X-Git-Url: https://sipb.mit.edu/gitweb.cgi/ikiwiki.git/blobdiff_plain/0ae1e4cc0e598eacfeb508d11db81c33169631fd..4fb38214a63e14531bc4d073b4f412fc15613526:/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn diff --git a/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn b/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn index 9c1be7362..1a35dddb1 100644 --- a/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn +++ b/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn @@ -15,15 +15,212 @@ This would also be useful for autoindex, as suggested on [[plugins/autoindex/discussion]]. I'd also like to use it for [[plugins/contrib/album]]. -One refinement I'd suggest is that if the transient page is edited, -its transient contents are evaluated and used as the initial -content for the edit box; after that, it'd become a static page. --[[smcv]] +It could also be used for an [[todo/alias_directive]]. + +--[[smcv]] -------------------------- -[[!template id=gitbranch branch=smcv/transient author="[[smcv]]"]] +[[!template id=gitbranch branch=smcv/ready/transient author="[[smcv]]"]] +[[!template id=gitbranch branch=smcv/ready/transient-recentchanges author="[[smcv]]"]] +[[!template id=gitbranch branch=smcv/ready/transient-tag author="[[smcv]]"]] [[!tag patch]] +I think this branch is now enough to be useful. It adds the following: + +If the `transient` plugin is loaded, `$srcdir/.ikiwiki/transient` is added +as an underlay. I'm not sure whether this should be a plugin or core, so +I erred on the side of more plugins; I think it's "on the edge of the core", +like goto. + +Pages in the transient underlay are automatically +deleted if a page of the same name is created in the srcdir (or an underlay +closer to the srcdir in stacking order). + +With the additional `ready/transient-tag` branch, +`tag` enables `transient`, and if `tag_autocreate_commit` is set to 0 +(default 1), autocreated tags are written to the transient underlay. +There is a regression test. + +With the additional `transient-autoindex` branch, +`autoindex` uses autofiles. It also enables `transient`, and if +`autoindex_commit` is set to 0 (default 1), autoindexes are written to +the transient underlay. There is a regression test. However, this branch +is blocked by working out what the desired behaviour is, on +[[todo/autoindex_should_use_add__95__autofile]]. + +> I wonder why this needs to be configurable? I suppose that gets back to +> whether it makes sense to check these files in or not. The benefits of +> checking them in: +> +> * You can edit them from the VCS, don't have to go into the web +> interface. Of course, files from the underlays have a similar issue, +> but does it make sense to make that wart larger? +> * You can know you can build the same site with nothing missing +> even if you don't there enable autoindex or whatever. (Edge case.) + +>> I'm not sure that that's a huge wart; you can always "edit by +>> overwriting". If you're running a local clone of the wiki on your laptop +>> or whatever, you have the underlays already, and can copy from there. +>> Tag and autoindex pages have rather simple source code anyway. --s + +> The benefit of using transient pages seems to just be avoiding commit +> clutter? For files that are never committed, transient pages are a clear +> win, but I wonder if adding configuration clutter just to avoid some +> commit clutter is really worth it. + +>> According to the last section of +>> [[todo/auto-create_tag_pages_according_to_a_template]], [[chrysn]] and +>> Eric both feel rather strongly that it should be possible to +>> not commit any tags; in [[plugins/autoindex/discussion]], +>> lollipopman and [[JoeRayhawk]] both requested the same for autoindex. +>> I made it configurable because, as you point out, +>> there are also reasons why it makes sense to check these +>> automatically-created files in. I'm neutral on this, personally. +>> +>> If this is a point of contention, would you accept a branch that +>> just adds `transient` and uses it for [[plugins/recentchanges]], +>> which aren't checked in and never have been? I've split the +>> branch up in the hope that *some* of it can get merged. +>> +>>> I will be happy to merge transient-recentchanges when it's ready. +>>> I see no obstacle to merging transient-tag either, and am not +>>> really against using it for autoindex or aggregate either +>>> once they get completed. +>>> I just wanted to think through why configurability is needed. +>>> --[[Joey]] +>> +>> One potentially relevant point is that configuration clutter only +>> affects the site admin whereas commit clutter is part of the whole +>> wiki's history. --[[smcv]] + +> Anyway, the configurability +> appears subtly broken; the default is only 1 if a new setup file is +> generated. (Correction: It was not even the default then --[[Joey]]) +> With an existing setup file, the 'default' values in +> `getsetup` don't take effect, so it will default to undef, which +> is treated the same as 0. --[[Joey]] + +>> Fixed in the branches, hopefully. (How disruptive would it be to have +>> defaults take effect whenever the setup file doesn't set a value, btw? +>> It seems pretty astonishing to have them work as they do at the moment.) --s + +>>> Well, note that default