Conversion of the old configuration's LocalSettings.php to Nix's flake.nix needs correction

[hgolden]

This is an opinion.

The conversion of Mediawiki's LocalSettings.php used in the old configuration (PHP) to a Nix flake needs to be reviewed. The two configuration systems are quite different and not in a good way.

In my opinion, I see no benefit, and considerable loss in the features available in the Mediawiki Nixpkg. Mediawiki admins are used to using LocalSettings.php to configure Mediawiki. Automating the conversion of LocalSettings.php to Nix configuration would be a big improvement over the current capabilities of the Nixpkg.

[chreekat]

Hi @hgolden, you're right, but I also think the best path is forward.

The problem is that big old systems like mediawiki have always been "collaboratively" configured. Three forces are in play:

1. OS distribution-specific configuration, usually under /usr or /var
2. OS distribution-specific defaults within user-managed configuration under /etc
3. User configuration

By switching to a new distribution, we are moving to a new paradim for 1. and 2. We'll have to change 3. to follow suit. That's why I think the best way to go is forward.

However, the wiki is still broken in a number of ways. We can fix that. And there are unnecessary changes from the old system to the new. We can fix that, too.

I think it's better to track individual issues in individual tickets, so let's do that and try to solve them as we go.

[chreekat]

I've started systematically checking each setting in the old LocalSettings.php.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cTHivjCQdM1IvN7HFXlWL7WpRnG7IPZIUTHXepREnL8/edit?usp=sharing

[chreekat]

The NixOS module only exposes a few settings through Nix attributes. The rest have to be put in a template string starting at

haskell-wiki-configuration/flake.nix

Line 83 in 5c39e40

extraConfig =

. The name of this string attribute is "extraConfig", which is a bit of a misnomer. It can really be considered the new place for the vast majority of our Mediawiki settings.