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FAQ: opensolaris.org Website Transition

General Information

This FAQ contains general questions and answers about the Summer/Fall 2009 opensolaris.org website transition. Questions are grouped into three sections: General Questions, questions about Auth, and questions about XWiki.

If you would like a question added or an answer expanded or otherwise improved, please send email to website-discuss AT opensolaris DOT org with "Transition FAQ" in the subject line. Please be as specific as possible about a new question or what changes would make an existing answer more helpful.

Information about the website transition is also available in the Website Community Group, and a User Action FAQ is available.

NOTE: If you have questions about how your content looks on XWiki after the final content migration, please check the 'POST-MIGRATION' section of the content preparation page.

General Questions

What site components are changing?

Two major areas are changing in Summer 2009 in separate Phases:

Why are the site components changing?

  • http://auth.opensolaris.org was added to enable better user authentication and account management on the site to support open development operations. It also lays the groundwork for Single Sign On capability on the site that will allow users to log in once and access all opensolaris.org applications. When the transition initially occurs, most applications will not yet be integrated with Auth. By the end of Phase 3, all applications running on the site will be integrated and Single Sign On capability will be available across the site.
  • The move to the XWiki-based site at http://hub.opensolaris.org is a response to consistent user feedback since the initial launch in 2005 that the community wanted a wiki-based site to better enable content editing.

When are the changes happening?

Changes are happening in Phases:

  • The first phase was the move to using auth.opensolaris.org. That phase was completed on August 3, 2009.
  • The second phase is the move to an XWiki-based site. The target date for Phase 2 is Mon, October 26, 2009.
  • A third phase will include remaining applications integrating with the Auth app and other work determined during Phases 1 and 2. Details about Phase 3, including target dates, are TBD.

What action will I need to take and when?

At a very high level:

  • Phase 1: After the change to the new user management application on August 3, 2009, users will be required to validate their accounts within three months of the change (i.e., by November 3, 2009). Any accounts not validated within three months will be made inactive. Information about how to validate accounts will be sent to all users before the change occurs, and reminder emails will be sent during the three-month period after the change.
  • Phase 2: Prior to moving to the XWiki-based site on Mon, October 26, 2009, migrated site content will be available for viewing on http://hub.opensolaris.org. The migration tools will not migrate 100% of site content perfectly, so some manual work will be necessary either before or after the move. The hub site provides a way to see migrated content so people can decide whether to make changes on the existing site so content will migrate more successfully or wait until after the move and make changes on the new site. In August, content preparation information was made available to the community, and content migrations began three times a week and will run through October so people can make changes to existing site content and see how it migrates. Community participation will be needed to ensure that as much content as possible migrates successfully when the site moves.
    See the question below in the section about XWiki about how to prepare for content migration for Phase 2.
    Email has been and will be sent to all users registered on opensolaris.org about the transition. Different emails will contain specifics about each phase and either instructions or pointers to instructions. Email updates and other information is also sent to the website-discuss AT opensolaris DOT org and opensolaris-announce AT opensolaris DOT org lists.  Subscribe to those lists to track this information. You can also check the Website Community Group page for information.

Why can't new Projects and Community Groups be created on the current site between Phase 1 and Phase 2?

After Phase 1 on August 3, the Auth database became the lead database.  Changes made to that database are now 'reverse-migrated' to the old Tonic database until all applications integrate with Auth. But there is no way to migrate data FROM the Tonic database TO the Auth database after August 3.  Therefore, no new information can be stored in the Tonic database after August 3. And creating new Projects and Community Groups on the current site involves putting data in the Tonic database.  HOWEVER, if teams want to get a new collective started during this time, they can. They can go through the appropriate approval process and send email to the project-setup list. The request will be queued, and when we move to XWiki, the new space will be set up there. Before the move, mailing lists can be created. And pages can be created on the current site within an existing collective. So for example, if you want to start a new Project in the Test Community Group, you would seek approval, send email to project-setup and get your mailing list created. If the Test Community Group agrees, you can also set up pages within that Community Group to start posting information and getting your work started. Once the move to XWiki happens, a new Project space will be created on the new site and you can move your data from the Community Group pages to the new Project space.

What site features are going away?

