Xowa: Current Status

[Ope30]

Hi!

I hope I'm not coming in like a bomb. I have been checking this out for the past few months, and I'm wondering whether I missed something, or not?

Howsoever, I hope you're fine! Have you possibly been working on XOWA lately? What about your schedule for this month?

I don't really like asking you this all the time, honestly. Nonetheless, is releasing a new build of Wikipedia, both DE and EN, possible this month?!

Regards,

Ope30

[gnosygnu]

Hi Ope30,

Sorry for the lack of updates on my side. On a personal note, I started another new job recently, and have not had much time outside of work-related activities.

That said, I did upload a 2018-07 English Wikipedia last weekend. I just didn't have time to announce it until now. See below for the standard download instructions.

Also, I made other parser-related changes over the past few months. I'll upload a new version sometime this weekend. Note that you only need this new version if you use the Wikitext databases (not the HTML ones)

In addition, I'll also kick off a 2018-07 German Wikipedia build this weekend and should have it up by next weekend.

Finally, though I will always try to keep XOWA up-to-date, my time will be limited for the forseeable future. I do apologize for the state of the situation, but honestly, between work and personal commitments, it's hard to slot in time for XOWA. Also, after devoting 7 years of development to it -- including one year off from work just to develop XOWA -- I can't help but arrive at the conclusion that this project has limited appeal. The user requirements are high (it requires 100+ GB downloads), it's garnered very little interest from the developer / power user community, and it has absolutely no support from the Wikimedia Foundation. At this point, I have to accept the situation for what it is, and see if there are better ways to leverage my time. This is a bitter pill to swallow (and, in truth, this pill has not been swallowed, but still been lodged in my gorge for the past several months), but the final outcome may be inevitable.

Anyway, rambling rant aside, I will have updates for XOWA and German Wikipedia in the coming week. I'll also honor any updates for other wikis as well. Hope this works for you as well as others.

Thanks.

---

• Go to Download Central
  
  
  
  • On XOWA: Tools -> Download Central (also home/wiki/Special:XowaDownloadCentral)
  
  
  • On XOWA Android: Left menu -> XOWA -> Download button
  
  
• Look at the "Available" table
• Click the "blue down arrow" all the way to the right
• You'll see a status message in the bottom right about the recent additions

[Ope30]

Finally, though I will always try to keep XOWA up-to-date, my time will be limited for the forseeable future. I do apologize for the state of the situation, but honestly, between work and personal commitments, it's hard to slot in time for XOWA. Also, after devoting 7 years of development to it -- including one year off from work just to develop XOWA -- I can't help but arrive at the conclusion that this project has limited appeal. The user requirements are high (it requires 100+ GB downloads), it's garnered very little interest from the developer / power user community, and it has absolutely no support from the Wikimedia Foundation. At this point, I have to accept the situation for what it is, and see if there are better ways to leverage my time. This is a bitter pill to swallow (and, in truth, this pill has not been swallowed, but still been lodged in my gorge for the past several months), but the final outcome may be inevitable.

I genuinely understand what you are talking about. I really do. Possible pressure is the least I want to cause. That is why I don't like creating all these issues. My intention was never to cause any pressure. Just saying. And now I know even more in what kind of situation you are currently in, and I truly respect that. I'll kindly lay off from creating unimportant issues at first if you want.

In all respects, take all the time in the world you need. Don't think about me or anyone else right now, concentrate on yourself. You don't have to release new builds every month. I think some of us are satisfied with what we have at the moment. When I ask whether you can upload a new build or not, I literally just ask. And if you say you do not have the time, then there is nothing we can do, but deal with it.

And what I'm unbelievably grateful for is, although the situation you're currently in (your job, lack of time etc) ,you uploaded EN-Wikipedia 2018-7! Same goes for DE-Wikipedia. You earn some additional respect right there. That shows, that you're a true Gentleman. :D

Last but not least, I would like to let you know, that I will always, as good as I can, as long and intensive as I can, support XOWA. I'm glad I discovered XOWA back in 2016. I check out GitHub every single day. It is, in my opinion, the best Wikipedia-Offline Software there is on the internet!

Have a beautiful day.

[Ope30]

Juuuuuuuust for your information, as well as everyone elses information trying to download the Wiki, there are unfortunately 6 dead links
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_html_ns.000_db.015.zip
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_html_ns.000_db.014.zip
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_file_ns.000_db.078.zip
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_file_ns.000_db.077.zip
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_file_ns.000_db.076.zip
http://archive.org/download/Xowa_enwiki_latest/Xowa_enwiki_2018-07_file_ns.000_db.075.zip

[gnosygnu]

I genuinely understand what you are talking about. I really do. Possible pressure is the least I want to cause....

