Some of ikiwiki's features:
-* [[Subversion]]
+* Uses a real RCS
Rather than implement its own system for storing page histories etc,
- ikiwiki simply uses subversion. (It's also possible to [[plugins/write]]
- support for other systems, and ikiwiki also includes support for [[Git]]
- now.)
+ ikiwiki uses a real RCS. This isn't because we're lazy, it's because a
+ real RCS is a good thing to have, and there are advantages to using one
+ that are not possible with a standard wiki.
Instead of editing pages in a stupid web form, you can use vim and commit
changes via svn. Or work disconnected using svk and push your changes out
- when you come online.
+ when you come online. Or use git to work in a distributed fashion all the
+ time. (It's also possible to [[plugins/write]] a plugin to support other
+ systems.)
ikiwiki can be run from a [[post-commit]] hook to update your wiki
immediately whenever you commit.
- Note that ikiwiki does not require subversion to function. If you want to
+ Note that ikiwiki does not require a RCS to function. If you want to
run a simple wiki without page history, it can do that too.
-* [[MarkDown]]
+* Supports many markup languages
- ikiwiki supports pages using [[MarkDown]] as their markup language. Any
- page with a filename ending in ".mdwn" is converted from markdown to html
+ By default, pages in the wiki are written using the [[MarkDown]] format.
+ Any page with a filename ending in ".mdwn" is converted from markdown to html
by ikiwiki. Markdown understands text formatted as it would be in an email,
and is quite smart about converting it to html. The only additional markup
provided by ikiwiki on top of regular markdown is the [[WikiLink]] and
- [[PreprocessorDirective]]
+ [[PreprocessorDirective]].
If you prefer to use some other markup language, ikiwiki allows others to
easily be added by [[plugins]]. For example it also supports traditional
- [[plugins/WikiText]] formatted pages or pages written as pure
- [[plugins/HTML]].
+ [[plugins/WikiText]] formatted pages, pages written as pure
+ [[plugins/HTML]], or pages written in [[reStructuredText|plugins/rst]].
* support for other file types
unchanged by ikiwiki as it builds your wiki. So you can check in an image,
program, or other special file and link to it from your wiki pages.
-* [[SubPages|SubPage]]
+* Fast compiler
- Arbitrarily deep hierarchies of pages with fairly simple and useful
- [[SubPage/LinkingRules]]
+ ikiwiki is fast and smart about updating a wiki, it only builds pages
+ that have changed (and tracks things like creation of new pages and links
+ that can indirectly cause a page to need a rebuild)
* [[blogging|blog]]
You can turn any page in the wiki into a [[blog]]. Pages matching a
- specified [[GlobList]] will be displayed as a weblog within the blog
+ specified [[PageSpec]] will be displayed as a weblog within the blog
page. And an RSS feed can be generated to follow the blog.
Ikiwiki's own [[TODO]], [[news]], and [[plugins]] pages are good examples
of some of the flexible ways that this can be used.
-* [[tags]]
+ Ikiwiki can also [[plugins/aggregate]] external blogs, feeding them into
+ the wiki. This can be used to create a Planet type site that aggregates
+ interesting feeds.
- You can tag pages and use these tags in various ways.
-
-* Fast compiler
+* [[tags]]
- ikiwiki is fast and smart about updating a wiki, it only builds pages
- that have changed (and tracks things like creation of new pages and links
- that can indirectly cause a page to need a rebuild)
+ You can tag pages and use these tags in various ways. Tags will show
+ up in the ways you'd expect, like at the bottom of pages, in blogs, and
+ in rss feeds.
* valid html and css
ikiwiki generates html using [[templates]], and uses css, so you can
change the look and layout of all pages in any way you would like.
+* [[SubPages|SubPage]]
+
+ Arbitrarily deep hierarchies of pages with fairly simple and useful
+ [[SubPage/LinkingRules]]
+
* [[BackLinks]]
Automatically included on pages. Rather faster than eg MoinMoin and
* Smart merging and conflict resolution in your web browser
- Since it uses subversion, ikiwiki takes advantage of its smart merging to
+ Since it uses a real RCS, ikiwiki takes advantage of its smart merging to
avoid any conflicts when two people edit different parts of the same page
at the same time. No annoying warnings about other editors, or locking,
etc, instead the other person's changes will be automatically merged with
yours when you commit.
In the rare cases where automatic merging fails due to the same part of a
- page being concurrently edited, regular subversion commit markers are
+ page being concurrently edited, regular commit conflict markers are
shown in the file to resolve the conflict, so if you're already familiar
with that there's no new commit marker syntax to learn.
Plugins can be used to add additional features to ikiwiki. The interface
is quite flexible, allowing plugins to implement additional markup
languages, register [[PreProcessorDirective]]s, hook into [[CGI]] mode,
- and more. Ikiwiki's backend RCS support is also pluggable, so support for
- new revision control systems can be added to ikiwiki.
+ and more. Most of ikiwiki's features are actually provided by plugins.
+ Ikiwiki's backend RCS support is also pluggable, so support for new
+ revision control systems can be added to ikiwiki.
* [[todo/utf8]]