Some site features will go away in Phase 2 when the transition to the XWiki-based site happens. Information about site features can be found on the Site Features page.

What site features are being added?

In Phase 1, language support for 18 languages was added to the new membership management application (as opposed to three for old site registration). Also, some new capabilities have been added in the Auth application, such as a search mechanism for users, viewing collective relationships, etc. In Phase 2, there will be some new features that are specific to XWiki. Information about site features can be found at the Site Features page. The User Action FAQ contains questions and answers about user actions on the site.

What site features will be implemented differently?

In Phase 1, user management is changing, so how you register on the site and how you manage your account will change. How some role information is displayed on the site will also change. Information about site features can be found on the Site Features page.  The User Action FAQ contains questions and answers about user actions on the site.

What else is changing?

The new website infrastructure implements three types of collectives on the site, and roles are defined within each collective. See the User Action FAQ or the Roles & Collectives document for information about collectives and roles. The role names and privileges associated with different applications running on the site are different than the terminology used on the original portal site. For example, on the original site, a "Leader" in a collective was just someone with edit privileges for the pages of that collective, and a "Leader" in a Project was someone who also had commit rights to the Project's source repositories.
In the new infrastructure, the design approach is to define a core set of roles for each collective and have applications running on the site assign relevant privileges to those roles. A Leader in a Project will have certain XWiki privileges when we move to Phase 2, and within a Project, he/she will have commit rights to all the Project's source code repositories. A Leader will also be able to assign/change roles within the Project. So a Project Leader will be able to designate someone a Developer and then grant commit rights to one or more source code repositories to that Developer. XWiki will interpret the role of Project Developer as being able to edit Project pages. A User Group Leader will be able to designate someone an Affiliate and XWiki will interpret that role as being able to edit User Group pages.  Again, refer to the User Action FAQ and the Roles & Collectives document for information about collectives and roles. Refer to the Site Features page for detail about how site features and functionality change as a result of the transitions.

What happens in Phase 1 to my current privileges, including my voting rights?

On August 3, privileges that a user already had migrated to the new system. Voting rights are part of the existing data that migrated. See the Data Migration document for detail about how existing data will move.

Have these changes been discussed openly in the community?

Re: auth.opensolaris.org

How can I prepare for the user management change?

Read the Roles & Collectives document and the Data Migration strategy that explain the roles an collectives and how data was migrated from existing data sources to the new database. The new Auth application is available at: http://auth.opensolaris.org. 

Will Single Sign On capability be provided for opensolaris.org?

Auth makes Single Sign On capability for the opensolaris.org website feasible. Eventually, by the end of Phase 3 (target date TBD), all the applications running on the site will be integrated with Auth, and you will then have access to all those applications when you log in to the site.

Will Single Sign On capability be available for applications outside of opensolaris.org?

Yes, but not until after Phase 3. The first priority is integrating all of the applications running on opensolaris.org. After that, documentation about how other applications can integrate will be made available.

Why must I have two security questions?

Security is necessary to ensure the integrity of the code published on opensolaris.org. If you have access to someone's account you could potentially use it to commit code to repositories as if you were them.

Where can I find more detail about auth.opensolaris.org features and functionality?

You can look at the site at http://auth.opensolaris.org. You can read the User Action FAQ. 

Re: XWiki

Why is wiki functionality needed?


Community input since the initial launch in 2005 has included requests for wiki functionality on the main website to better enable site editing.

Why was XWiki chosen?


Requirements were gathered, discussed and finalized in the website community. Multiple packages were discussed and two were formally evaluated after the open requirements period. XWiki was chosen because it best met the requirements. Both the wiki requirements and the XWiki evaluation are published.

Will a copy of the old site be available after the transition?


Yes, a copy of the old site will be available for approximately three months after the transition. The copy will be on stage.os.org.

Will my current web page content be migrated for me?


A migration tool has been written that will migrate content. The expectation is that migration via this tool will be about 80% successful.  Content owners will need to review content and probably make updates once migration is complete. Content owners can also update current content to help ensure successful migration.

How should I prepare my web page content for migration?


