Tech:Noticeboard/Removing extensions for the MediaWiki 1.46 upgrade

This page details extensions that the Technology Team is planning to remove before or during the MediaWiki 1.46 upgrade.

Wiki administrators and bureaucrats: please check your wiki’s Special:Version page and Special:ManageWiki/extensions to see whether your wiki has any of the extensions below installed. Note that some extensions will have spaces in their names, preventing a full name search from finding the extension.

Each extension is in a different situation. Some are going to be removed for technical reasons and the decision is unlikely to be changed by community input. Others are proposed for removal due to a perceived lack of usefulness combined with other technical considerations. If there is enough community interest in preserving the extension in question, the technology team could attempt to fix the extension instead of removing it. Please not that the result of the discussions below is non-binding: extension additions and removals are at the discretion of the technology team.NEWSECTIONLINK

–PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC)

Extension:DataTransfer#

Rationale 1#

Testing revealed multiple issues with the extension that prevent it from properly functioning.

The technology team also believes that it has limited use since most functionalities are covered by MediaWiki’s native import/export features.

Discussion 1#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC)

No concerns this, as there are acceptable alternatives. I’m wondering, though, can you share some stats on the number of wikis on which each extension is enabled (active wikis only; no need for locked, closed, or deleted wikis, I think). Doug (talk) 01:53, 19 July 2026 (UTC) Added in the appendix. The parser function doesn’t provide a way to filter by wiki state unfortunately. The list on the communities wiki only includes public, non-deleted wikis with the number of active users in mind, which could also be useful. PetraMagna (talk) 14:33, 19 July 2026 (UTC) Ah, okay. Thanks. I’ll check out that page on Communities wiki. To clarify, I was wondering if there was an SQL query that could be run to generate that information. In any case, the information in the Appendix you’ve provided is helpful enough (number of wikis using it). Doug (talk) 14:54, 19 July 2026 (UTC) Enabled it little more than a couple of years ago on my creative-venture wiki, just for the sake of the track listings on my forthcoming anthro novel’s side project; about the only extension I know of that supports CSV imports (via Special:ImportCSV). –Routhwick (talk) 14:12, 22 July 2026 (UTC) Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t expect wikis to be in need of this use case. Since we do have a wiki that need a DataTransfer feature not available in other extensions, tech can decide in the end whether the effort to fix this extension is worth it. Alternatively, you can convert the CSV file into an XML dump and use Special:Import. The XML dump does require a bit more effort to produce, though. PetraMagna (talk) 17:30, 22 July 2026 (UTC)

Data transferring is very important. In the Bestiary of the Hypogriph, one of our projects is we save information about worldbuiding that gets scrubbed and destroyed by webpages lacking in maintenance. I myself lost a forum with around 40 thousand messages. Exporting and importing in as many formats as possible is a big plus and very necessary.

It also bears mention this is the largest extension that “would be disabled”, with over 700 wikis using it, double the next candidate. Native wiki importing/exporting is clunky and often fails with larger files.–NimoStar (talk) 07:29, 17 August 2026 (UTC) We have Special:DataDump available on all wikis, which provides the best way to perform full-wiki backups. There is no reason to use a special extension instead of what works for every MediaWiki installation unless you really want some of its features such as CSV handling. Over 700 wikis have enabled it in ManageWiki, but few are actually using it judging from the lack of response in the past month. We’ve had extensions that have been completely broken for over a year, and we received no bug reports from the hundreds of wikis that are supposedly using it. PetraMagna (talk) 09:53, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:LanguageSelector#

Rationale 2#

This is tracked on T14657.

The extension is no longer maintained, uses hooks removed more than 5 years ago, and can “lead people to seeing the page in a random language”.

Its functionalities also overlap with Extension:UniversalLanguageSelector.

LanguageSelector’s removal is unlikely to be changed, though if there is need for changing the interface language without logging in, the technology team can consider adding additional configurations to UniversalLanguageSelector.

Discussion 2#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC)

Note: the technology team will disable Language Selector and enable Universal Language Selector for all wikis that still uses Language Selector before removal. PetraMagna (talk) 16:44, 20 July 2026 (UTC) Despite the new ULS is current, I still love to switching languages in this traditional way. I hope to keep it as simply enabling it alone wouldn’t cause issues to a wiki. Liaoinmy (talk) 13:12, 3 August 2026 (UTC) The extension does cause issues unfortunately. It is known to “lead people to seeing the page in a random language” and we have seen several wikis complain in the past. PetraMagna (talk) 05:12, 7 August 2026 (UTC) What does Wikimedia use, LanguageSelector or UniversalLanguageSelector, currently? Doug (talk) 22:32, 19 August 2026 (UTC) WMF wikis use UniversalLanguageSelector. PetraMagna (talk) 10:09, 20 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:AutoCreatePage#

Rationale 3#

This is tracked on T15017. The extension has unfixable security issues, which I will not detail here.

It doesn’t have a full replacement, though the page creation process can be made much easier by using Extension:InputBox with a preload template.

Discussion 3#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC)

No concerns. Doug (talk) 01:55, 19 July 2026 (UTC) What alternative we have? This is BASIC for creating new categories on the fly. Jakeukalane (talk) 16:48, 20 July 2026 (UTC) Auto Create Category Pages. TheWWRNerdGuy (talk) 17:16, 20 July 2026 (UTC) As I myself stated on the Tracker minutes ago, my wiki still uses ACP–for FTA (“From the Author”) shortcuts by date, and new track arrivals for my anthro novel’s side project by month. Routhwick (talk) 00:10, 19 August 2026 (UTC) For cases like this it should be possible to use a similar approach to https://battlecats.miraheze.org/wiki/User:SweetDonut0/WikiTheme.js, where a JS script can automatically make the appropriate edits as long as you’re on the wiki and logged in. TheWWRNerdGuy (talk) 22:24, 19 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:FeaturedFeeds#

Rationale 4#

The extension requires changes to mw-config, and a total of 0 wikis is using it this way despite many wikis enabling it in ManageWiki.

