There are some kind of changes to the underlying repository
which can't be made through the web interface:

  * changes to files outside the wiki, to locked pages;
  * advanced RCS operations such as merge, move, copy or del;
  * changes you're not confident enough to apply outright.

Of course in these cases, you can add your request to a discussion page
and wait for someone with the access/confidence to apply them.
Maybe this can be enhanced with a [[PreprocessorDirective]]:

<pre>
\[[suggest op=merge dstfile=trunk srcfile=branches/jk oldrev=1234 newrev=1342]]

\[[suggest op=move srcpage=/blog dstpage=/blog_support]]

\[[suggest patch="""
Index: IkiWiki/CGI.pm
===================================================================
--- IkiWiki/CGI.pm      (révision 4119)
+++ IkiWiki/CGI.pm      (copie de travail)
@@ -497,9 +497,11 @@
(...)
"""]]
</pre>

These would expand to a description of the changes to be effected, a toggleable diff
of them if appropriate, and of course an "apply theses changes" button.
Ultimately my planned [[review_mechanism]] would manage pages with such directives
by itself.

I'm still uncertain about many things, so please anyone feel free to comment.
Specifically:

  * What would an optimal syntax look like?
  * Do I need to / should I define a new rcs_ function to handle such operations?
  * Would it be acceptable for an ikiwiki module to use temporary file (ie. to calculate diffs)?
  * Should the diff be calculated at page build time (which means the page should be rebuilt
    whenever a target file changes), or should the CGI be used when someone requests it?
  * Would it be possible to detect already applied changes (without extra state, that is),
    and propose to "revert changes" in that case?

--[[JeremieKoenig]]