In general,

  • Clean HTML or TML is best. NOTE that many programs that generate HTML generate poorly-formed HTML that will be problematic.
  • Delete dead content.
  • Make sure attachments on the files/downloads pages are still current.  Remove those that are not.
    Refer to the Content Preparations web page for more information.

How do I know whether I need to do anything to my current content on opensolaris.org?

Examine your pages on hub.opensolaris.org and if anything seems awry, check the Content Preparation page to see if any of the points outlined there are likely causes.

How long do I have to prepare my content for migration?

Mon, October 26, 2009 is the target date for moving to the XWiki site.  There will be repeated migrations on a weekly basis to the BETA site at hub.opensolaris.org between August and October so people can view the migrated content and make changes to opensolaris.org content as needed.

What happens if I do nothing to my current content on opensolaris.org?

The content will be migrated as-is.

Can I make changes to the XWiki pages after the move to XWiki?

Yes, moving forward after October 2009 (final date of move TBD) all changes will be to the XWiki pages. You are free to leave your content alone on opensolaris.org and make any necessary changes related to the migration on the XWiki pages after the transition to XWiki. NOTE: ANY CHANGES MADE TO XWIKI PAGES PRIOR TO THE FINAL MIGRATION AND MOVE TO XWIKI WILL BE LOST.

Does XWiki have a text mode editor?

When you edit a page, there are two tabs at the top: WYSIWYG and Wiki. If you choose the tab labeled WYSIWYG, you're using the WYSIWYG editor and if you choose Wiki, you're using the XWiki markup editor.

If you have text already in a separate file:

  • if you paste the text into the WYSIWYG editor, it's just there as text until you choose to format it;
  • if you paste the text into the Wiki editor, it's there as text but certain characters will be interpreted as Wiki markup when it displays.

If I use HTML on the current site, will I still be able to HTML on the new site?

For security and content integrity reasons, the site supports XWiki markup as the main page formatting language. HTML is supported in attachments, but it is not recommended for general use and it will be restricted in subsequent versions of XWiki. The use of the HTML macro will also be restricted in subsequent versions and is not recommended for general use. 

Will I be required to learn the XWiki markup language?

If you want to use XWiki markup, you may. Online instructions are available. However, one of the requirements from the community was that the chosen wiki have a WSIWYG editor, so that is also available.

Are URLs changing?

Yes. Moving to a wiki-based site means URLs will change.

Will existing links be redirected to the new site?

Yes. We will make a full 1:1 mapping of all the old pages on the http://opensolaris.org/os/ site to any new pages being migrated to XWiki on http://hub.opensolaris.org/. The list will be cleaned periodically to remove 404s and links with no traffic (no hits to the destination page in 12 months). There will be no second redirect, however. So if the target page moves, the request will return a 404. We can add additional links, on an as-needed basis, such as if links are published in books or product readme files. However, we ask that teams migrate product links as soon as feasible after the transition.
Also, regarding the front page redirects: http://opensolaris.org and
http://www.opensolaris.org will redirect to
http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/ - just as today they redirect to
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/.

Can the title of my space's menu be edited?

No. The title of the menu for your space is auto-generated from the name of your Community Group, Project, or User Group. You can re-parent pages in your space and those changes will be reflected in the menu.

Why is the Files page for my space empty?

The files page appears to be empty because attachments are not visible by default. To view your files, choose Show Attachments from the top navigation menu.

Is it possible to create an anchored link with the WYSIWYG editor?

Yes. In the WYSIWYG Editor, use the TOC macro to create anchored links in your document.

What does it mean when I see link text followed by a question mark (e,g., MyPage?) in my migrated content?

The link points to a non-existent page. That doesn't mean the content isn't where it should be, it just means the link is incorrect. You should check your link on the corresponding opensolaris.org page. If the problem isn't obvious, send email to website-discuss with specifics about the link text on the opensolaris.org page so someone can investigate.

Will unhidden child pages of hidden parent pages be preserved?

Yes. For example: stage.opensolaris.org/os/community/on/flag-days/pages is hidden. But stage.opensolaris.org/os/community/on/flag-days/pages/2006063003 is migrated to hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Community+Group+on/2006063003. NOTE: unhidden pages in a hidden space will not be migrated.

If I change the source HTML to make the conversion work better, how can I tell if it worked?

