Re: WikiWebLogs and PartialLocks (was Re: [Phpwiki-talk] New jeffshacks snapshot. )

[Steve W. <sw...@pa...>]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Jeff Dairiki wrote:

> > Hmm. As a serialized string? You might want to expand on this. I think the
> > idea of them having a home page on the wiki is a natural.
>
> The new database API allows (more-or-less) for arbitrary key/value pairs
> to be attached to pages as meta-data.  This data is accessed via the
> WikiDB_Page::get() and WikiDB_Page::set() methods.  (And yes, the
> implementation involves storing a serialized hash.)  So this is a real
> quick-and-dirty place to store user meta-data if we establish a
> correspondence
> between users and pages.

OK... my experience has been, whenever you denormalize the database
design, you wind up wanting to get at the info that's no longer atomic.

In this case it might be better to just go ahead and create a user table,
since we will have one anyhow, no matter what. User auth is coming and
storing users and pages in the same table will cause problems.


> Yes, my main point of concern/confusion right now concerns the
> following scenario:
>
>   You attempt to register (via some automatic scheme, like the one
>   you've outlined below) as a new user with the userid SteveWainstead.
>
>   The page SteveWainstead already exists.
>
>   What to do?  Should you be allowed to take over the existing page
>   as your homepage?  (What if you were trying to register under the
>   userid of FrontPage or CategoryNextWiki?)
>
> (I guess this scenario addresses a more generic issue than that of just
> user registration --- more that of page ownership.  Who should be
> allowed
> to own/lock which (pre-existing) pages?)

For now we might just let the username link to a page of the same name,
and if they want to be called HomePage, well, what can one do.

> Yes.  This is what has been in the back of mind (I think you planted
> the seed there) for awhile now.   I keep hoping to find some
> pre-written library which handles the details, but I don't think
> were going to find one...

I haven't looked... there must be something like this. On a similar note,
how hard would it be to make the diff engine a module people could reuse?

~swain

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