Porting, attachments and the W3C wiki servers

Just so everyone understands, I don't have access to the code in the W3C
servers. I have some snapshots of the underlying files in order to help
me do a port from moinmoin to MediaWiki, but anything that involves
radical changes to the servers is not in scope for me. Even if I make
mods on a test server of my own, pushing them into the W3C would mean
they would be working on a branch away from the main server code. That
puts additional demand on the W3C team, who are overstretched as it is.
I want to find mechanisms that are the least invasive, and which can be
applied to any future upgrades of the servers with ease.

Adding a few additional config lines to the MediaWiki server isn't too
bad. Nor is adding some clever pattern matching .htaccess hack. But
digging deeper could be a problem. The last thing I want to do is create
a headache for the team. The DDWG has a modest moinmoin wiki, and we're
going to try to port it to MediaWiki with as little pain as possible,
and do so in a way that ensures the existing URLs remain functional, as
is the policy of the W3C.

The tool (or hack, if you prefer) that I am creating to port the wiki is
just a few hundred lines of Perl. I would really like it to be possible
to execute the port without having to change anything on the target
MediaWiki server. However, I encounter problems like "attachments" and
suddenly this is getting a little bit complicated. If I can remove the
complication with a simple server config here and there, that is best.
Even if it means my tool has to get a little more complicated than it
already is.

Nevertheless, keep the ideas coming :)

If this port works, I have a feeling that a few other wikis might want
to follow.

---Rotan.

PS I'm thinking of porting the moinmoin smilies too. Things like <!> and
(*). I think the MediaWiki extended image syntax should do the trick.