We will migrate the new set of source each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout August and Ocotber, so you can check to see if your changes worked multiple times a week. 

Why does XWiki think my text file is a binary file?

What you're seeing is a "problem" with mime-types. Mime-types are a way to identify what sort of file content is being sent. To do that, the server needs a way of telling what the content is. The way tomcat does it is to define the mime type based on extensions in a config file called web.xml.  Be sure the file has the .txt extension, Then it should be recognized as a text file.

Where can I find more detail about XWiki features and functionality?

General XWiki information is available at the following links. However, note that not all features will necessarily be available and some features may differ from what you see at these links. As we approach Phase 2, more detail about features on the opensolaris.org site will be available.  

What are the known issues with post-migration content editing?

Workaround for XWiki editor bug

Sometimes on XWiki, when switching to the XWiki editor from the WYSIWYG editor, you may see a blank page and/or this error message in red: "Exception while parsing HTML".  You might also see this error when trying to Preview changes in the WYSIWYG editor. Use the following workaround: Check the URL in the browser window.  Make sure the text following the ? or & is only "editor=wiki".  If that is the text already there, re-type some or all of the text.  The XWiki markup should then be displayed.

This is a bug in XWiki that is fixed in the next version. When we upgrade the opensolaris.org site to Xwiki 2.0, we will get the fix. The upgrade to Xwiki 2.0 date is still TBD.

Empty File pages

If you have a Files page and it looks empty when it shouldn't be, do the following;  Move your cursor over 'Show' in the XWiki nav bar at the top of the page.  The pull-down menu will include an item called 'Attachments'.  Click on that.  And the attachments on the Files page will be listed.

Attachments with an underscore in the file name

XWiki removes '_' characters from file names.  The migration process should take account of this, but may fail to modify all attachment links.

Double-check links to attached files and correct where necessary.

Page anchors

XWiki implements page anchors differently than TML or HTML, so a straight migration isn't possible.

The XWiki TableOfContents macro can be useful if all that is needed is page anchors to section titles, otherwise the anchors can be manually added post migration, for example if a page has a section heading.

Installing

which when rendered to HTML by XWiki has an id tag of 'HInstalling', and so may be linked to thus;

[[installing>>Community Group example.anchorExample#HInstalling]]

Missing attachments

Some attachments may fail to get uploaded as part of the automated content migration.

Manually attach the missing file to the appropriate XWiki page.  Note
that in some cases, links to the attachment may also be broken, which will also require manual intervention.

For example, images which links to a larger version of themselves;

[[[[image:small.png||alt="Small picture"]]>>large.png]]

and the larger image is not attached to the page. To remedy, attach the file and change the link to

[[[[image:small.png||alt="Small picture"]]>>attach:large.png]]

Escaped Double Dash

Double dashes ("--") are XWiki syntax for strike out so the migration process escapes these with a tilde (""). Unfortunately, the escape character is treated literally inside 'verbatim' blocks (<pre> </pre> in html and in XWiki) which might cause unwanted text on XWiki pages after the migration.

If you use double dashes, check your pages and if needed, remove the extraneous tilde ("") in cases where double dashes are used inside verbatim blocks.

Formatting within <pre> tags

<pre>

 tags translate to XWiki as verbatim blocks.  Formatting is translated but won't result formatting within the <pre> blocks.  For example, if text is bold within a <pre> block, that will translate as:

** text that was to be bold **

showing up within the grey box.

After the transition, <pre> blocks will need to be checked and any formatting fixed on the XWiki page.

Embedded media

Original information:

Media (flash, video etc) which were originally presented with an <OBJECT> tag will not migrate.

Upload the necessary files and add a link to what was the embedded media;

[[Some media file>>attach:User Group media.examplePage/@mediaFile.ext]]

This doesn't embed the media, but at least it is available to the user, assuming browser support.

UPDATE:

The use of embedded media will be supported, but the website team will probably need to do manual work on XWiki pages after the migration as opposed to being able to change things on opensolaris.org before the migration.  This work will probably include use of a custom macro.

More detail will be communicated when we have finalized how this will be handled, but be assured that this will be addressed post-migration and that existing videos on opensolaris.org will be preserved.

last modified by michelle on 2009/11/20 01:39
 
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