As this is a serious response it might get emotional reactions...
Considering all I know about the activities related to FIFE, the following may be impossible to follow for outsiders.
When barra was managing it, his choices were at worst reasonable. Now it's in a life-support viable state but with different needs. The current format of wiki must be dropped and accounts should be asked! Even if somehow will make it impossible to have the history, something should be chosen for the low level of contribution that an engine development has. I asked about Zero, UH and PARPG to make some form of similar choice in support & documentation as they are not big enough projects. Other than trac and FIFE nothing in common (it seems rsslounge aggregator could be added to the list)...
I recommend DokuWiki with a hybrid design of
pirati.cz,
lacie,
hurtigwiki,
lainme (blog) and
itselfWikiMatrix comparissonWeb presence
fifengine.net
- CMS: WordPress (Grid Focus)
- forum: SMF 2.0.2 (Amazing?)
- wiki: MediaWiki 1.19.0
PARPG
- CMS: WordPress QFusion (qubodup @ PARPG)
- forum: SMF 1.1.16 (?)
- wiki: MediaWiki 1.16.1
Zero Projekt
- CMS: REDAXO
- forum: SMF 1.1.8
- wiki: N/A
Unknown Horizons
- CMS: CMS Made Simple
- forum: phpBB
- wiki: MediaWiki 1.16.2
I was left with the impression that REDAXO was only commercial, but there is a community edition
PARPG was eliminated from a release goal (official development ceased, think 1.0), next! How much of its work was incorporated in FIFE tools directory or anywhere else?[irony]I could look it up! Amateur work![/irony] Everyone is doing open-source development, some release binary, other license it GPL, but doing GPL means a little more: doing work for the other use also. RMS is right when he complains about it, but some are too poor for doing GPL.
There is no tool for new users, only the engine! There is a map editor that could be used to know what it can be done by someone interested who cares about GPL. For LGPL atm FIFE is still irrelevant. Incomplete documentation, external help to get it in distributions and other problems are mostly not fixed, although it couldn't be called bad. Personally, I would close the wiki in its curent state and ask UH to web archive it, get everything usefull manually in a long PDF and starting new (live)with an under construction message with very basic info and the PDF link. Even if it would be a bad decision would still be an improvement in productivity considering today's usefulness, in the planet SPAM is #1 activity and there are other better reasons. Being able to search it might be an improvement to anyone, not ocasional GSoC work or new [amateur] developer.
The FIFE wiki should probably be reserved for FIFE developers to hammer out ideas and other things
What is the real status of
http://wiki.fifengine.net/Developer_activity#Active?
vdaras is active long term, kozmo could be returning more realistically then cheesesucker, jasoka or phoku? In the best condition, 4 active developers, 2 semi-active and 1 inactive, there is not enough resources for MediaWiki.
I have an interest (and related bias), but that talk is private and there are requirements. All I said still applies. Actually there is more but this is related to the wiki and a short version. I didn't contribute much, but doing GPL was too costly to my environment. It could be considered that I need some CV work as my work achievements aren't public, but it's more complicated (in a way it's impossible that any work related to FIFE to matter much, even 12h/day for 3 months fully planned). Expect this winter to be my last window of contribution to FIFE in any way.
