small confusion with uploading big files
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#491 small confusion with uploading big files
I am a bit worried. Probably, I am wrong, but suppose I want to upload a big file (I don't do that, but who knows). I want to upload it in Image:XXX.tar.gz space using the project manager. Now, suppose I did that, but I don't need it anymore. If I click on "Remove from my project"-button, it will be removed from the description of my project. But what's about server? I assume that it will be still there, since the page Image:XXX.tar.gz will be there and will not be deleted. If I remove the page Image:XXX.tar.gz manually, my big file will disappear from the server. Am I right?
If yes, is it possible to synchronize the button "Remove from my project" with removing the page Image:XXX.tar.gz?
Discussion
Anonymous
My understanding is that MediaWiki retains all past versions of an uploaded file, even if you remove the page. This is a matter of policy, in line with Wikipedia's policy of transparency. But of course it has ways to remove images, because they sometimes conflict with copyright law or such. So we'd have to figure out when and how files actually get deleted, and what our wikis' policy should be about when that's done.
The simpler part of the question is yes, I agree it should probably let you remove the page when you remove the file from the project (regardless of whether that physically deletes the file or not).
I guess one alternative is to use the new import page's ability to import as a project file without storing it on the wiki. Just put the .gz file into the working directory, write a make rule to unpack it, delete it from the directory when not needed.