WSU Technology Knowledge Base:Active and Promising Extensions
An extension is a program, created by members of the MediaWiki open source community or commercial developers, that can be installed on a MediaWiki server to extend its core functionality. The program modifies the MediaWiki application, adding new features or changing existing features. Extensions can be very helpful and and some are considered standard issue on most MediaWiki installations. Extensions can also be very risky:
- There are a lot of cool extensions out there and it's very tempting to install them on face value alone, without doing your homework. This can make maintaining the wiki extremely difficult and may even result in data loss, security breaches, and outages. Any modification of the MediaWiki application must be done with caution. Good extensions should be self-contained and insulated from the core application and they should uninstall easily and cleanly.
- In order for an extension to remain stable, it must be actively maintained and upgraded by its developers. As new versions of MediaWiki are released, developers must make sure that their extensions are compatible. It is not uncommon for the original developers of an extension to stop maintaining it. They may move on to other projects or encounter an obstacle upgrading an extension that they either can't solve.
Overall, the MediaWiki community is extremely active and dedicated. An extension rating system is applied that helps identify stable and well-maintained extensions. However, don't get too dependent on any extension, don't forget that it is a modification of the core application and not a standard feature, and always have a backup plan if the extension must be uninstalled.
Installed Extensions
The following extensions are installed and active on the Technology Knowledge Base Wiki:
Interesting Extensions
The following extensions look promising: