In order to synchronise a ReadWriteOfflineWiki, it would be useful if there was a way to grab the .txt files directly via HTTP, i.e. TextFileExport. (rsync would be nicer, but it's not always possible to install new server software, and such protocols can cause firewall/proxy problems, so HTTP is the simplest option.)

The idea is to have a slightly modified view script, using PATH_INFO, e.g. /bin/view/Main/WebHome.txt, that returns the .txt content of a topic. The WebChanges and WebIndex topics could be handled specially (or perhaps they would just work), in order to provide a 'what changed since last time' interface for incremental syncing, and a 'show me all files' interface for full syncing. I am quite keen to be able to sync large TWiki webs over a modem connection, so incremental syncing is important.

This interface could also be useful to get occasional new topics (e.g. BrowserExtensions such as MozillaSidebar's WebSidebar, and forms such as the one in ManagingWebs) from another TWiki, without having to use ?raw=on or edit the topic.

Syncing to ReadOnlyOfflineWiki setups could be done in a similar way, using a .html suffix in the PATH_INFO, e.g. /bin/view/Main/WebHome.html - this would run the normal view script, perhaps with an alternative skin that removes some links which offline grabbing tools should not follow. Using the .html suffix in links would also simplify use of many such tools, which tend not to like URLs that don't have this suffix. However, anything generating HTML is really a separate feature, i.e. HtmlFileExport.

Any comments?

-- RichardDonkin - 13 Apr 2002

Yes please -- SvenDowideit

Yes, it would be also useful to implement editing wiki pages via local editors (like emacs). Maybe continue with ?raw=on or ?debug=on, with a ?source=on, that would be a parameter for the scripts:

• view (to just get the raw .txt)
• edit (to get the .txt and lock the topic)
• save (to upload back the edited .txt in the client editor)

-- ColasNahaboo - 15 Apr 2002