With T194697: Multiblocks — Allow for multiple, simultaneous blocks with different expiration dates on the near horizon, we will want to be prepared from a technical standpoint.

Questions to answer:

• What is our proposed database change + API implementation?
  • T202322: Draft a proposal for multiblocks table schema(s) and get consensus
• What unknowns about the UX design do we need to answer before finalizing our technical plans?
  • All other unknowns are unknown unknowns.
• Update the RFC T199917 to include information about multi-blocks. Deadline: August 20 End-of-day
  • Done! ✅
• Do we need DBA approval?
  • Yes

Acceptance criteria

• The questions above are answered + documented on Phabricator
  • yes
• Needed Phabricator tasks and sub-tasks are created
  • We have decided not to create Phabrictor tasks until after T199917 is completed.
• The RFC process is started/updated
  • yep

Plan

Here's the plan we have come up with, assuming that T199917 has no changes.

Related Tickets:
T2674: Allow users to be blocked from editing a specific article or all articles inside a namespace

Structural Changes:

• Draft a proposal for mutliblocks table schema(s) and get consensus T202322
• Create Migration Plan from old schem to new schema (add links to ticket)
• Create New schema for multiblocks
• Create new classes in order to work with Multiblock in an abstracted way (and ensure all the existing tests pass)
  • Idea: Create BlockTarget that gets a block a target with all of the blocks.
  • Idea: Block "entry" is an existing Block class
  • Idea: Create a MergedBlock that returns all of the block entries merged together
  • New classes must understand and respond to current "Is this user blocked?" kind of request
    • There are two kinds of requests that do this: Pre-flight check or hard check.

Implementation Changes:

• Update block notices (desktop, mobile, etc.)
  • Might be merged and then give more details (split into seperate entries), etc.
• Update Special:BlockList with Block Entries
• Update Block APIs
  • UserInfo should return a merged block
  • Blocks should return all of the block entries, perhaps in an order where the first one is the most restrictive (i.e. a sitewide block)? or perhaps the order doesn't matter
• Update PHP APIs to create Multiblocks
• Update API:Block to set Multiblocks
• Update Special:Block and Special:Unblock to set and unset Multiblocks
• Ensure that Autoblocks work properly
  • Copy all of the block settings?
  • New Target?
• Update block logs with mutliblock details
• Add Links to Special:Block (and the block notices?) to edit specific Block Entry on Special:Block
• Remove old schema for single block

References:

• (DB migration) https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/e2a0b34b7f7e9ea11ceee9c5fa21aef8662615d7/includes/Defines.php#L294-L319
• userCan vs quickUserCan https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/352854ee0f82758e9c0fce2b8f44cfe01de9150d/includes/Title.php#L2129-L2162
• and getUserPermissionsErrorsInternal https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/352854ee0f82758e9c0fce2b8f44cfe01de9150d/includes/Title.php#L2762-L2829