[pmwiki-users] PmWiki work directory

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud at pobox.com
Mon Dec 18 12:50:58 CST 2006


We've discussed this in the past, but two recent messages to the 
mailing lists [1, 2] convince me that we really need a dedicated 
"work directory" (other than wiki.d/) where PmWiki can store 
temporary working files.

The simplest approach at this point is to simply have PmWiki
create a work.d/ directory (in the pmwiki root) and have it start 
storing its files there.  The work files that have traditionally
gone into wiki.d/ would then lose the dot, so that we have:

    work.d/flock
    work.d/pagelist
    work.d/notify
    ...etc...

A big advantage is that we can then easily do

    session_save_path('work.d');

and a *lot* of PHP configuration issues disappear:

  1. Sessions in a farm no longer "move" from one wiki to the next
  2. PHP sessions on Windows platforms work by default
  3. The "/tmp is not writable" problem is no longer an issue
  4. Don't have to worry about session timeouts from other PHP
     scripts

This topic has come up in the past, and many people have 
suggested alternate directory layouts that refactor PmWiki's
directory structure a bit.  So, now might be a good time to
revisit some of them, and perhaps look at new ideas.  All I ask
is that proposals be kept short and to the point.  If a lot
of explanation or justification is needed, then divide the
message up into "summary" and "long description" sections.

Some initial constraints:
  - Unless there are extremely compelling circumstances, I have no
    intent to change the layout of cookbook/, pub/, local/, scripts/,
    or docs/ .
  - Proposals cannot assume that everyone is running Apache, 
    has mod_rewrite available, or has the ability to create symlinks.
  - Initial installation should continue to be as close to "unzip
    and run" as it is now.
  - The default must continue to run in PHP safe_mode environments
    at least as well as it does now.

So, as usual, comments welcomed.

Thanks!

Pm

1. http://www.pmichaud.com/pipermail/pmwiki-users/2006-December/037312.html
2. http://www.pmichaud.com/pipermail/pmwiki-devel/2006-December/000481.html




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