Workplan

Priorities[edit | edit source]

Migrate the DCS Wiki to QualityBox's MWaaS, fully integrated with the Rails App, upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (or other 2018 Linux LTS) and MW 1.31 LTS.
Understand the DCS Wiki so as to be able to make any bug fixes and minor improvements requested by Matt.
Increase the maintainability of the DCS Wiki by rewriting and replacing extensions. Not a major priority now, but will be once the migration has been successful.

Failed attempt to transfer DCS Wiki, as is, to QualityBox. Reason: complexity and way the current SSO and authentication code is woven into LocalSettings (configuration) and other extensions (code).
100% coverage and review of the extension inventory. Need to still reformat (consolidate); remove unused extensions; and get input from Aran or get more detail on how to achieve priorities.

Uncovered the Apache configuration and also the document root and include paths for extensions. Rewrote mod_rewrite rules into working .htaccess rules. Still need to setup a local test environment where debugging, DNS and code changes would be easier. This is on the work plan for June.
After finally reviewing the existing documentation and most of the ~6600 lines of code in the DCS extensions, I would say that I'm fairly comfortable with making any bug fixes or minor improvements. A working local test/debug environment would go a long way towards making me very comfortable.
After reviewing the existing codebase, the time period it was developed, the lineage, or history of the code and functionality it offers compared with my knowledge of alternatives or current MediaWiki core, I've begun to find ways in which DCS can eliminate or reduce work load, technical debt, and bring the wiki more into conformance with a standard "QualityBox" wiki setup. When finally deployed on QualityBox, there will still be maintenance, but the system will be at "peak maintainability".

Est. Hours	Work
3-6 ^[1]	Discuss the feasibility of using the MW SSO extension with Jared, Aran and Mark Hershberger.
8-16	If this SSO extension appears feasible, set up the DCS Wiki without its SSO and authentication, in a QualityBox MWaaS instance on a local virtual machine. Linux and MW versions are selected to ease migration problems.
? ^[2]	If successful, develop a work plan, with estimated hours, for migrating the DCS Wiki to DO and integrating the MW SSO extension.
?	If the MW SSO extension is determined to be not feasible, evaluate: Abandoning the MWaaS objective and migrating the MW production server to DO (or Microsoft Azure) with the existing configuration and upgrading the server to a 2018 LTS Linux distro and MW 1.31 or Rewrite the existing DCS SSO to work with MWaaS ^[3] to achieve Objective #1.
5 ^[4]	In either event, completing and consolidating the list of active DCS extensions, including category (Regular, Custom DCS, Organic Design, etc), lines of code, type of code, and other useful columns, including questions and recommendations to be discussed with Aran.
1-2	Send the consolidated extension list to Aran and Matt for review. Please add any additional information regarding the purpose/functionality of each extension.

↑ Already spoke with Mark, and he thinks it's doable - although we didn't go into details about the SSO spec
↑ Depends on #1 to find out what work is entailed on the Rails side.
↑ Narrow the footprint of the code during configuration, initialization and dependencies for easy by-pass in testing and/or mock data and routines for "LocalTesting"
↑ I've already completed most of this effort with about 15 hours logged