Hey, just to be clear, you're not causing any pressure. You have been one of the greatest and most supportive users I've had, if not anyone. In no way, shape, or form, was this meant as any comment on your request. I wrote what I wrote just to give some indication of my frame of mind, and why there had been such a drop-off in activity on my side. Again, you've been amazing in everything. If anything, I'm embarrassed that my support cannot match your interest.

Juuuuuuuust for your information, as well as everyone elses information trying to download the Wiki, there are unfortunately 6 dead links

And here's an example of why you've been so great. :) I uploaded these files now. Let me know if there's anything else.

Thanks!

[lawnowner]

Hello,

Thank you for the new releases. I have been using XOWA on desktop PC, with Chrome browser using XOWA's server functionality, for about 1.5 years now, and it is simply indispensable for me as I have only offline access to Wikipedia. Compared to other offline Wikipedia applications, XOWA is by far the best, and frankly spoken, the only one that is functioning satisfactorily, as a viewer/HTTP-server that can be updated by the official Wikimedia dumps on users' convenience.

I'd like to ask two questions regarding the above discussion, i.e. the current status:

1- Although the project has become more demanding than your current work load allows you to cope with future developments, XOWA application has reached a self-sustaining stability, hasn't it? I mean I typically download below four files from official Wikimedia backups, and offline-import them within a fresh XOWA:

• wiki--pages-articles.xml.bz2
• wiki--categorylinks.sql.gz
• wiki--page_props.sql.gz
• wiki--pagelinks.sql.gz

And this provides a complete update of articles, although not images. So, the only part where XOWA lacks self-sustainability for its users (like me) is updating images, although individual images can be downloaded by allowing XOWA to access internet and checking the "Retreival enable" option for files, assuming Wikipedia can be accessed online.

Am I wrong on thinking that current version of XOWA will remain updatable with official Wikimedia dumps even if further development ceases?

2- My second question is; there used to be a 64-bit Windows version with Java, ImageMagick, and Inkscape for previous versions, although the latest release (i.e. v4.5.21.1808) doesn't have that option. So, are ImageMagick and Inkscape not needed anymore for XOWA to function?

Thanks!

[gnosygnu]

I uploaded 2018-07 German Wikipedia over the weekend. Let me know if anything is missing. Thanks

[gnosygnu]

@lawnowner: Sorry for missing the comment but I've started a new job recently and am still adjusting. I reply below.

Thank you for the new releases. I have been using XOWA on desktop PC, with Chrome browser using XOWA's server functionality, for about 1.5 years now, and it is simply indispensable for me as I have only offline access to Wikipedia. Compared to other offline Wikipedia applications, XOWA is by far the best, and frankly spoken, the only one that is functioning satisfactorily, as a viewer/HTTP-server that can be updated by the official Wikimedia dumps on users' convenience.

Cool! Thanks for the kind words and praise!

I'd like to ask two questions regarding the above discussion, i.e. the current status:
1- Although the project has become more demanding than your current work load allows you to cope with future developments, XOWA application has reached a self-sustaining stability, hasn't it? I mean I typically download below four files from official Wikimedia backups, and offline-import them within a fresh XOWA:

wiki--pages-articles.xml.bz2
wiki--categorylinks.sql.gz
wiki--page_props.sql.gz
wiki--pagelinks.sql.gz

Yup, that's correct. You just need those files for the wikitext version. However, wikitext doesn't work on Android, which is why I generate the html files. Truth is, I use XOWA Android a lot more now than XOWA desktop.

And this provides a complete update of articles, although not images. So, the only part where XOWA lacks self-sustainability for its users (like me) is updating images, although individual images can be downloaded by allowing XOWA to access internet and checking the "Retreival enable" option for files, assuming Wikipedia can be accessed online.

That also is true, but some users may prefer a completely offline solution. Furthermore, the older the image databases, then the more images will need to be downloaded. (i.e.: if you have image databases from 2018-07 and are looking at a 2019-07 wiki, then 5% of all images may be missing)

Am I wrong on thinking that current version of XOWA will remain updatable with official Wikimedia dumps even if further development ceases?

First, I don't expect development to ever cease, though unfortunately it will go at a slower pace for the time being. But to answer your question, XOWA does need occasional updates because MediaWiki itself is always changing. Most of these changes are in Wikidata, but there's a fair number in Scribunto as well as elsewhere. Without XOWA updates, you may start to see a lot more "Script error"s

2- My second question is; there used to be a 64-bit Windows version with Java, ImageMagick, and Inkscape for previous versions, although the latest release (i.e. v4.5.21.1808) doesn't have that option. So, are ImageMagick and Inkscape not needed anymore for XOWA to function?

They're still needed. I was in a rush to get the release out, and skipped this package b/c it was mostly there as a convenience (you can build the same thing manually).

Let me know if you want the package and I'll upload it sometime before the week is done.

Thanks!