Extension:Email notification

Email notification on changes of watch-listed pages and/or user_talk pages
This is main page of the E-Mail Notification (enotif) which discloses a reasonable scheme allowing for page change notifications via e-mail. Maintainers of this feature are Tom Gries mail and Markus Arndt, Germany. August-November 2004.

See also Email address authentication page.

The current patch has so far only been implemented and checked for (see /includes/DefaultSettings.php)


 * php mail
 * thus not using PEAR:Mail module; see /includes/UserMailer.php
 * $wgSMTP = false;


 * MySQL database server
 * thus not using PostgreSQL
 * $wgDBtype = "mysql";
 * $wgSearchType = "MyISAM";

which is regarded to be the mostly used combination of choices. If you need ot for PEAR:Mail and/or PostgreSQL, please let me know and tell me if you like to test it for these. --Tom Gries mail 15:38, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Internationalisation (I18N)

 * Deutsche Dokumentation/German Documentation (im Aufbau/under construction)

How it works
The watching user X gets a short E-Mail


 * if the WikiAdmin has globally enabled this feature in the DefaultSettings.php or LocalSettings.php
 * and if the user has stored an email address in the user preferences
 * and if the user has enabled the personal enotif options in the user preferences

on the events that


 * someone else changes a page listed in user X's watch list
 * or someone else changes the user_talk page of user x (user_talk pages are internally treated separately)

All users can enjoy a side-effect of enotif - regardless whether they have enabled or disabled their personal enotif options:


 * a beamy new marker  updated (since my last visit) indicates new contents on watch-listed pages since the last visit (of user X). The "updated" marker can be seen on a) the watchlist page, on b) the recent changes page close to the bold-titled page names of pages being watched, and on c) the page history showing all revisions of a page. Be reminded: your own changes do never trigger notification mails or "updated" markers, so you are only informed about changes of somebody else.

See further screenshots on the versions page.

What you can expect - feature overview

 * The E-Notif patch was developed for small- to medium-scale MediaWiki implementations. Personalised e-mails (with recipient's name; pages changes expressed in local time) for every watching user. [The program flow will be changed next versions to allow bulk notification mails to be sent, depending on parameters, to save processing time and bandwidth.]


 * The sub-feature notification on user_talk page (UTP) changes could be enabled even for the largest WikiPedia, because the number of UTP changes is surprisingly low - according to Brion Vibber. About 800 alien UTP changes (changes by others than yourself) per day have been counted in August 2004, which would result in the same (relatively low) number of enotifs sent to the UTP owners.


 * The features are configurable (enable/disable) in module DefaultSettings.php respectively LocalSettings.php for the WikiAdmin, who can spearately allow or disallow notifications for changes on
 * general pages (all name spaces) (AO/UO) and/or
 * user_talk pages. (AO/UO)


 * The notification message is one page ((*): four pages) in MediaWiki:namespace and you can use therein named variables such as $PAGEEDITORUSERNAME and $PAGEEDITTIMESTAMPUTC (see real example below).


 * (*) The notification message is sent out comprising a direkt link to the difference view (diff) between the current page version (when user opens the mail and clicks onto that link) and the last one the watching user has seen (i.e. the page version just before the page change notification was sent). This appears to be very convenient and was requested by Chris and other users.


 * Your own changes do never trigger a notification mail sent to yourself.


 * Minor edits do or do not trigger notification e-mails sent out, depending on just another admin setting. (AO/UO)


 * All UTP changes trigger a notification to be sent, no matter whether the changing editor declared the change as minor edit or not.


 * Only one mail is sent on the first page change. Further mails are suppressed until you re-visit the changed page or until you reset all notification flags. A new button is introduced for this purpose on the watchlist page.


