Oolite Bulletins

EDIT: These pages are now live at: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP#Finding_OXPs

For OXP authors who do not have a wiki account, please PM me details of any OXPs that need to be updated or are missing using the format:
|Category
|OXP Name and Brief Description
|Author
|Min Version of Oolite
|Max Version of Oolite

I have made a sample sets of wiki pages here based on discussions in another thread: http://oxps.wikkii.com/wiki/Oxps

The idea is to have pages which OXP authors can, with minimal effort, add to themselves and which make it easy to find OXPs and to determine if they are not being maintained.

In some ways, the pages are just following the model of the existing ships pages which allow you to find ships by cargo capacity, speed etc.

I've included in the sortable tables a few OXPs so people can see how they fit in eg. Thargoid's Aquatics under Expansions - Combination.

Let me know your thoughts.

Nice work...this is a promising start, and it's nice to see someone actually trying something rather than just talking about it.
Will it rely entirely on the OXP authors to keep their entries up to date, and if they don't, how do we know?
By the way, I don't like to be pedantic (well actually I do ) but it's Smivs, not Smiv.

Smivs wrote:

Nice work...this is a promising start, and it's nice to see someone actually trying something rather than just talking about it.

Thanks.

Smivs wrote:

Will it rely entirely on the OXP authors to keep their entries up to date, and if they don't, how do we know?

Yes. We will know because the "Max Version" will not get updated. Either the OXP author or a user who has tested the OXP needs to keep this up to date.

Smivs wrote:

By the way, I don't like to be pedantic (well actually I do ) but it's Smivs, not Smiv.

I've changed that. Actually, the page is not currently protected as far as I know (ie. anyone can change it).

mcarans wrote:

Yes. We will know because the "Max Version" will not get updated. Either the OXP author or a user who has tested the OXP needs to keep this up to date.

No, the OXP author alone would need to do this.

OXP authors usually put max versions in the required.plist for a reason, and they should be the only people who authorise their removal for an Oolite version-up.

Whilst users are free to remove and test for their own personal usage, it should not be an "official" ok to do so. Often with Oolite version-ups there are new features available which the author may want to use. Plus then the table may end up out of synch with the released version of the OXP, which is undesirable.

I would agree with you that an author actively maintaining his/her OXP should be the only one to update the Max Version.

I was thinking of the specific case of OXPs abandoned by their author but which are found to still work in new versions of Oolite. I guess that a better solution is for a user who finds such an OXP to post on the forums first and then, if the author doesn't respond and by consensus on the forum, update the version.

mcarans wrote:

I have made a sample sets of wiki pages here based on discussions in another thread: http://oxps.wikkii.com/wiki/Oxps

Can I ask why you have done this in another Wiki other than the Elite Wiki?

As far as I can tell its a copy paste of the existing oolite wiki page at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP . What value does it add?

JazHaz wrote:

Can I ask why you have done this in another Wiki other than the Elite Wiki?

I think mcarans wanted to try a few ideas without impacting on the Wiki proper. Sensible and thoughtful.

Cmdr James wrote:

As far as I can tell its a copy paste of the existing oolite wiki page at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP . What value does it add?

It adds the Catagories, which have been an issue of much debate lately.
When choosing OXPs many people like to browse by catagory as it makes it far easier to find what you want using this type of indexing, but the existing catagory pages are actually very hard to find on the Wiki and are over-complicated with too much duplication.
The front page (the one linked-to above) IS almost a clone of the existing page, but with the Catagories added, and this is the key point. The catagories are logical and very straight-forward, and there are only four to avoid over-complication.

Yes. I haven't finished yet.

I'm currently painstakingly entering all the information in the categories pages into the sortable tables with the view of replacing the current categories page in due course.

The front page is the same as the current wiki but with the new categories, which if you click will reveal the new pages.

Right it's pretty much done now: http://oxps.wikkii.com/wiki/Oxps

Please click on the links Enhancements, Expansions and Miscellaneous (Ships will point to existing Ships wiki pages)

Does anyone have any objection to replacing the existing categories pages with these?

Just a quick thought...aren't you going to have to re-do all the links? The ones that currently work are pointing to a different site (our Wiki), and many don't currently work at all. Linking within the Wiki works a bit differently from linking from external sites.
Sorry, don't want to be a downer. You're doing some great work here.

I won't comment positive or negative as I haven't had time to really formulate an opinion.

However, I will note that of my 4 expansions: 3 Are Unlisted, 1 is listed under the wrong title and is attributed to the wrong author.

Cmdr James wrote:

As far as I can tell its a copy paste of the existing oolite wiki page at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP . What value does it add?

Sortability, for a start.

@ everybody: as far as I understand mcarans, what he is presenting us is a proof of concept, and is neither meant to be complete nor correct in its details.

If the concept is generally liked, I guess there will just the new framework pasted around the already existing Wiki page, so all OXPs currently in http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP and its subpages will correctly be contained, only this time in a table which will be sortable. At least this is what I understand.

That's how I see it. I like the idea.

If I've made any errors on the pages, I apologise.

The OXPs listed are only the ones from the existing categories pages (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/All_OXPs_by_Category), so if your OXP is not there, I haven't entered it. For a few OXPs, I tried searching the forums for more details so I could fill in Author or Min Version, but it would be very tedious to do that for every OXP and many do not have details anywhere.

Once the pages are live, you are free to enter and/or correct any entries. In fact you could do that now at http://oxps.wikkii.com/wiki/Oxps as the pages are not protected (although I have a local copy). If you make changes, please tell me so I don't overwrite them by mistake.

As for the links, once the pages are copied back to the wiki, they should be correct (fingers crossed).

Cmd. Cheyd, I've corrected System Redux 2, which is a great OXP that I use myself, and I've entered your other OXPs from http://deephorizonindustries.com/.