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Maniphest T284473

Users are provided with a meaningful object diff to determine what changes have been made
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Assigned To
Jdforrester-WMF
Authored By
Jdforrester-WMF
Jun 7 2021, 4:33 PM
Project Tags
Referenced Files
F94784400: Screenshot 2026-07-20 at 10-29-49 Monolingual text - Wikifunctions.png
Mon, Jul 20, 8:34 AM
F94784335: Screenshot from 2026-07-20 10-32-05.png
Mon, Jul 20, 8:34 AM
F93872345: image.png
Jul 15 2026, 10:23 PM
Subscribers
Alien333
Amire80
DannyS712
gengh
Jdforrester-WMF
Redmin
Terasail
Tewuzij

Description

Provide a tree-grouped, labelled object diff, rather than a JSON diff. This makes it easier for the user to determine what changes have been made, as ZIDs aren't particularly meaningful.

We will want to split out differences on the Z2Kxs and group them together, like Wikibase does.

Technically, we WikiLambda needs to implement a subclass of SlotDiffRenderer

Some examples from Wikidata of structure diffs, for inspiration:

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectAuthorRepoBranchLines +/-
diff: Tag language-specific diff values with their language and directionJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+118 -28
diff: Label ZObject body keys in revision diffsJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+208 -8
diff: Link reference values in ZObject diffs to their targetsJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+159 -16
diff: Render human-readable grouped ZObject revision diffsJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+839 -32
[WIP] Render an HTML version of the diffJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+42 -4
Don't explode when the user tries to get a diffJforrestermediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+86 -0
Customize query in gerrit

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Event Timeline

Jdforrester-WMF created this task.Jun 7 2021, 4:33 PM
DVrandecic moved this task from To Triage to Phase θ – Throttling on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Jun 9 2021, 4:20 PM
DVrandecic edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team (Phase θ – Throttling); removed: Abstract Wikipedia team.
gerritbot added a comment.Aug 20 2021, 10:44 PM

Change 714138 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] Don't explode when the user tries to get a diff

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/714138

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 20 2021, 10:44 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Aug 23 2021, 2:51 PM

Change 714138 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] Don't explode when the user tries to get a diff

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/714138

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 23 2021, 3:10 PM
Jdforrester-WMF removed a parent task: T283181: WikiLambda content shouldn't fatal on action=raw or diff pages.Aug 23 2021, 5:41 PM
Jdforrester-WMF renamed this task from WikiLambda needs to implement a subclass of SlotDiffRenderer to Users are provided with a meaningful diff when changes have been made .Mar 8 2022, 10:09 PM
Jdforrester-WMF added a project: Epic.
Jdforrester-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)
Jdforrester-WMF mentioned this in T299176: Phase Theta – Root task.
Jdforrester-WMF added a parent task: T303335: Users can understand the nature of changes others have made to ZObject wiki content.Mar 8 2022, 10:11 PM
gengh moved this task from Incoming to Ready: G6. Stable & secure on the Abstract Wikipedia team (Phase θ – Throttling) board.Aug 16 2022, 9:19 AM
Jdforrester-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)Oct 11 2022, 3:24 PM
gengh added a subtask: T321204: Research Mediawiki code and design a proposal for building the interface that shows diff between two revisions..Oct 19 2022, 2:32 PM
gengh added a subtask: T321205: Build diff HTML interface using the output of WikilambdaDiffs.Oct 19 2022, 2:35 PM
DVrandecic closed subtask T303338: The WikiLambda system understands the nature of changes being made and can react to them as Resolved.Mar 30 2023, 10:41 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Apr 4 2023, 5:59 PM

Change 905696 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] [WIP] Render an HTML version of the diff

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/905696

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Apr 4 2023, 5:59 PM
Jdforrester-WMF added a parent task: T335713: View history Undo action silently fails.May 2 2023, 12:41 PM
AAlhazwani-WMF changed the status of subtask T321204: Research Mediawiki code and design a proposal for building the interface that shows diff between two revisions. from Open to In Progress.Jun 6 2023, 12:38 PM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Phase θ – Throttling to To triage: Nice-to-haves on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Jun 16 2023, 8:49 AM
Jdforrester-WMF edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team; removed: Abstract Wikipedia team (Phase θ – Throttling).
Jdforrester-WMF removed a parent task: T303335: Users can understand the nature of changes others have made to ZObject wiki content.Jun 16 2023, 9:42 AM
Jdforrester-WMF renamed this task from Users are provided with a meaningful diff when changes have been made to Users are provided with a meaningful object diff to determine what changes have been made.Jun 16 2023, 9:44 AM
Jdforrester-WMF removed a project: Patch-For-Review.
Jdforrester-WMF removed a parent task: T335713: View history Undo action silently fails.Jun 16 2023, 9:47 AM
AAlhazwani-WMF changed the status of subtask T321204: Research Mediawiki code and design a proposal for building the interface that shows diff between two revisions. from In Progress to Open.Jun 27 2023, 10:26 AM
ATsay-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)Sep 22 2023, 12:04 AM
Jdforrester-WMF triaged this task as Medium priority.Sep 25 2023, 5:41 PM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from To triage: Nice-to-haves to Backlog on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.
Terasail subscribed.Nov 27 2023, 2:55 PM
DannyS712 subscribed.Apr 9 2024, 12:52 AM

