Last modified: 2014-01-11 16:15:40 UTC
A lot of wikis leave the Help namespace empty because no one with sysop rights gets around to exporting the Help namespace from, e.g., MediaWiki.org and importing it to the local wiki. It's a multi-step process requiring several trips to Special:AllPages, Special:Export, and Special:Import on the two wikis since there are a few thousand help pages, for those who want everything. Maybe one will only want to get pages in [[mw:Category:Help]] and possibly [[mw:Category:Extension help]], though. See [[mw:Project:PD help/export]] Another possibility might be for a wiki to get rid of its Help namespace and create a help: interwiki prefix pointing to MediaWiki.org, e.g. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:$1 Then they give up the ability to create customized help pages, though.
The other disadvantage of the interwiki prefix idea is that it sends the user off-wiki. Anyway, those wanting to export everything from Category:Help can use: https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Export&addcat&catname=Help&action=submit
I just noticed, another issue is that not all the pages in the Help: namespace are in the [[mw:Category:Help]], and some pages outside the Help: namespace are in Category:Help. I would say that it would be best to use: https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Export&addns&nsindex=12&action=submit However, that doesn't work. I suspect that [[mw:Manual:$wgExportFromNamespaces]] is set to false on MediaWiki.org. See bug 59947. Therefore, there doesn't seem to be any choice but to go to https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3APrefixIndex&namespace=12 or its API equivalent, https://www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=allpages&apnamespace=12&aplimit=500 and then copy and paste the page titles one obtains from there into the Special:Export text box. That's a pain in the neck, though, because one has to format it properly.
You can use the api to generate the export XML used to import it on another wiki. You just need to use a generator module and use the export and exportnowrap parameters. Example: https://www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php?action=query&generator=allpages&gapnamespace=12&export&exportnowrap You'd need to use gaplimit and/or gapcontinue to retrieve all pages. A maintenance script may be useful to take care of this on it's own.