is not actually a documented field in +>>> getsetup hooks at all! (It is used in IkiWiki.pm's own `getsetup()`, and +>>> the concept may have leaked out into one or two plugins (comments, +>>> transient)). +>>> +>>> Running getsetup at plugin load time is something I have considered +>>> doing. It would simplify some checkconfig hooks that just set hardcoded +>>> defaults. Although since dying is part of the getsetup hook's API, it +>>> could be problimaric. +>>> --[[Joey]] + +autoindex ignores pages in the transient underlay when deciding whether +to generate an index. + +With the additional `ready/transient-recentchanges` branch, new recent +changes go in the transient underlay; I tested this manually. + +Not done yet (in that branch, at least): + +* `remove` can't remove transient pages: this turns out to be harder than + I'd hoped, because I don't want to introduce a vulnerability in the + non-regular-file detection, so I'd rather defer that. + + > Hmm, I'd at least want that to be dealt with before this was used + > by default for autoindex or tag. --[[Joey]] + + >> I'll try to work out which of the checks are required for security + >> and which are just nice-to-have, but I'd appreciate any pointers + >> you could give. Note that my branch wasn't meant to enable either + >> by default, and now hopefully doesn't. --[[smcv]] + +* Transient tags that don't match any pages aren't deleted: I'm not sure + that that's a good idea anyway, though. Similarly, transient autoindexes + of directories that become empty aren't deleted. + + > Doesn't seem necessary, or really desirable to do that. --[[Joey]] + + >> Good, that was my inclination too. --s + +* In my `untested/transient` branch, new aggregated files go in the + transient underlay too (they'll naturally migrate over time). I haven't + tested this yet, it's just a proof-of-concept. + +> I can confirm that the behavior of autoindex, at least, is excellent. +> Haven't tried tag. Joey, can you merge transient and autoindex? --JoeRayhawk + +>> Here are some other things I'd like to think about first: --[[Joey]] +>> +>> * There's a FIXME in autoindex. +>> +>> > Right, the extra logic for preventing autoindex pages from being +>> > re-created. This is taking a while, so I'm going to leave out the +>> > autoindex part for the moment. The FIXME is only relevant +>> > because I tried to solve +>> > [[todo/autoindex should use add__95__autofile]] first, but +>> > strictly speaking, that's an orthogonal change. --s + +>> * Suggest making recentchanges unlink the transient page +>> first, and only unlink from the old location if it wasn't +>> in the transient location. Ok, it only saves 1 syscall :) +>> +>> > Is an unlink() really that expensive? But, OK, fixed in the +>> > `ready/transient-recentchanges` branch. --s + +>> >> It's not, but it's easy. :) --[[Joey]] + +>> * Similarly it's a bit worrying for performance that it +>> needs to pull in and use `Cwd` on every ikiwiki startup now. +>> I really don't see the need; `wikistatedir` should +>> mostly be absolute, and ikiwiki should not chdir in ways +>> that break it anyway. +>> +>> > The reason to make it absolute is that relative underlays +>> > are interpreted as relative to the base underlay directory, +>> > not the cwd, by `add_underlay`. +>> > +>> > The updated `ready/transient-only` branch only loads `Cwd` if +>> > the path is relative; an extra commit on branch +>> > `smcv/transient-relative` goes behind `add_underlay`'s +>> > back to allow use of a cwd-relative underlay. Which direction +>> > would you prefer? +>> > +>> > I note in passing that [[plugins/autoindex]] and `IkiWiki::Render` +>> > both need to use `Cwd` and `File::Find` on every refresh, so +>> > there's only any point in avoiding `Cwd` for runs that don't +>> > actually refresh, like simple uses of the CGI. --s + +>> >> Oh, right, I'd forgotten about the horrificness of File::Find +>> >> that required a chdir for security. Ugh. Can we just avoid +>> >> it for those simple cases then? (demand-calculate wikistatedir) +>> >> --[[Joey]] + +>> * Unsure about the use of `default_pageext` in the `change` +>> hook. Is everything in the transientdir really going +>> to use that pageext? Would it be better to look up the +>> complete source filename? +>> +>> > I've updated `ready/transient` to do a more thorough GC by +>> > using File::Find on the transient directory. This does +>> > require `File::Find` and `Cwd`, but only when pages change, +>> > and `refresh` loads both of those in that situation anyway. +>> > +>> > At the moment everything in the transientdir will either +>> > have the `default_pageext` or be internal, although I +>> > did wonder whether to make [[plugins/contrib/album]] +>> > viewer pages optionally be `html`, for better performance +>> > when there's a very large number of photos. --s + +>> >> Oh, ugh, more File::Find... Couldn't it just assume that the +>> >> transient page has the same extension as its replacement? +>> >> --[[Joey]] + +-------------------------- + +## An earlier version + I had a look at implementing this. It turns out to be harder than I thought to have purely in-memory pages (several plugins want to be able to access the source file as a file), but I did get this proof-of-concept branch