MediaWiki patch: Hidden pages

This project is still under development.

By Eric Hartwell - latest update July 23, 2007

The MediaWiki Hidden namespaces patch (SourceForge) allows custom namespaces to be hidden from public view, only viewable for users with special permission.

• Meta: Hidden pages see SourceForge project hiddenwiki
• hiddenwiki patch source for MediaWiki 1.10.0 (SourceForge)

This article discusses implementation details for this site using MediaWiki 1.10.0.

[edit] Installation

1. Download the patch from SourceForge.
2. Install this patch using the linux command 'patch', like this: patch -p0 < hidden-1.10.0.patch
3. Update LocalSettings.php
4. After patching you should create three new system messages:
   • MediaWiki:RNSlist - with the phrase 'Available Namespaces', or similiar
   • MediaWiki:noaccesstitle - with a fitting title
   • MediaWiki:noaccesstext - with a text explaining why the user can't access this site

Once installed you need to make some changes to your LocalSettings.php-file.

You'll need to define accesskeys / groups of namespaces, which then can be used in $wgGroupPermissions. Groupnames must consist of only letters and numbers, and cannot contain a space or _.

The instructions in the README file are a little unclear, but here's the way it works on this site.^[1]

$wgExtraNamespaces = array(100 => "DevNotes", 101 => "DevNotes_Talk", 102 => "Support", 103 => "Support_Talk", 200 => "Client1", 201 => "Client1_Talk"); 
$wgContentNamespaces[] = array(100, 102, 200); 
$wgRestrictedNamespaces = array(100 => "nsInternal", 101 => "nsInternal", 200 => "nsClient1", 201 => "nsClient1"); 
 
$wgGroupPermissions['Internal']['nsDevNotes'] = true; 
$wgGroupPermissions['Internal']['nsClient1'] = true; 
$wgGroupPermissions['Client1']['nsClient1'] = true; 
 
$wgGoToEdit = true;

This does the following:

• Create the new namespaces DevNotes, Support, and Client1
• Restrict access to the DevNotes namespace using the nsInternal permission, and to the Client1 namespace using the nsClient1 permission
• Let members of the Internal user group access namespaces with the nsInternal permission, and the Client1 user group acess namespaces with the nsClient1 permission

Net result:

• All users can access the new Support namespace
• Only users in the Internal group can access the DevNotes namespace
• Only users in the Internal or Client1 groups can access the Client1 namespace

[edit] Bug fixes and workarounds

1. Odd behaviour, occasional error message: Undefined variable: wgRestrictedNamespaces in includes/Parser.php on line 3091
   • See Bugzilla: [ 1752753 ] Undefined variable: wgRestrictedNamespaces
   • Edit Parser.php and insert global $wgRestrictedNamespaces; at the start of function braceSubstitution( $piece ) around line 2905.
2. When you try to create a page in a restricted namespace using "Go",
   • Workaround: Add $wgGoToEdit = true; in LocalSettings.php
3. Entries for the restricted (and default) namespace added to end of sidebar
   • This is in the patch includes/Skin.php, function buildSidebar() around line 1663.
   • For this web I want to completely specify the sidebar in MediaWiki:Sidebar, so simply I reversed the patch for Skin.php.

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