crappy wiki search?

hypermegachi · 2006-08-22 13:20:30

why is it that when i type in "xen" i can no results. if i type in "xen install" i get the full page?

is there a way to search for non-exact strings?

IceRAM · 2006-08-22 13:54:33

As far as I know, Mediawiki search is a bit broken. Not sure if this has been addressed lately in their releases.

infestdead · 2006-08-22 14:17:38

Yeap, I don't like the search either. I search with google:
-> google.com
-> whatever site:wiki.archlinux.org

The wiki.arch warns that this might be 1 to 3 days old.

elasticdog · 2006-08-22 14:32:34

I believe there is a limitation with MediaWiki's search that basically ignores the search if it is less than 4 letters long, so common things like ssh or xen won't return results. It is teh sux0rs...

The_Nerd · 2006-08-23 02:55:17

I also find this quite annoying. Sure we can use Google search to find things, but my commom searches like XGL or SSH turn up nothing.

While many of us can find these pages fine, it is rather inconvienent. If the search function is a problem, lets have the search box go right to the google index of the wiki or something like that.

Otherwise I, along with hypermegachi, would also like to see things fixed.

arooaroo · 2006-08-23 09:06:32

elasticdog wrote:

I believe there is a limitation with MediaWiki's search that basically ignores the search if it is less than 4 letters long, so common things like ssh or xen won't return results. It is teh sux0rs...

I checked the source for the search engine in MediaWiki and couldn't see this restriction. I do believe you, and if we could find there this limit it set then the wiki admin can "unset".

Alternatively, there is a setting that can be added in LocalSettings.php that actually overrides internal searching and passes queries over to an external site. There is an example of how to use Google in includes/DefaultSettings.php which *may* give a better user experience.

EDIT: added 'may' - accidentically left out earlier.

elasticdog · 2006-08-23 20:54:45

I'm definitely not sure about the 3 character search limit thing. I just remember having issues with a search a long time ago and that was the explaination given to me at that time. I just tried searching for XGL and it came up just fine, so maybe I'm just blowin' smoke.

cactus · 2006-08-24 07:05:29

the search string limit was set to avoid someone crashing the wiki by searching for short terms..like..
the
a
i

etc. mediawiki is resource intensive, and the old phpwiki we had was a fine example of how crappy a wiki system can get.

perhaps someone could integrate a google site search, or reduce the search string limit a bit in the mediawiki config.. but I don't manage the thing anymore...so I am not the person to ask.

arooaroo · 2006-08-24 09:22:13

Catcus,

You should implement a stop list: a list of words that should be ignored.

To integrate is easy: The following is cut from /includes/DefaultSettings.php and should be added to LocalSettings.php (after being amended accordingly)

/**
 * Set this to a URL to forward search requests to some external location.
 * If the URL includes '$1', this will be replaced with the URL-encoded
 * search term.
 *
 * For example, to forward to Google you'd have something like:
 * $wgSearchForwardUrl = 'http://www.google.com/search?q=$1' .
 *                       '&domains=http://example.com' .
 *                       '&sitesearch=http://example.com' .
 *                       '&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8';
 */

This has the added benefit of not adding any additional stress on the server since the searching is done externally!

cactus · 2006-08-24 15:30:21

arooaroo wrote:

Catcus,
You should implement a stop list: a list of words that should be ignored.

me wrote:

but I don't manage the thing anymore...so I am not the person to ask.

I agree it is a very fine idea though.

arooaroo · 2006-08-24 15:37:09

Er, yes, good point.

Who is? You're still "wiki tech admin" according to your BB profile.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-08-22 13:20:30

crappy wiki search?

#2 2006-08-22 13:54:33

Re: crappy wiki search?

#3 2006-08-22 14:17:38

Re: crappy wiki search?

#4 2006-08-22 14:32:34

Re: crappy wiki search?

#5 2006-08-23 02:55:17

Re: crappy wiki search?

#6 2006-08-23 09:06:32

Re: crappy wiki search?

#7 2006-08-23 20:54:45

Re: crappy wiki search?

#8 2006-08-24 07:05:29

Re: crappy wiki search?

#9 2006-08-24 09:22:13

Re: crappy wiki search?

#10 2006-08-24 15:30:21

Re: crappy wiki search?

#11 2006-08-24 15:37:09

Re: crappy wiki search?

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