Just want to add a link to @Terasail's amazing script https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/User:Terasail/ReadableDiff.js which does some of this in the meantime client-side

Tewuzij subscribed.Aug 23 2024, 2:41 PM
Amire80 subscribed.Oct 22 2024, 4:05 AM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Backlog to Upcoming Epics on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Nov 18 2024, 4:45 PM
Alien333 subscribed.Aug 16 2025, 1:13 PM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Upcoming Epics to No current plans / External on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Mar 11 2026, 8:01 PM
Redmin subscribed.Jun 14 2026, 5:01 PM
Jdforrester-WMF closed subtask T321204: Research Mediawiki code and design a proposal for building the interface that shows diff between two revisions. as Resolved.Jul 15 2026, 8:03 PM
Jdforrester-WMF changed the status of subtask T321205: Build diff HTML interface using the output of WikilambdaDiffs from Open to In Progress.Jul 15 2026, 8:29 PM
Jdforrester-WMF changed the task status from Open to In Progress.Jul 15 2026, 10:14 PM
Jdforrester-WMF claimed this task.
Jdforrester-WMF edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team (27Q1 (Jul–Sep)), Essential-Work; removed: Abstract Wikipedia team.
gerritbot added a comment.Jul 15 2026, 10:21 PM

Change #1311120 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Render human-readable grouped ZObject revision diffs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311120

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Jul 15 2026, 10:21 PM

Change #1311121 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Label ZObject body keys in revision diffs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311121

gerritbot added a comment.Jul 15 2026, 10:21 PM

Change #1311122 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Link reference values in ZObject diffs to their targets

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311122

gerritbot added a comment.Jul 15 2026, 10:21 PM

Change #1311123 had a related patch set uploaded (by Jforrester; author: Jforrester):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Tag language-specific diff values with their language and direction

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311123

Jdforrester-WMF added a comment.Jul 15 2026, 10:23 PM

Initial implementation:

image.png (1,928×2,266 px, 342 KB)

There'll be more to improve (not least, if you add a value to a list and remove another value, they should show as a such a not a number of moves). But this is a start.

Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Incoming to In Code review on the Abstract Wikipedia team (27Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.Thu, Jul 16, 4:05 PM
gengh subscribed.Mon, Jul 20, 8:34 AM

Testing this I'm not sure this makes it easier to understand what's going on.

For example, seeing a simple change of adding one English alias, this is the JSON diff (on master):

Screenshot from 2026-07-20 10-32-05.png (1,917×791 px, 67 KB)

This is the same diff rendered by this patch:

Screenshot 2026-07-20 at 10-29-49 Monolingual text - Wikifunctions.png (1,920×1,873 px, 211 KB)

gengh added a comment.Tue, Jul 21, 9:41 AM

Found the cause, working on a fix :) Once I'm done, I will test your patch chain again with unbroken diff code and finish the review!

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Jul 21, 6:34 PM

Change #1311120 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Render human-readable grouped ZObject revision diffs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311120

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Jul 21, 6:34 PM

Change #1311121 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Label ZObject body keys in revision diffs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311121

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Jul 21, 6:34 PM

Change #1311122 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Link reference values in ZObject diffs to their targets

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311122

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Jul 21, 6:34 PM

Change #1311123 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] diff: Tag language-specific diff values with their language and direction

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1311123

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.47-notes (1.47.0-wmf.13; 2026-07-28).Tue, Jul 21, 7:00 PM
Jdforrester-WMF added a parent task: T432195: [EssentialWork] Support core Contributors.Wed, Jul 22, 8:33 AM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from In Code review to Ready to deploy on the Abstract Wikipedia team (27Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.
Jdforrester-WMF added a subtask: T432755: ZObjectListDiffer fails when it needs to choose added/deleted items in a tied DiffMatrix.
DSantamaria removed a project: Epic.Tue, Jul 28, 6:18 AM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Ready to deploy to Needs Sign-off on the Abstract Wikipedia team (27Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.Thu, Jul 30, 6:46 PM
Jdforrester-WMF closed subtask T321205: Build diff HTML interface using the output of WikilambdaDiffs as Resolved.
Jdforrester-WMF closed subtask T432755: ZObjectListDiffer fails when it needs to choose added/deleted items in a tied DiffMatrix as Resolved.
Jdforrester-WMF closed this task as Resolved.Thu, Jul 30, 6:48 PM
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