens of mostly menial tasks. Few people think that it has been operating well recently; the problems, which include high database replication lag and periods of total downtime, have caused considerable disruption to the Toolserver's usual functions. Those functions are highly valued by many Wikimedia communities ... In 2011, the Foundation announced the creation of Wikimedia Labs, a much better funded project that among other things aimed to mimic the Toolserver's functionality by mid-2013. At the same time, Erik Möller, the WMF's director of engineering, announced that the Foundation would no longer be supporting the Toolserver financially, but would continue to provide the same in-kind support as it had done previously.
Technology report Signpost investigation: code review times
2012-09-24
Late last month, the "Technology report" included a story using code review backlog figures – the only code review figures then available – to construct a rough narrative about the average experience of code contributors. This week, we hope to go one better, by looking directly at code review wait times, and, in particular, median code review times
Technology report Future-proofing: HTML5 and IPv6
2012-09-17
1.20wmf12, the 12th release to Wikimedia wikis from the 1.20 branch, was deployed to its first wikis on September 17; if things go well, it will be deployed to all wikis by September 26. Its 200 or so changes – 111 to WMF-deployed extensions plus 98 to core MediaWiki code – include support for links with mixed-case protocols (e.g. Http://example.com) and the removal of the "No higher resolution available" message on the file description pages of SVG images.
Technology report Mmmm, milkshake...
2012-09-10
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for August 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project, phase 1 of which is edging its way towards its first deployment).
Technology report Time for a MediaWiki Foundation?
2012-09-03
Developers are currently discussing the possibility of a MediaWiki Foundation to oversee those aspects of MediaWiki development that relate to non-Wikimedia wikis. The proposal was generated after a discussion on the wikitech-l mailing list about generalising Wikimedia's CentralAuth system.
Technology report Just how bad is the code review backlog?
2012-08-27
Developers were left one step closer to an understanding of the code review outlook this week after the creation of a graph plotting "number changesets awaiting review" over time.
Technology report Lua onto test2wiki and news of a convention-al extension
2012-08-20
New embeddable scripting ("template replacement") language Lua received considerable scrutiny this week when it began its long road to widespread deployment, landing on the test2wiki test site on Wednesday (wikitech-l mailing list). ... the fourth in our series profiling participants in this year's Google Summer of Code (GSoC) programme.
Technology report "Phabricating" a serious alternative to Gerrit
2012-08-13
Three weeks into a month-long evaluation of code review tool Gerrit, a serious alternative has finally gained traction in the review process: Facebook-developed but now independently operated Phabricator and its sister command-line tool Arcanist.
Technology report Wikidata nears first deployment but wikis go down in fibre cut calamity
2012-08-06
Wikidata nears first deployment but wikis go down in fibre cut calamity: The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for July 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project). ... At least one fibre-optic cable was damaged at the WMF's Tampa site on August 6, leading to a sharp downwards spike in traffic lasting over an hour and almost three hours of disruption for readers around the globe.
Technology report Talking performance with CT Woo and Green Semantic MediaWiki with Nischay Nahata
2012-07-30
In the light of recent questions over the long-term reliability of Wikimedia wikis, the Signpost caught up with CT Woo, the Wikimedia Foundation's director of technical operations.
Technology report Translating SVGs and making history bugs history
2012-07-23
In the first of a series looking at this year's eight ongoing Google Summer of Code projects, the Signpost caught up with developer Harry Burt.
Technology report Tech talks at Wikimania amid news of a mixed June
2012-07-16
As Wikimania, the annual conference targeted at Wikimedians and often well attended by those with a technical slant, draws to a close, comments have already begun to come in from attendees regarding the many tech-related features of the conference.
Technology report Optimism over LastModified and MoodBar, but change in clock time causes downtime
2012-07-09
The results from last month's trial of the LastModified extension were published this week on the Wikimedia blog. The first analyses have indicated a significant positive impact, suggesting that the extension – which makes the time since a page's last edit much more prominent in the interface – could eventually find its way onto Wikimedia wikis.
Technology report To support or not to support IPv6, and why knowing when this report was last updated might be getting easier
2012-06-11
Technology report Developer divide wrangles; plus Wikimedia Zero, MediaWiki 1.20wmf4, and IPv6
2012-05-28
Technology report Cross-wiki watchlist controversy; and is "go file a bug" really a useful response?
2012-05-14
Technology report What Git means for end users, design controversies and pertinent poll results
2012-04-30
Technology report Wikimedia Labs: soon to be at the cutting edge of MediaWiki development?
