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diff --git a/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn b/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 000000000..642114d97 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/todo/transient_pages.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ +On [[todo/auto-create_tag_pages_according_to_a_template]], [[chrysn]] +suggests: + +> Instead of creating a file that gets checked in into the RCS, the +> source files could be left out and the output files be written as +> long as there is no physical source file (think of a virtual underlay). +> Something similar would be required to implement alias directive, +> which couldn't be easily done by writing to the RCS as the page's +> contents can change depending on which other pages claim it as an alias. + +`add_autofile` could be adapted to do this, or a similar API could be +added. + +This would also be useful for autoindex, as suggested on +[[plugins/autoindex/discussion]]. I'd also like to use it for +[[plugins/contrib/album]]. + +One refinement I'd suggest is that if the transient page is edited, +its transient contents are evaluated and used as the initial +content for the edit box; after that, it'd become a static page. --[[smcv]] + +-------------------------- + +[[!template id=gitbranch branch=smcv/ready/transient author="[[smcv]]"]] +[[!tag patch]] + +I think this branch is now enough to be useful. It adds the following: + +If the `transient` plugin is loaded, `$srcdir/.ikiwiki/transient` is added +as an underlay. + +Pages with the default extension in the transient underlay are automatically +deleted if a page of the same name is created in the srcdir (or an underlay +closer to the srcdir in stacking order). + +`tag` enables `transient`, and if `tag_autocreate_commit` is set to 0 +(default 1), autocreated tags are written to the transient underlay. + +`autoindex` uses autofiles. It also enables `transient`, and if +`autoindex_commit` is set to 0 (default 1), autoindexes are written to +the transient underlay. + +autoindex ignores pages in the transient underlay when deciding whether +to generate an index. + +Not done yet: + +`remove` can't remove transient pages: this turns out to be harder than +I'd hoped, because I don't want to introduce a vulnerability in the +non-regular-file detection... + +Transient tags that don't match any pages aren't deleted: I'm not sure +that that's a good idea anyway, though. Similarly, transient autoindexes +of directories that become empty aren't deleted. + +Recent changes and aggregated files could conceivably go in the transient +underlay too. + +-------------------------- + +## An earlier version + +I had a look at implementing this. It turns out to be harder than I thought +to have purely in-memory pages (several plugins want to be able to access the +source file as a file), but I did get this proof-of-concept branch +to write tag and autoindex pages into an underlay. + +This loses the ability to delete the auto-created pages (although they don't +clutter up git this way, at least), and a lot of the code in autoindex is +probably now redundant, so this is probably not quite ready for merge, but +I'd welcome opinions. + +Usage: set `tag_underlay` and/or `autoindex_underlay` to an absolute path, +which you must create beforehand. I suggest *srcdir* + `/.ikiwiki/transient`. + +Refinements that could be made if this approach seems reasonable: + +* make these options boolean, and have the path always be `.ikiwiki/transient` +* improve the `remove` plugin so it also deletes from this special underlay + +>> Perhaps it should be something more generic, so that other plugins could use it (such as "album" mentioned above). +>> The `.ikiwiki/transient` would suit this, but instead of saying "tag_underlay" or "autoindex_underlay" have "use_transient_underlay" or something like that? +>> Or to make it more flexible, have just one option "transient_underlay" which is set to an absolute path, and if it is set, then one is using a transient-underlay. +>> --[[KathrynAndersen]] + +>>> What I had in mind was more like `tag_autocreate_transient => 1` or +>>> `autoindex_transient => 1`; you might conceivably want tags to be +>>> checked in but autoindices to be transient, and it's fine for each +>>> plugin to make its own decision. Going from that to one boolean +>>> (or just always-transient if people don't think that's too +>>> astonishing) would be trivial, though. +>>> +>>> I don't think relocating the transient underlay really makes sense, +>>> except for prototyping: you only want one, and `.ikiwiki` is as good +>>> a place as any (ikiwiki already needs to be able to write there). +>>> +>>> For [[plugins/contrib/album]] I think I'd just make the photo viewer +>>> pages always-transient - you can always make a transient page +>>> permanent by editing it, after all. +>>> +>>> Do you think this approach has enough potential that I should +>>> continue to hack on it? Any thoughts on the implementation? --[[smcv]] + +>>>> Ah, now I understand what you're getting at. Yes, it makes sense to put transient pages under `.ikiwiki`. +>>>> I haven't looked at the code, but I'd be interested in seeing whether it's generic enough to be used by other plugins (such as `album`) without too much fuss. +>>>> The idea of a transient underlay gives us a desirable feature for free: that if someone edits the transient page, it is made permanent and added to the repository. +>>>> +>>>> I think the tricky thing with removing these transient underlay pages is the question of how to prevent whatever auto-generated the pages in the first place from generating them again - or, conversely, how to force whatever auto-generated those pages to regenerate them if you've changed your mind. +>>>> I think you'd need something similar to `will_render` so that transient pages would be automatically removed if whatever auto-generated them is no longer around. +>>>> -- [[KathrynAndersen]] |