All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Wiki recommendations, anyone?

jordan on 2003-09-15T14:42:56

We've been using elog at work for a knowledgebase. It's not really working out very well.

I think it's too much like a ticketing system. People are intimidated by it and don't want to enter information until they have it in a good format for an ENTRY. It's the wrong psychology, but it's hard to overcome. Even I feel that way.

I'm thinking a Wiki might be a better format. I'm exploring options. I want something pretty powerful as there will be a lot of people using it at two geographically disparate locations. I'd like lots of flexibility and features to cover all the kinds of data we might want to put out there.

I'm attracted to TWiki. Does anyone want to scare me away? Is the setup and maintenance here a big deal? Should I instead focus on something simpler and move up to TWiki when I hit limitations?

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Twiki code

autarch on 2003-09-15T18:09:11

I looked at the Twiki code recently, and it's really scary. So scary I wouldn't even consider installing it.

Re:Twiki code

mako132 on 2003-09-15T21:05:09

Nah. The install isn't a problem. It helps, however, to know how CGI work and the issues around the webserver owner and file permissions.

The code may be scary, but it's been in use for a long time.

Re:Twiki code

autarch on 2003-09-15T21:24:43

My point wasn't that I thought the install would fail, but rather that the code was so disturbing that I would not be _willing_ to install it.

Re:Twiki code

jordan on 2003-09-15T23:14:13

I think I understand how CGI work and have a good handle webserver owner/file permission issues.

The code might be ugly, I don't know, but I hear that CGI.pm is pretty frightening too, but I use it a lot.

The fact that there's a huge user base, it's mature and actively developed mean a lot to me.

Can anyone comment on how difficult it is to setup and maintain?

Re:Twiki code

lachoy on 2003-09-16T00:12:38

Setup is fairly simple -- IIRC you just need to unpack the files into a directory, chown them if necessary, and point Apache to them. If you want HTTP auth then there's a file to edit in the /cgi-bin/twiki/ directory. Maintenance (in the programming sense) is basically zero. Taking care of content is far more time consuming.

Modifying the look of it is somewhat of a pain. It doesn't use a modern templating system, which is more an indiciation of its age than anything else. It does have a facility called 'Skins', but while they work well they're difficult to customize. (I went through a number of iterations modifying a skin for use in the OpenInteract wiki site.

One nice thing about TWiki is the number of plugins. They're very easy to create as well: big plus.

Re:Twiki code

jordan on 2003-09-16T01:14:51

  • One nice thing about TWiki is the number of plugins. They're very easy to create as well: big plus.

I would love to be able to integrate this knowledge-base/Wiki with the application we support for examples and tutorials. Plug-ins might be a big win.

I'll try it out!

CGI::Wiki

echo on 2003-09-15T18:46:07

After a real quicky survey of existing modules I settled for CGI::Wiki to build a documentation wiki with. Its modular approach made it easy for me to customize it, integrating with the rest of the app's TT templates, adding diffs with Text:Diff. I found it easy to understand CGI::Wiki's source code.

Wikis still take some getting used to

mako132 on 2003-09-15T21:16:54

Only lately has our Wiki (Twiki) started to take off. For a while I was on the only one creating pages, but then slowly, a couple of people started and once I forced (instead of asked) my sys admins to use it, we're now rockin'.

I'm finding that people find the Wiki syntax intimidating, just because it is different, even though it is simple.

Also, some people aren't comfortable with the philosophy of a continuously modified document -- they want to do once, completely, and be done with it . So asking them to just throw anything onto a Wiki page, not worry about formatting, not worry about spelling, makes people suspicious. They'd rather use some HTML editor with spell checking.

Finally, I find my collegues uncomfortable with a website that has an ad hoc structure, or a structure in flux. They would rather someone create an official navigation header and decide on official places to put web pages, rather than let it grow on its own.

But it sure is sweet when the light goes on over their head and they see the beauty.

Re: Wiki recommendations, anyone?

jmcnamara on 2003-09-15T22:08:14


I recommend (and have recommended) CGI::Kwiki.

Re: Re: Wiki recommendations, anyone?

Louis_Wu on 2003-09-15T23:01:21

If you want a completely unbiased view of Wiki's, Ingy will be talking about Kwiki at the Seattle Perl Mongers meeting on Tuesday night. Or you could check the SPUGWiki for more info.

"So you want to talk about my modules?" (This talk has not been rated.)

Re: Re: Wiki recommendations, anyone?

jordan on 2003-09-16T02:36:22

Well, now, I'll have to look at CGI::Kwiki, too.

Gosh, it looks so easy to try. why not?

It looks like it's also pretty easy to extend. Thanks for the pointers.