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8941e131e8
SHARD-WP-0003 T9 (final). Lineage dive: the flat-file ancestor (Clifford Adams c.2000, from AtisWiki/CvWiki) that early Wikipedia ran on (MediaWiki Phase I). No new capability -- reinforces the minimal flat-file floor (UC-82) and CamelCase linking (UC-25); historical grounding that the file-store floor is the field's common root. Enrichment-only: UC-01/40/25/36/41. Marks T9 done and SHARD-WP-0003 complete (9/9). Feeds SHARD-WP-0002 T11. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
88 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
# UseModWiki — deep dive (findings)
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**Date:** 2026-06-14 · **Source:** SHARD-WP-0003 T9 · **Subject:** UseModWiki, Clifford
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Adams's flat-file Perl wiki — the lineage root of much of the field.
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## Why this dive
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This is a **lineage** dive, not a new-capability one. UseModWiki is the **ancestor**: the
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minimal flat-file page+history wiki the c2-era engines and **MediaWiki Phase I** descend
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from (Wikipedia ran on UseModWiki, 2001–2002). It pairs with
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`research/260608-c2-wiki-origins/` to record *where the page+history model came from*. It
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adds no new shard capability beyond the minimal flat-file floor (UC-82, Oddmuse) — its value
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is **historical grounding** and confirming the floor is genuinely the field's common root.
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## 1. The model
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- **Perl CGI** (`wiki.pl`), single-script, descended from AtisWiki → CvWiki → UseModWiki
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(c. 2000), by Clifford Adams.
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- **Flat-file storage**: each page stored as a text file (under a `db/` data directory),
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with **page history** kept (older revisions retained as files / in the page record). No
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database.
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- **Linking**: **CamelCase** (`WikiWord`) auto-links by default; later added **free links**
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`[[Like This]]`. This is the canonical CamelCase-naming lineage (UC-25).
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- **Open editing**, recent-changes, simple markup — the c2 ethos in a portable script.
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## 2. Lineage
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- **MediaWiki Phase I** *was* UseModWiki — early Wikipedia ran on it before the PHP rewrite
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(Phase II/III). So UseModWiki is the **direct ancestor of MediaWiki/Wikibase** (T2) and a
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sibling-root of the c2 tradition.
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- The **flat-file page+history model** here is the shape Oddmuse (UC-82), TWiki's file store
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(UC-40), and others elaborate — confirming the **minimal file-store floor** is the field's
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common origin, not a modern simplification.
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## 3. Capability profile
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Essentially **identical to the minimal floor** (UC-82, Oddmuse):
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| Dimension | UseModWiki |
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|-----------|------------|
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| Attachment mode | **file-store** (flat files under `db/`); CGI, no API |
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| Addressing | page = file; **CamelCase** name = identity |
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| Structure | flat page space; CamelCase link graph |
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| History | flat-file retained revisions (may be limited) |
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| Native query | none |
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| Translation | simple wiki markup → Markdown (lossy) |
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| Write granularity | page (file) |
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| Access | open editing (optional admin password) |
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| Provenance | timestamp, optional username |
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## 4. INTENT mapping
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- **Reinforces the minimal flat-file baseline** (UC-82): UseModWiki is the *historical*
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instance of the graceful-degradation floor — attach via its flat files; partial history
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surfaced honestly.
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- **CamelCase naming** (UC-25): the canonical source of WikiWord auto-linking — the page
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model's name/identity and link-resolution must accommodate CamelCase-derived identities.
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- **Open wiki** (UC-01): the c2 open-editing ethos at the root.
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- **Lineage grounding**: confirms shard-wiki's "Git-based Markdown" page model descends from
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(and must remain attach-compatible with) the flat-file ancestor.
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**No new UC** — UseModWiki adds historical grounding, not a new orchestration scenario;
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its capabilities are subsumed by UC-82 (minimal flat-file baseline) plus UC-25 (CamelCase).
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## 5. Architecture notes for SHARD-WP-0002
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- **T11:** UseModWiki = a second instance of the **minimal/floor profile** (with Oddmuse);
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confirms the floor is the field's common root, so the floor profile is the right baseline.
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- **Naming/identity:** CamelCase-derived page identities (UC-25) are part of the legacy
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identity surface the adapter must parse (and translate to the page model's identity).
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## 6. Open questions
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(None new — covered by UC-82 partial-history honesty, catalog open-Q30, and the c2 origins
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record. CamelCase resolution is UC-25.)
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## 7. Sources
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- UseModWiki — usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl (the wiki about itself); Wikipedia: *UseModWiki*,
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*MediaWiki* (Phase I history)
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- prior: `research/260608-c2-wiki-origins/`; `research/260614-oddmuse-deep-dive/` (minimal
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floor, UC-82)
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## 8. Traceability
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**No new UC** (reinforces UC-82). Enriched: UC-01, UC-40, UC-25, UC-36, UC-41. Lineage noted
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for the origins record. Architecture cross-ref: SHARD-WP-0002 T11 (minimal-profile lineage).
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