Talk:WMDE Technical Wishes/Move files to Commons

General feedback

• I'm looking at the file [1], it has indeed been imported so that the page history is intact and the file was apparently uploaded in 2015. There's no indication in the File History section that the file has been imported from another Wiki: maybe there should be, to preserve that aspect of the history and potentially avoid confusion? Ghouston (talk) 03:24, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
• Will it affect bots that monitor the most recently uploaded files? They may not process these ones if they have a fake date. Ghouston (talk) 03:24, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
• Will we have files that are apparently uploaded before the date that Commons was founded? Would that be weird? Ghouston (talk) 03:24, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
• I think all the above problems, plus any need to keep the Original Upload Log, could be fixed by a) on the old, fake file history lines, add a suffix that says what Wiki the event actually happened at, like (enwiki) b) add a new history line to record the transfer to Commons, this will set the file upload date on Commons to the date of the transfer. Ghouston (talk) 03:37, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

• Hello @Ghouston: about b): Information about the transfer is being preserved in the version history. Example:
  13:51, 18 April 2018‎ Lealea (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (3,381 bytes) (+176)‎ . . (Imported with FileImporter from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cirrus_front_over_Austnesfjorden,_Austvågøya,_Lofoten,_Norway,_2015_April.jpg)
  Would this solve the problems you mentioned? If not, could you elaborate a bit what this is lacking and why? Thanks! -- Best, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 09:14, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

• @Johanna Strodt (WMDE): I noticed that it was in the file history. I think my main concern is that it would break the Allimages API, when sorting files by timestamp to find recently uploaded files. I suppose my suggested fix may not be desirable if it would require making a duplicate copy of the file. Ghouston (talk) 00:56, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

• If user has local admin flag, they should be able to delete local files right away, but #User rights don't mention it. — regards, Revi 10:32, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
• Is this a typo: “On a local file page, the logged in user can click on an "Import to Commons" link” (italic by me)? Shouldn’t this mean Export? — Speravir (talk) – 21:48, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

• @Speravir: Our reasoning was that Commons is in the tool’s focus and from a Commons perspective what happens is an import. But depending on the viewpoint, both import and export can make sense. We’ll keep thinking about this. -- Best, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 16:14, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

• What does copied mean: Is it not anymore deleted on the original wiki? What happens then if the local copy is altered, file or description? How to deal with existing redirects – what happens now if they exist? — Speravir (talk) – 22:11, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

Original Upload Log

Considering that the MediaWiki feature we’re working on will import the version history properly, do you consider it necessary to still provide the Original Upload Log? If so, why?

• Shouldn't be needed as long as all the information is present in the File History, e.g., the wiki where the file was originally uploaded and its name at that wiki, and the date it was transferred to Commons, and maybe who transferred it. Ghouston (talk) 04:13, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
• I tested files with suppressed previous revisions - it just failed. Maybe it should leave a note on file description (There was suppressed previous version blah blah) and let it go. — regards, Revi 14:22, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

  @-revi: Can you give an example of a file that failed? -- Thanks, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 15:00, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

  this one. — regards, Revi 15:08, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

  @-revi: Thanks! -- Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 13:25, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

CommonsHelper

I think it is important to get Magnus Manske at least informed or if possible to get involved him: He is the author and maintainer of the wonderful CommonsHelper which I frequently use. Magnus’ tool had either to be rewritten or would be obsolete. In the latter case more users had to be involved: The way I use the helper is actually by a userscript of Schnark, and there may be more cases. — Speravir (talk) – 22:03, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

@Speravir:: Thank you! Yes, we are in touch with Magnus Manzke. -- Best, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 15:41, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Oh there is also toolforge:commonshelper2 which I did not know until now and hence cannot say anything about this. — Speravir (talk) – 22:06, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

@Speravir: https://tools.wmflabs.org/commonshelper2 leads to an error page. Did you mean https://tools.wmflabs.org/admin/tool/commonshelper2 ? -- Best, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 15:41, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Yes, Johanna, sorry that I didn’t check the link I provided. I found it by searching for Commons in Toolforge. — Speravir (talk) – 17:45, 24 April 2018 (UTC)