Page MenuHomePhabricator
Create Task
Maniphest T422379

Deprecate and remove calling ChangesList methods without context
Closed, ResolvedPublic
Actions

Description

I was skimming through the uses of RequestContext::getMain() in MediaWiki core a bit to identify sites where it can be easily deprecated or removed.
(One could maybe create a parent task for reducing the use of global context? Maybe a project MediaWiki-Context could be a good idea?)

Specifically, ChangesList::flag and ChangesList::showCharacterDifference optionally take a context, yet have a local context available at each callsite in core and extensions, except for RecentChange::getCharacterDifference, which is unused in all of codesearch.
Therefore, this task suggests to deprecate calling these methods without specifying the context, after adjusting all callers.

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectRepoBranchLines +/-
Pass context to ChangesList methods if possiblemediawiki/coremaster+40 -10
Specify performer for ChangesList::userCanmediawiki/extensions/AbuseFiltermaster+2 -2
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/Flowmaster+3 -2
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/CheckUsermaster+2 -2
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/ORESmaster+3 -2
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/ArticleFeedbackv5master+4 -1
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/FlaggedRevsmaster+3 -1
Pass context to ChangesList methodsmediawiki/extensions/CollabPadsmaster+1 -1
Customize query in gerrit

Related Objects
Search...

Event Timeline

MGChecker created this task.Mon, Apr 6, 1:54 PM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptMon, Apr 6, 1:54 PM
MGChecker added a project: Technical-Debt (Deprecation process).Mon, Apr 6, 1:54 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 1:55 PM

Change #1268107 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/core@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods if possible

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268107

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Mon, Apr 6, 1:55 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:00 PM

Change #1268111 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/FlaggedRevs@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268111

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:00 PM

Change #1268112 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/CollabPads@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268112

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:00 PM

Change #1268113 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/ArticleFeedbackv5@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268113

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:00 PM

Change #1268109 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/CheckUser@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268109

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:00 PM

Change #1268110 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/ORES@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268110

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 2:01 PM

Change #1268108 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/Flow@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268108

Tacsipacsi subscribed.Mon, Apr 6, 3:06 PM
matmarex subscribed.Mon, Apr 6, 6:03 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 6:22 PM

Change #1268111 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/FlaggedRevs@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268111

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 6:22 PM

Change #1268112 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/CollabPads@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268112

MGChecker mentioned this in rELAPe88f8cb5aa8d: Pass context to ChangesList methods.Mon, Apr 6, 6:23 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 6:25 PM

Change #1268110 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/ORES@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268110

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 6:35 PM

Change #1268109 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/CheckUser@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268109

gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 6:35 PM

Change #1268113 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/ArticleFeedbackv5@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268113

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.46-notes (1.46.0-wmf.23; 2026-04-07).Mon, Apr 6, 7:00 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Mon, Apr 6, 7:14 PM

Change #1268108 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/Flow@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268108

MGChecker added a comment.Tue, Apr 7, 2:36 AM

I have realized that ChangesList::userCan is a similar case: It optionally takes a performer, falling back to RequestContext, but is never called without one. So I added the deprecation to the change. Once these fallbacks are removed, ChangesList no longer depends on RequestContext.

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Apr 7, 3:23 AM

Change #1268303 had a related patch set uploaded (by MGChecker; author: MGChecker):

[mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter@master] Specify performer for ChangesList::userCan

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268303

gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Apr 7, 3:59 PM

Change #1268303 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter@master] Specify performer for ChangesList::userCan

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268303

ReleaseTaggerBot edited projects, added MW-1.46-notes (1.46.0-wmf.24; 2026-04-14); removed MW-1.46-notes (1.46.0-wmf.23; 2026-04-07).Tue, Apr 7, 4:00 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Tue, Apr 7, 4:34 PM

Change #1268107 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Pass context to ChangesList methods if possible

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1268107

matmarex closed this task as Resolved.Tue, Apr 7, 4:44 PM

Thanks!

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Tue, Apr 7, 5:31 PM
MGChecker added a comment.Tue, Apr 7, 11:02 PM

Well. technically I wanted to leave this open for the final change after the 1.46 branch cut, dropping the unused stuff I deprecated in the last few weeks. But in the end it does not matter so much.

@Aklapper Do you think creating a project #MediaWiki-Context would be appropriate, and if so, can I just create it (in this particular case), or would a more extensive discussion be necessary?
The project would be somewhat transitional, as there will be a lot less to talk about once RequestContext is used rarely, but this could well take another decade. I would estimate there to be at least 50 issues (open or closed, and many more in the future) one could associate with such a project.

SomeRandomDeveloper subscribed.Tue, Apr 7, 11:05 PM
Tacsipacsi added a comment.Wed, Apr 8, 4:53 PM

I’d rather create an Epic task: “don’t use RequestContext::getMain()” is a hopefully closed-ended thing (even if that closed end is far in the future), which is a good fit for a task. I don’t think that extra features of projects, like board columns, would be necessary in this case.

MGChecker added a comment.Wed, Apr 8, 5:22 PM

The project would not be limited to that, but also encompass things like

with a project making it significantly easier to keep an eye on this area of code, which do not share any common tag otherwise.
One could complement this with a goal task, but not all IContextSource-related issues are about the removal of RequestContext.

Izno subscribed.Wed, Apr 8, 8:32 PM

Seems like a reasonable column/subproject of Technical-Debt .

MGChecker added a parent task: T422745: Reduce use of RequestContext::getMain in MediaWiki core (outside test code).Wed, Apr 8, 9:07 PM
Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 unless otherwise noted; code licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL) 2.0 or later and other open source licenses. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Code of Conduct. · Wikimedia Foundation · Privacy Policy · Code of Conduct · Terms of Use · Disclaimer · CC-BY-SA · GPL · Credits