[pmwiki-users] Disambiguating Configuration and Customization

Bellave Jayaram bellavejayaram at cox.net
Thu Mar 23 01:15:45 CST 2006


I am trying to understand what these two terms mean in the context of PmWiki
and when to use or not use either term. 

 

The term 'configuration' is used in the following contexts:

 

1. the release directories and release files (the 'release configuration'
being the state of these directories and files as packaged with a given
version of PmWiki)

2. the config.php file and its contents (the 'configuration file' and
'configuration file settings' as packaged with a given version of PmWiki)

3. any server requirements in order to use PmWiki (the 'server
configuration' being the files and settings that configure a web server to
serve content managed by a given version of PmWiki)

4. any browser options in order to use PmWiki (the 'browser configuration'
being the settings that configure a web browser to display data sent to it
by a given version of PmWiki)

 

The term 'customization' (sometimes used as 'pmwiki customization') is used
in the following contexts:

 

1. additions and deletions to the release directories and release files
(such additions and deletions are said to be part of 'release configuration
customization')

2. additions and deletions to the config.php file (such additions and
deletions are said to be part of 'configuration file customization')

 

The term 'local customization' is used in the context of:

 

authorization and access, locale, skins, intermap, group, page .. ?

 

This brings up a few questions:

1.	Do the concepts of local configuration and global configuration
exist? If so, what do they mean?
2.	Why do we have a local customization and not another type - for
e.g., global customization? What is 'local' referring to?
3.	Why can't we replace 'local customization' with 'pmwiki
customization'?
4.	How about separate concepts called 'farm customization', 'recipe
customization', 'skin customization', 'group customization', 'page
customization' etc. which are subclasses of 'pmwiki customization'?
5.	Is 'per group customization' the same as 'group customization'?
6.	Could 'skin customization' (or other) be a part of 'recipe
customization'?
7.	Which customizations are disjoint?
8.	Which customization takes precedence over another?

 

I hope we can come to some consensus on this issue.

 

I know that some concepts are longer to type and a pain to get used to but
unless we disambiguate terms, we will always have difficulty with guiding
new users and getting them up to speed fast. We will also have an easier
time when sorting out what we mean when we use them and when we try to think
about the sequence of operations happening inside PmWiki. We can of course
always have aliases for any of these terms without losing any expressibility
(e.g., intermap is an alias for 'inter wiki string prefix definition
table').

 

Thanks,

Jayaram

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