2012-04-23
Technology report MediaWiki 1.20wmf01 hits first WMF wiki, understanding 20% time, and why this report cannot yet be a draft
2012-04-16
Technology report Next Wikimedia deployment already in the pipeline and details of recent performance improvements
2012-04-09
Technology report Somewhere amongst the endless discussions about Gerrit lie details of hackathons, performance blips explained and more
2012-04-02
Technology report A busy week: Git switchover, mobile site upgraded, and still time for three security releases
2012-03-26
Technology report Bugmeister to leave at end of May, but developers keen to "chart" a path ahead
2012-03-19
Technology report Git learning curve steep but not insurmountable, plus a diff style we can all agree on?
2012-03-12
Technology report With the 1.19 deployment now (mostly) complete, developers consider possible "mini" deployment later in the month
2012-03-05
Technology report Major strands of development cycle coalesce as 1.19 is deployed to first wikis
2012-02-20
Technology report January sees prototype new geodata API; but February looks to be a testing time for top developers
2012-02-13
Technology report October's coding challenge: results now in; progress on 1.19 steady; and why for a while interwiki links were no more
2012-02-06
Technology report ArticleFeedback moves into new trial phase; and how MediaWiki integrates with Facebook, IPv6, and PostgreSQL explored
2012-01-16
Technology report December in more detail; and why the MediaWiki codebase was "slushed" this week
2012-01-09
Technology report Visual editor demo launched, hailed as "most important change to our user experience ... ever"; but elsewhere over-hasty deployments criticised
2011-12-19
Technology report Trials and tribulations of image rotation, Article Feedback version 5, and new diff colours
2011-12-12
Technology report Incremental dumps help mirrors, full screen search helps mobile visitors, and two MediaWiki releases help external sites
2011-12-05
Technology report Foundation appears correct to back improved smartphone support; and how a Reddit slip meant no-one could read anything for thirty minutes
2011-11-28
Technology report Coding Challenge results; Wikimedians to wait and see if Athena really does represent "wisdom, courage and inspiration"
2011-11-14
Technology report Full steam ahead on Visual Editor, the avoidance of lock-breaking and 1.18b1 release
2011-11-07
Technology report WMDE renew investment in Toolserver, first offsite backup programme of Wikimedia begun
2011-10-17
Technology report 1.18 deployment and HTTPS switchover completed, but developer help now needed with new projects
2011-10-10
Technology report 1.18 deployment on track, "mythical" Git migration scheduled, editor decline statistics improved
2011-09-26
Technology report MediaWiki 1.18 deployment begins, the alleged "injustice" of WMF engineering policy, and Wikimedians warned of imminent fix to magic word
2011-09-19
News and notes Foundation reports on research, Kenya trip, Mumbai Wikiconference; Canada, Hungary and Estonia; English Wikinews forked
2011-09-12
Technology report Pencils down in Google Summer of Code, August analysed and integrated HTTPS support in action
2011-09-05
News and notes 24,000 votes later and community position on image filter still unclear; first index of editor satisfaction appears positive
2011-09-05
In the news Britannica and Wikipedia like "apples and chairs"; should anyone who's anyone get an article?; and why fighting and barriers to editing may be useful after all
2011-09-05
Technology report The bugosphere, new mobile site and MediaWiki 1.18 close in on deployment
2011-08-29
News and notes Abuse filter on all Wikimedia sites; Foundation's report for July; editor survey results
2011-08-29
In the news Wikipedia praised for disaster news coverage, scolded for left-wing bias; brief news
2011-08-29
In the news Wikipedia a "sausage fest", Chicago Wikipedians ("the people you've probably plagiarized"), and other silly season stories
2011-08-15
News and notes Wikimania a success; board letter controversial; and evidence showing bitten newbies don't stay
2011-08-08
In the news Israeli news focuses on Wikimania; worldwide coverage of contributor decline and gender gap; brief news
2011-08-08
In the news Fine art; surreptitious sanitation; the politics of kyriarchic marginalization; brief news
2011-07-18
Technology report Engineering department restructured; "break MediaWiki and be reverted"; news in brief
2011-06-20
Technology report MediaWiki 1.16.5, 1.17b1; 1.18 branched; UploadWizard the default; Berlin Hackathon; brief news
2011-05-09
Technology report UploadWizard release; code review – should MediaWiki move to Git?; brief news
2011-03-28
Technology report What is: localisation?; the proposed "personal image filter" explained; and more in brief
2011-03-21
Technology report Reusability of MediaWiki code, Google Summer of Code: Interwiki transclusion, and more
2010-08-30
Technology report Major MediaWiki release, password security, vulnerable MediaWiki installations, and more
2010-08-02
News and notes Politician defends editing own article, Google translation, Row about a small Wikipedia
2010-07-19
News and notes Pending changes goes live, first state-funded Wikipedia project concludes, brief news
2010-06-14