 * On the watchlist page, a new marker  updated (since my last visit) indicates such pages for which a notification mail was sent, meaning that the page has new contents since your last visit. (AO/UO)


 * The marker is also shown on your recent changes page and on page history(*) pages for the pages watched by you (already marked bold) and which do have new contents since your last visit. (AO/UO)


 * (*) Recent changes view and page(article) footers show number of watching users. (AO)(UO)


 * If you wish so, you can as usual add not-yet existing page names to your watch list and you will receive an email notification as someone creates a page with that name. Again: you will see the marker flown there until you really visit the (in this case: new) pages with new contents.


 * Debuggers' option: two different single beeps on the server signal the sending of notification mails for pages and user_talk pages (default: disabled, see Email notification list of changes). (AO)


 * (*) implemented in Enotif versions > 1.21
 * (AO) Admin option in DefaultSettings.php or LocalSettings.php allow to disable these extensions.
 * (UO) User Option in user preferences

Named variables for sysop use in email subject and body template
Sysops can use the following named variables to compose the email notification message:

The variables ending with "_QP" are needed for composing correct mail headers for watching usernames and pagetitles with non-ASCII characters, if you want to have these texts there and not only in the mail body. Do not use _QP variables in the email body.

$WATCHINGUSERNAME $WATCHINGUSERNAME_QP (QP = "quoted-printable", only for use in mail headers) $WATCHINGUSEREMAILADDR $PAGETITLE $PAGETITLE_QP (QP = "quoted-printable", only for use in mail headers) $PAGEEDITORNAMEANDEMAILADDR $PAGEEDITORNAMEANDEMAILADDR_QP (QP = "quoted-printable", only for use in mail headers) $PAGEEDITOR $PAGEEDITOR_QP (QP = "quoted-printable", only for use in mail headers) $PAGEEDITDATE (expresses the page edit date/time in the watching user's local time) $PAGEEDITDATEUTC $OLDID (id of the last-visited revision of page $PAGETITLE) $PAGEMINOREDIT $PAGESUMMARY $WIKIADMINEMAILADDR

Enotif configuration parameters in /includes/DefaultSettings.php
/*	T. Gries 10.2004

THESE ARE MY SUGGESTED FIRST TEST global admin options FOR ENOTIF. Attention: the defaults might differ from standard media wiki distributions.

However, I suggest to start with these which allow to evaluate almost all new features quickly. user preferences default options SEE AS USUAL /languages/Language.php

$wgEmailNotificationSystembeepForWatchlistPages	= ''; # emtpy string disables this feature; this appears to be safe $wgEmailNotificationSystembeepForUserTalkPages	= ''; # empty string disables this feature; this appears to be safe
 * 1) CAUTION ################# ATTENTION ###############################################
 * 2) T. Gries 10.2004
 * 3) SECTION FOR DEVELOPERS / DEBUG / SERVER ADMINS
 * 4) HERE COME TWO OPTIONS, WHICH ALLOW ACOUSTIC SIGNALS on the server beeper WHEN AN EMAIL IS ACTUALLY SENT OUT.
 * 5) YOU MIGHT WISH TO ENABLE THESE, BUT BE CAREFUL, AS A system CALL IS PERFORMED using the shown parameters.
 * 6) I FIND IT VERY USEFUL, but this is a very personal comment. T. Gries
 * 7) The system speaker beeps when the wiki actually sends out a notification mail (safe default = disabled).
 * 8) The following strings are passed as parameters to two system calls in UserMailer.php and UserTalkUpdate.php.
 * 9) The system calls call - in the shown example - the beep 1.2.2 program (LINUX) with different frequencies f [Hz] and length l [msec]
 * 10) Beep 1.2.2 can be found on http://freshmeat.net/projects/beep/ and I like it.
 * 11) SAFE #################### SAFE #####################################################
 * 1) The following strings are passed as parameters to two system calls in UserMailer.php and UserTalkUpdate.php.
 * 2) The system calls call - in the shown example - the beep 1.2.2 program (LINUX) with different frequencies f [Hz] and length l [msec]
 * 3) Beep 1.2.2 can be found on http://freshmeat.net/projects/beep/ and I like it.
 * 4) SAFE #################### SAFE #####################################################
 * 1) Beep 1.2.2 can be found on http://freshmeat.net/projects/beep/ and I like it.
 * 2) SAFE #################### SAFE #####################################################
 * 1) SAFE #################### SAFE #####################################################
 * 1) ENTER#AT#YOUR#OWN#RISK###CAUTION###### ATTENTION ###################################################
 * 2) $wgEmailNotificationSystembeepForWatchlistPages	= '/usr/bin/beep -f 4000 -l 20 &';	# a system call with exactly this string as parameter is executed when such a mail is sent
 * 3) $wgEmailNotificationSystembeepForUserTalkPages	= '/usr/bin/beep -f 2000 -l 20 &';	# ditto., but for UserTalk page changes
 * 4) CAUTION ################# ATTENTION ###############################################

