template - extension code in wiki
Edit one or more extension: pages, get a {{extension code in wiki}} saying <small>''The developer is encouraged and invited to get [[commit access]] to MediaWiki's [[Subversion|code repository]] to address this.''</small>.
Then what? I applied for SVN on the 14th, only to then see posted the next day https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/02/15/wikimedia-engineering-moving-from-subversion-to-git/ with "Right now, we’re asking people to stop creating any new extensions in Subversion right now, and to watch the wikitech-l mailing list for more updates."
Looks like a waste of time.
I do not intend to re-apply for git.
Much of this on-wiki code is only here because it's something kludged together to keep an author's own wiki site up and running. In some cases (a namespace editor, for instance) the intent was only to use an extension as a stop-gap measure while waiting for core to add some needed functionality (whatever happened to the wikidata-style namespace editor, already pretty much working, which was supposed to be core in MW 1.07+ anyway?)
In most cases, the question of whether these code fragments are of any potential use to anyone else is merely an afterthought.
I can't comment on whether my own experience is typical of extension authors; some extensions were written by people who have vanished years ago and nothing will be done, others were written by WMF staff for deployment on WMF projects and are therefore core code in all but name. The rest of us land somewhere between those two extremes - we don't care whether some piece of code kludged together to keep one non-WMF project up and running is reused elsewhere - the code isn't trade secret, but at the same time the effort spent applying and re-applying for access to one or another code repository just to publish it on the off-chance someone wanted a peek at it is a pointless overhead cost with no benefit in return.
If you must keep templating {{extension code in wiki}}, could you please remove the bit directing authors to subversion in light of the request "asking people to stop creating any new extensions in Subversion right now"?
Any reason for not removing the one line saying <small>''The developer is encouraged and invited to get [[commit access]] to MediaWiki's [[Subversion|code repository]] to address this.''</small> from {{extension code in wiki}} now, or even two weeks ago (when the original request to stop checking new extensions into Subversion was made)?
Changing this now (to remove SVN) does not preclude updating it again once 'git' is fully operational. It's just one line in one template.
Also, why the sudden huge concern that an extension might have code on wiki while there is seemingly no concern about extensions where the code is hosted off-site somewhere. The latter should be the greater problem as we have no means to recover if the externally-hosted site goes away entirely (something which happens routinely, if authors are pointing these to their personal sites)?
I'm a little swamped with other things - but when ahead and updated that template since you feel so strongly about it. :/ Remember anyone can help by updating templates - we're all volunteers. :)
You're welcome to start an effort to combat the code that is hosted off-site. Some folks I spoke with felt that was a fair solution for people that didn't want others editing their code, but wanted it to be available on MW.org. One could certainly argue that's a problem worth addressing, but it's not the one this template or drive is intended to address... I think a template to highlight the dangers of those extensions is appropriate. If you create one, we can add it to the extension templates list. You can also request it in the project and I'll try to get to it in the next couple of weeks.
