Wikifunctions:Status
This page aims to give a reasonably current view on the current status of Wikifunctions. If something does not work, this page is a good first stop to check if that is a known issue.
This page is not the complete source of details. A more immediate view is the "Abstract Wikipedia" Phabricator board. This page just aims to provide a good and more easily understandable overview of major known issues and problems.
See Wikifunctions:Report a technical problem for details on how to report a bug or make a feature request.
Summary: This page is not complete. We don't plan to list every single user facing issue, but merely the main ones.
Prioritisation framework
This is the framework the development team use to make sure we're working on the important things for you.
| Level | Meaning | Timeliness | Areas of concern | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | A critical concern in production that must be fixed immediately | Fix immediately. Drop everything. |
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| P1 | The service is significantly limited, for a large number of users | Fix within a week. |
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| P2 | The service is limited, for a smaller number of users | Fix within a month. |
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| P3 | The service is imperfect, or could do better (including new feature requests) | Triage and set expectations. |
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Short-term current issues to fix
- These are issues that we're trying to fix immediately.
Editing broke, and then fixed itself
On publishing edits to an object, you would get an error message Caught exception of type MediaWiki\Extension\WikiLambda\ZErrorException and the edit would not be published. This is currently (2023-08-02) now working again, but without an understanding of how it broke we can't be sure it won't break again.
Medium-term improvements
- These are issues that we hope to fix or improve in the next few weeks and months, based on your feedback.
Function calls are restricted to logged-in users
We have for now limited function calls to logged-in users as we scale the service. We are working on providing access to logged-out users too.
Object creation & editing is restricted to Functioneers, not all users
Logged-in contributors can edit any non-object pages, like this one. Object pages are currently restricted to contributors with the Functioneer role. Contributors can apply for editing rights on wiki. Object editing rights will be granted slowly and gradually over the next few weeks, following our release plan. Thank you for your patience.
You can't link Wikifunctions pages on Wikidata yet
This needs delicate work from the Wikidata team, lest it break Wikidata for everyone everywhere. Hopefully it will be done soon!
Only String and Boolean types are supported
For now, we only support the String and Boolean types. There are a number of built-in functions, e.g. first element of a list, typed list, and many others, which are currently not well supported by the site. There is currently no due date for when this will be fixed. We are ready to add some user defined Types almost right away. But generic types and generic functions require a bit of development and bug-fixing.
Multi-lingual support is in early version
A language switcher is live on top of the page. We hope it works and you stay in your chosen language. Please report issues. We expect this to be a bumpy experiences when using a different interface language. We are committed to continually improve language support, but adding proper multi-lingual support to MediaWiki is difficult. Some major problems are already known, and once these are resolved we will be asking you to keep an eye open for issues in our multilingual support so that we can continue improving that.
Diffs are ugly
For now, diffs "work" but shows ugly blobs of JSON rather than a nice, understandable, formatted result. We want an experience like Wikidata's.
Long-term plans
- These are issues that we will prioritise based on your feedback and ideas, as part of the bigger plans for Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia.
You cannot fetch an Entity or Lexeme from Wikidata in your function
This will be a key part of the work for natural language generation and other needs.
You cannot embed Wikifunctions calls in Wikipedia articles, Wiktionary entries, etc.
This will be a vital part of helping communities get the benefit of Wikifunctions, as well as building towards the Abstract Wikipedia goal.
Function pages don't show you where or how much they're used
This would be an important way for the Wikifunctions community to decide how to focus effort and warn users of changes, like how the GlobalUsage tool guides the Commons community.
Search is ugly
For now, the search "works" but shows ugly blobs of JSON rather than a nice, understandable, formatted result.