$wgPasswordSender						= $wgEmergencyContact; $wgEmailNotificationMailsSentFromPageEditor	= false;	# false: Enotif mails appear to come from:$wgEmergencyContact; true: from:PageEditor
 * 1) For email notification on page changes T.Gries/M.Arndt 10.2004

$wgEmailNotificationForWatchlistPages		= true ;
 * 1) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgEmailNotificationForUserTalkPages		= true;
 * 1) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgEmailNotificationRevealPageEditorAddress	= true ;	# reply-to address may be filled with page editor's address (if user allowed this in the preferences)
 * 1) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgEmailNotificationForMinorEdits		= true;	       # false: "minor edits" on pages do not trigger notification mails.
 * 1) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion
 * 1) 								# Attention: _every_ change on a user_talk page trigger a notification mail (if the user is not yet notified)

$wgRCUseModStyle = true;
 * 1) Show recent changes in UseMod style, i.e. only the recent change of a page is listed
 * 2) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgRCShowWatchingUsers = true;
 * 1) Show watching users in RC views
 * 2) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgPageShowWatchingUsers = true;
 * 1) Show watching users in Page views
 * 2) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

$wgShowUpdatedMarker = true;
 * 1) Show "Updated (since my last visit)" marker in RC view, watchlist and history view for watched pages with new changes
 * 2) If the variable is set true, users get a corresponding option in their preferences and can choose to enable or disable at their discretion

Notification mail headers and body templates (delivered within Enotif versions > 1.21)
Note: $PAGEEDITORNAMEANDEMAILADDR_QP is replaced with the page editor's email address, if the person has not disabled it (in user preferences: to show the email address to other users). In other words, Enotif does pay attention to users' privacy settings.

The following four templates are included in module /languages/Language.php.

email_notification_to: $WATCHINGUSERNAME_QP <$WATCHINGUSEREMAILADDR>

email_notification_subject:

page $PAGETITLE_QP has been changed by $PAGEEDITOR_QP

email_notification_headers: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: MediaWiki Notification Mailer Reply-To:$PAGEEDITORNAMEANDEMAILADDR_QP

Added by the Enotif script: From:WikiAdmin <$WIKIADMINEMAILADDR> OR From:$PAGEEDITORNAMEANDEMAILADDR_QP

email_notification_body: Dear $WATCHINGUSERNAME,

the page $PAGETITLE has been changed on $PAGEEDITDATE by $PAGEEDITOR, see for the current version.

See for all changes since your last visit. see for the next revision after your last visit.

Editor's summary: $PAGESUMMARY $PAGEMINOREDIT Contact the editor: mail wiki

There will be no other notifications in case of further changes unless you visit this page. You could also reset the notification flags for all your watched pages on your watchlist.

Your friendly notification system

-- To change your watchlist settings, visit

Feedback and further assistance:

Reference list of users, who actually use my patch and their comments

 * --Tom Gries mail 19:27, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC) no comments, as I wrote it.