File Uploads - New Version

[kazooter]

For Brett: Used to be when I uploaded a mod file (zipped) to the TNGWiki and discovered I'd left something out, I could go to the Special Pages. find the file and click on "Upload new version" of the same file.  That's it.  Everything worked as expected.  Today (and for a long time) when I do that, it shows that I've uploaded a new version, but the content remains the same as the old file.  The workaround is pretty ugly.  I suspect there is a TNGWiki switch of some sort that prevents use from overwriting the old file with a new one.  Any chance of fixing that?

Rick
 

[Brett]

Rick

I have noticed this a couple of times. I have stopped using the Specialpage as first option. I do another file upload of new file with same file name. This the warns a file exists and I use the replace option from there. Give that a try. 

[tngrlkrz]

The way Brett described is the only way I have uploaded a new version.  Didn't know of another way

Ron

[Bill Herndon]

On 5/6/2026 at 12:39 AM, tngrlkrz said:

The way Brett described is the only way I have uploaded a new version.  Didn't know of another way

Or...don't host on the TNG Wiki at all.  But instead keep your distros off-site and under your control for licensing and maintenance reasons.    (More performant too!)

Mine are mostly hosted in a dedicated distribution directory at lindell-herndon.org, but I'll be moving them soon to a new domain and site where I'll have live previews of my templates.

Bill Herndon

Lindell-Herndon Genealogy

 

[kazooter]

Thanks for the feedback. 

I was using the Special pages under the assumption I would not have to modify the URL in my click counter and update the TNGWiki id# for making a small change in a file I had just uploaded minutes before.

I just tried it again.  I downloaded one of my mods from the TNGWiki, and made a trivial change to a comment in the CFG file. 

Using the Special Pages, File list I found the last version I uploaded and clicked on the option to upload a new version.  I chose the "Ignore warning" and uploaded it.  The page now shows I have a new version.  I downloaded the new version, but it appears to be the old one without the change I made in a comment I made.

Next I just did an "Upload file" and ignored the warning about a file with the same name...

I got exactly the same page I did on the first experiment showing that a new version had been uploaded.  I checked the URL and was pleasantly surprised that the URL had not changed. Great!

BUT then I downloaded the new version and the content did not contain the updated comment I had just made for testing.  It was still the file I had originally uploaded.

So it really is not working as expected and nothing has changed.  The only way to get the new file is upload it as a different file name.  That complicates things - new TNGWiki URL, new click counter entry and a file name that may not make sense to a user.

Just to be sure, I repeated the experiment using two different SVG images with the same name.  The thumbnail for the second version I uploaded was the same in the TNGWiki as the first even though the files sizes were even different.  When I downloaded the latest upload, though, it was the correct image.  So maybe it is just a problem with zip files.

It occurred to me it might be a TNGWiki caching problem, but I don't know enough about the Wiki to pursue it. 

Bill, I understand why you may want to self host your mods.  My concern has been with past experience where somebody produces really good mods, then an accident of medical situation takes them out, their sites go off the air and the mods are no longer available to those who have come to depend on them.

Rick 😀

[Bill Herndon]

3 minutes ago, kazooter said:

Bill, I understand why you may want to self host your mods.  My concern has been with past experience where somebody produces really good mods, then an accident of medical situation takes them out, their sites go off the air and the mods are no longer available to those who have come to depend on them.

It's a old debate 'round these parts.  Back in 2014 when publishing my first mods, I *did* host them on the Wiki right up until I was informed that the Wiki imposes it's own licensing on code, resources, and templates.  So I chose to move my actual distribution files off the Wiki.  As a former software developer myself, I don't want to have to own any issues with, or maintain, derivatives of my work.  So my code and templates are made available under a more restricted license than the Wiki allows for.

I'm hoping that I'm still a few years from getting suddenly wiped out, and that I'll choose to release my stuff into the wild when I'm done with the whole 'development thing'.    But for the moment, I do still enjoy pounding out code now and then.  (Ironic that 40 years after starting my career in tech, I've returned to the discipline that got me through college.)

[kazooter]

Quote

I *did* host them on the Wiki right up until I was informed that the Wiki imposes it's own licensing on code, resources, and templates.

Bill,

Interesting.  Are you saying that MediaWiki and/or TNG have a claim to your work and can cut us out if they wish?  When I retired over 30 years ago I vowed to never work for money again - only for fun.  And so far it has been.  So far...
 

So, any specific reasons any of us who donate our time creating mods should be concerned? If so, how so?

[Bill Herndon]

@kazooter Not MediaWiki, but rather the TNG MediaWiki installation.  If I remember correctly the TNG Wiki asserts a Creative Commons AT-NC-SA (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike) license over any content hosted and delivered using the Wiki.  And, honestly, I applaud the clarity and understand the reason behind the choice.  It's just what you said: supporting the continuation of mods/templates after a user has abandoned their artifact...

But it also means that any mod source hosted by the Wiki would be available to anyone to incorporate, re-mix, reverse engineer, or augment as long as they follow the Creative Commons restrictions.  My objection to that is I don't want someone re-mixing something as complex as say Citation Master and then republishing it.  My users, as well as users of a modified version, might confuse the two and their authors, and that's a headache I don't need!    So, I choose...for the time being at least...to host my stuff off the Wiki with just links to my own distribution site.  That way, my own copyright and license continue to apply.

I'm actually a big believer in the Creative Commons licenses.  I use them myself on my genealogy site.

- Bill Herndon