Discussion 4#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC) SGTM then. Speedy removal as an unused extension with zero use. Doug (talk) 22:31, 19 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:MagicNoCache#

Rationale 5#

Disabling the parser cache is almost never a good idea and has caused multiple outages on the entire farm in the past. If there is a need for frequent parser cache purges, we can consider restricting this extension or installing the UpdateDaily extension.

Discussion 5#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 11:17, 13 July 2026 (UTC) Do we have any idea which wikis are using it and in what ways (i.e., on specific types of pages)? Doug (talk) 22:30, 19 August 2026 (UTC) mh:battlecats:Battle Cats Wiki has a “Daily Units” section at the bottom of the page, which we would want to update daily. We don’t actually need UpdateDaily because the existing magic words on the page set the cache expiry to 1 hour anyway, but it tends to be that many wiki main pages use MagicNoCache to reduce the parser cache expiry for purposes like that (because that’s unfortunately the only way to reliably shorten the cache time). TheWWRNerdGuy (talk) 22:37, 19 August 2026 (UTC) I use MagicNoCache on the Winnipeg Transit Wiki’s homepage because once every few months I make announcements that vary depending on the day and time with the #time parser function (for example in the wikitext of this revision). Typically, the difference is just grammar tense, but very occasionally I use words l(ike today, tonight, etc.) which can be misunderstood if the announcements appear after they’re meant to. As a result, I want to keep MagicNoCache so those words aren’t misleading. RandomUser123789 (talk) 00:28, 26 August 2026 (UTC) If timing is important, the main page can be purged manually. Alternatively, UpdateDaily should cover this use case as well, though it’ll be off by at most 24 hours. In general, disabling the parser cache so that it doesn’t need to be purged once seems wasteful. There could be thousands of page views each triggering a separate parse, even though only 2 parses are needed (once during page save and once after the designated time has passed). PetraMagna (talk) 03:52, 26 August 2026 (UTC) That works. RandomUser123789 (talk) 05:04, 26 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:GeoGebra#

Rationale 6#

This extension is not functional and does not show anything in our tests. It has been broken since MediaWiki 1.44, and no wiki reported this breakage to us. The original wiki that requested it is already deleted. We take this to mean a lack of interest in the extension.

Discussion 6#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 12:17, 15 July 2026 (UTC)

Extension:CleanChanges#

Rationale 7#

See T14270 and T379896.

The only useful feature left is the user filter, which doesn’t make much sense since one can go to the Special:Contributions page for per-user recent changes.

Discussion 7#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 00:34, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

No issues here. Should be superseded by Extension:SimpleChanges. CostinTea (talk) 23:33, 19 July 2026 (UTC) Per above, no issues here. Doug (talk) 22:26, 19 August 2026 (UTC)

Extension:InterwikiSorting#

Rationale 8#

See T15015. The Wikimedia Foundation, which maintains this extension, has undeployed it in T253764.

The extension will likely become unmaintained as its largest user abandon it.

Discussion 8#

Please respond here. PetraMagna (talk) 00:42, 19 July 2026 (UTC) Personally I think we can keep InterwikiSorting for a few MediaWiki versions, but as MediaWiki evolves, the extension will inevitably break. It is also poorly documented on mediawiki.org and has no instructions on how to use it. PetraMagna (talk) 00:42, 19 July 2026 (UTC) For backward compatibility reasons I hope to retain this extension. It shouldn’t be overhauling the MediaWiki software so it would be supported in a long period of time from now I think. Liaoinmy (talk) 13:17, 3 August 2026 (UTC) We could keep it then. We may need to add a note on ManageWiki which says the extension might be broken. PetraMagna (talk) 05:12, 7 August 2026 (UTC) I’m assuming this is beyond the level of sorting done by the InterwikiDispatcher extension. if so, I am indifferent to this, but generally agree, if you’re able to keep it for the foreseeable future as an unmaintained extension with absolutely zero guarantees, then that’s ideal. I would definitely recommend adding a note that as it is unmaintained and largely undocumented, it is subject to removal on short notice. Doug (talk) 22:29, 19 August 2026 (UTC)

"Will likely become unmaintained" is speculation, and there is no reported new issues as far as this says. No reason to abandon it. Its also useful. Our project has three connected wikis for example.--[NimoStar](https://meta.miraheze.org/wiki/User:NimoStar) ([talk](https://meta.miraheze.org/wiki/User_talk:NimoStar)) 07:31, 17 August 2026 (UTC)
  To be precise, the extension can already be considered unmaintained. For the past 2 years the only human commits are the ones to ensure it works against the latest MediaWiki version. Now that the WMF drops it from production no one from the WMF/WMDE will have fixing it as their job. It's not impossible that someone will step up to maintain this extension, but at its current state the extension has no maintainer. [PetraMagna](https://meta.miraheze.org/wiki/User:PetraMagna) ([talk](https://meta.miraheze.org/wiki/User_talk:PetraMagna)) 09:49, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

Appendix: number of wikis using each extension#

Data sourced from ManageWiki/WikiDiscover. All wikis (including inactive and deleted wikis) are included. | pattern= | arg1=EXT | datatransfer | languageselector | autocreatepages | featuredfeeds | magicnocache | geogebra | cleanchanges | interwikisorting |

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