Feedback on UseModWikiToTWikiAddOn

What started it:

I managed to sneak a wiki into our everyday processes at work, and I've gotten everyone using it. No meetings or planning, I just installed it and all of a sudden everyone's using it.

However, I started it all with a UseModWiki since it took me 2 minutes to install, and the web UI was dead simple. No colors or extraneous links that would confuse anyway. I didn't start with TWiki, since every time I've installed and started playing with it, I've spend much more time after installation deleting and stripping away things than I spent installing to begin with. (Which reminds me, I think TWiki needs a SimplerTWikiDistribution.)

Anyway, since searching for and discovering the TWikiDrawPlugin, I figured I should bite the bullet and switch us to TWiki before we get much further.

So, has anyone got a pre-canned script to migrate UseModWiki topics to a TWiki web?

-- LesOrchard - 27 Jan 2002

Okay, couldn't find any pre-existing resources to help with this, so I wrote a script myself. Seems to work for me, but I'd like any input on improvements, making it more general, etc.

-- LesOrchard - 03 Feb 2002

• usemod2twiki.pl: UseModWiki to TWiki migration

Eek. Should have run that script one more time before uploading. Fixed a few bugs in it now.

-- LesOrchard - 04 Feb 2002

The script will be useful for other people. I get frequently asked if there is a way to transfer content from Wiki system XYZ. Your script gets better visibility if you create a UseModWikiToTWikiAddOn topic in the Plugins web (there is already a DolphinToTWikiAddOn).

-- PeterThoeny - 05 Feb 2002

I got an error while trying to transfer my usemod2twiki:

usemod2twiki.pl: Can't locate object method "new" via package "TWiki::Store::RcsWrap" (perhaps you forgot to load "TWiki::Store::RcsWrap"?) at /path/to/TWiki/lib/TWiki/Store.pm line 78.

Inserting the following statement:
use TWiki::Store::RcsWrap;
at line 47 (after use TWiki;) solved the problem for me. Might seem obvious but I'm new to perl.

-- ThijsSchnitger - 28 May 2004

This could be packaged as a Plugins.UseModWikiToTWikiAddOn. See also related KwikiToTWikiAddOn, GenericWikiToTWikiAddOn

-- PeterThoeny - 10 Dec 2004

Moved this add-on over from MigrationFromUseModWiki.

-- PeterThoeny - 12 Dec 2004

checked .zip into CVS

-- WillNorris - 19 Jul 2005

Is this script still being maintained? I would really really find it useful except when I run it, I get the 500 error, and according to the error log:

usemod2twiki.pl: Undefined subroutine &TWiki::Render::decodeSpecialChars called at /var/www/html/twiki/bin/usemod2twiki.pl line 87.

Apparently the dependencies have changed or something? Any help?

-- CarltonBrown - 24 Aug 2006

This dd-on apparently uses undocumented functions, e.g. it will not run on TWiki upgrades. You can try to fix it using only published TWikiFuncDotPm plugin API functions.

-- PeterThoeny - 27 Aug 2006

Or simply create a local copy of decodeSpecialChars in your add-on:

sub decodeSpecialChars
{
    my( $text ) = @_;
    
    $text =~ s/%_N_%/\r\n/g;
    $text =~ s/%_L_%/</g;
    $text =~ s/%_G_%/>/g;
    $text =~ s/%_Q_%/\"/g;
    $text =~ s/%_A_%/&/g;

    return $text;
}

Actually, I am not really sure decodeSpecialChars is needed for your add-on since it is TWiki specific.

-- PeterThoeny - 31 Aug 2006

Well, regardless of whether I comment out the call to decodeSpecialChars, or implement the local copy, the next error I get is:

Can't locate object method "readTopicRaw" via package "Usemod" (perhaps you forgot to load "Usemod"?) at /var/www/html/twiki/lib/TWiki/Store.pm line 143

This is odd because I look in Store.pm and I do see that method declared. Somehow the object has been instantiated as package "Usemod" when it should be "Store", but the converter script doesn't seem to declare a "Usemod" package anywhere.

-- CarltonBrown - 31 Aug 2006

There is an equivalent function in TWikiFuncDotPm.

-- PeterThoeny - 31 Aug 2006

That's not really the problem. Anyway, I give up; I don't have time to rewrite this UseMod conversion script. Somebody else can do that if they have time. PMWiki has a working UseMod converter; we'll just use that. Thanks for your help anyway.

-- CarltonBrown - 01 Sep 2006

I hope someone in the TWikiCommunity is picking up this add-on and updates it to TWiki 4.

-- PeterThoeny - 02 Sep 2006

I added a SHORTDESCRIPTION to the "Add-On Info" section so that this add-on is represented properly in the AddOnPackage topic and query topics. Please feel free to take this into the next release.

-- PeterThoeny - 04 Nov 2006