Forum:Interim fix for NetHack timeline template
The timeline facility on NetHackWiki seems to be broken. Any change produces a link to a nonexistent image. I think the problem is deep in the bowels of MediaWiki, where only Paxed and those close to him have access. I don't have such access.
I have added NetHack/nh-timeline.py to generate the file nh-timeline.svg, and included it from the timeline template. This can provide the current versions, until the proper timeline facility is fixed.
The SVG contains links, but they're not directly accessible from Game history. Does anyone know how to make that happen?--Ray Chason (talk) 11:53, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
- The <math> template is broken too, see User:Darth_l33t/test. That also produces an image, so presumably it uses the same functionality as the timeline. --Darth l33t (talk) 13:05, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
- There’s a page for that: special:MathStatus.
- This month I’v worked long on a replacement timeline and previewed at test.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=EasyTimeline&action=edit where midJune the preview couldn’t store the imagemap if there were a link. This was reported at English Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Help talk:EasyTimeline syntax#Issues at hurricane season. Test Wikipedia can now output timelines with links but many wikis still can’t make any. Cached failed files don’t get deleted; I think the problem may be related to this old discussion about thumbnail cleanup. My timeline is done at 21 kB so
ifwhen this clunky app works again I’m eager to post. Lysdexia (talk) 07:22, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- This happens because the wiki converts the SVG into an image and shows that. The MW setting $wgSVGNativeRendering was introduced in 1.41.0, so dtype would have to update the wiki before we could use that. I didn't see any examples of modifying $wgSVGConverters and $wgSVGConverter to allow inline SVGs. --paxed (talk) 14:43, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
- The template now include an image map, to provide links.--Ray Chason (talk) 22:33, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
So I wasn’t done.. the leads I found for Rogue added another 3 kB. The app still doesn’t work here so I’m a’linking my preview from Test Wikipedia:
Lysdexia (talk) 06:03, 11 July 2026 (UTC)
Per Dtype's announcement of the MediaWiki upgrade (For he's a jolly good fellow!), it seems the timeline facility has been removed. This "interim" fix is likely here to stay.--Ray Chason (talk) 11:27, 26 July 2026 (UTC)
- What is this bullshit? The excess bolding, spaced em dashes, positive-negative, and denial of 20 years of fact in this formulaic report was ChatGPT-written. Was the up/downgrade also LLM driven?
- “* EasyTimeline (
<timeline>) — the rendering tool it depends on was never installed here, so it never worked. 0 pages used it.”- Unintentional miss. Let me look at this later today. dtype (talk) 14:54, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Yep, flub on my part. Updated in errata: NetHackWiki:Software_updates/2026_MediaWiki_1.43. And yes was claude assisted, especially for testing and documentation. Even so it was a 10+ hour endeavor on Saturday. Happy to work on issues to correct anything missed. dtype (talk) 16:32, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- If this bug gets resolved (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T428063), please bring back EasyTimeline. The wiki can’t directly turn Python into a timeline; updates get delayed; the current substitute script is pretty limited to 1D. Alternative extensions like charts and echarts are security risks. I did my best with the decades-old ploticus-based app to both fit everything and make text clear but if the raster fonts are too bad then the only other substitute is to draw the timeline “bare metal” with tables. I came up with this some weeks ago: