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XWiki VS Doxygen

Compare XWiki VS Doxygen and see what are their differences

XWiki logo XWiki

A powerful Open Source collaborative platform enhancing collaboration and communication.

Doxygen logo Doxygen

Generate documentation from source code
  • XWiki Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-21
  • Doxygen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-30

XWiki features and specs

  • Open Source
    XWiki is an open-source platform, which means it is free to use and has a community of developers continuously improving it.
  • Extensibility
    The platform is highly extensible with a wide range of plugins and macros, making it customizable based on user needs.
  • Collaboration Features
    Supports collaborative editing, real-time notifications, and workflow management, enhancing team productivity.
  • Flexible Permissions
    Provides detailed permission management, allowing administrators to control access at various levels (page, space).
  • Structured Data Management
    Allows users to create applications within the wiki to manage structured data efficiently.
  • Version Control
    Includes versioning capabilities, enabling users to track changes and revert to previous versions when necessary.
  • Multilingual Support
    Offers support for multiple languages, making it suitable for global teams.
  • Integration
    Capable of integrating with various third-party applications and services, like LDAP, Active Directory, and more.

Possible disadvantages of XWiki

  • Complex Setup
    Initial installation and configuration can be complex and time-consuming, especially for non-technical users.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and capabilities, new users might face a steep learning curve.
  • Resource Intensive
    Can be resource-intensive, requiring significant server resources to run efficiently, particularly for large installations.
  • Limited Hosting Options
    While there is a cloud offering (XWiki Cloud), users may find fewer hosting options compared to other popular wiki solutions.
  • User Interface
    The user interface, while functional, may not be as modern or intuitive as some newer wiki platforms.
  • Community Support
    While there is a community support system, it might not be as robust as commercial support options available with other platforms.
  • Documentation Quality
    Some users may find the official documentation lacking in certain areas, making troubleshooting harder.
  • Upgrades and Maintenance
    Regular upgrades and maintenance can be necessary to keep the system secure and up-to-date, which may be cumbersome for small teams without dedicated IT staff.

Doxygen features and specs

  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Doxygen supports a wide range of languages and can generate detailed, organized documentation for various types of codebases, including class hierarchies, collaboration diagrams, and more.
  • Automatic Code Parsing
    Doxygen automatically parses the code and extracts relevant comments, which helps in creating accurate and up-to-date documentation without much manual intervention.
  • Customizable Output
    Doxygen allows customization of the output format with several templates, enabling developers to generate documentation in HTML, LaTeX, RTF, and other formats.
  • Integration with Other Tools
    Doxygen integrates well with other tools such as Graphviz for generating diagrams, and it can be incorporated into continuous integration pipelines to ensure documentation is always current.
  • Open Source
    Doxygen is open-source software, meaning it is free to use and has a community of contributors that may add features or fix issues over time.

Possible disadvantages of Doxygen

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and customization options, Doxygen can be quite complex to set up and use effectively, especially for beginners.
  • Performance Issues
    For very large codebases, Doxygen can be slow in processing and generating the documentation, which might be a limitation for some projects.
  • Limited Support for Non-Standard Code Constructs
    Doxygen may have difficulties interpreting non-standard code constructs or highly complex code, which could lead to incomplete or inaccurate documentation.
  • Dependency on Code Comments
    The quality and usefulness of the generated documentation heavily depend on the thoroughness and clarity of the comments within the code, requiring disciplined commenting practices.
  • Outdated Documentation
    If not regularly maintained and regenerated, the produced documentation can become outdated as the codebase evolves, leading to potential misinformation.

Analysis of XWiki

Overall verdict

  • Yes, XWiki is a good option for those seeking a sophisticated and adaptable wiki solution that can be customized to meet specific needs. Its open-source nature allows for extensive customization and community-driven improvements.

Why this product is good

  • XWiki is a robust and flexible open-source wiki platform that offers powerful features for collaboration and knowledge management. It supports advanced features like scripting, data management, and a highly customizable user interface, making it suitable for both individual and enterprise use. Its compatibility with various databases and support for extensions further enhance its utility.

Recommended for

  • Organizations looking for a robust collaboration and documentation platform.
  • Teams that require extensive customization and integration capabilities.
  • Developers and IT professionals who prefer open-source solutions with community support.
  • Businesses seeking a platform for knowledge management and enterprise-level intranets.

Analysis of Doxygen

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Doxygen is considered a good tool, especially for projects where maintaining documentation is crucial. Its ability to integrate with various development environments and version control systems, along with its configurability and range of output formats, makes it a robust choice for automatically generating up-to-date project documentation.

Why this product is good

  • Doxygen is a widely used tool for generating documentation from annotated C++ sources, and it supports other programming languages including C, Objective-C, C#, PHP, Java, Python, IDL (Corba and Microsoft flavors), Fortran, VHDL, and D. It is valuable for its ability to extract code structure and comments to produce comprehensive documentation in various formats like HTML, LaTeX, and RTF. It also has support for generating diagrams and cross-references, which improves documentation readability and navigation.

Recommended for

  • Developers working in medium to large codebases that need robust documentation.
  • Teams using C++ or any of the supported languages who want to ensure their code documentation is consistently updated and accessible.
  • Projects where it is crucial to have an easily navigable documentation site with features like search, diagrams, and cross-references.
  • Open source projects that want to maintain high-quality, automatically generated documentation.

XWiki videos

XWiki: a case study on managing corporate and community interests 14 years of Open Source in a Smal…

More videos:

  • Review - XWiki, a free, open source, self hosted Wiki that has all the features of Confluence at minimal cost
  • Review - From 0 to Intranet in 20 minutes with XWiki - Anca Luca

Doxygen videos

Doxygen

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to XWiki and Doxygen)
WiKis
100 100%
0% 0
Documentation
0 0%
100% 100
Knowledge Base
27 27%
73% 73
Documentation As A Service & Tools

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare XWiki and Doxygen

XWiki Reviews

Top 12 Self-hosted Wiki Engines for 2024: A Comprehensive Guide
Developed in Java and licensed under LGPL, XWiki serves as a versatile platform for creating collaborative applications using the wiki paradigm. However, it is worth noting that its intricacy and the requirement for Java proficiency may pose certain challenges for less technically inclined users.
Source: medevel.com
The 10 Best Self-hosted Wiki Software for Linux System
XWiki is a mindblowing open source wiki software. It is a Java-based enterprise wiki software. It has many professional features such as File Management, Blog, Comments & Notes, and many more. There are many templates and more than 600 plugins available for XWiki. It also has a WYSIWYG editor similar to BookStack.
Best 11 Open-source Free Wiki Engines for teams and enterprise in 2022
XWiki is an open-source wiki engine for enterprise. It focuses on productivity, collaboration, and simplicity.
Source: medevel.com
The Best 20 Wiki Software For Your Business& Internal Knowledge for 2022
XWiki is an advanced open-source wiki software used by small organizations as well as large firms to create first-generation and second-generation wikis. While the first generation wikis are majorly for content collaboration, the latter are for blogs, forums, and task management. With over 600 extensions, themes, and macros, XWiki helps you succeed in creating wonderful wikis.
17 open source wiki engine/software
Xwiki is a fully-featured open Source Wiki engine and Content-Oriented Application Platform for the Enterprise. It’s also a second generation wiki software offering the ability to install and develop small applications inside wiki pages and it also offer both a generic platform for developing collaborative applications using the wiki paradigm and products developed on top of...

Doxygen Reviews

Best 25 Software Documentation Tools 2023
Doxygen is a popular documentation generator tool that is commonly used in software development projects to automatically generate documentation from source code comments.
Source: www.uphint.com
Introduction to Doxygen Alternatives In 2021
Doxygen is the software application for developing paperwork from illustrated C++ sources, but other programming languages like C, C#, Objective-C, UNO/OpenOffice, PHP, Java, IDL of Corba, Python, and Microsoft, VHDL, Fortran are also supported. From a collection of recorded source files, user can develop an HTML online documents web browser and an offline referral manual....
Source: www.webku.net
Doxygen Alternatives
Doxygen is the software for creating documentation from illustrated C++ sources, but other programming languages like C, C#, Objective-C, UNO/OpenOffice, PHP, Java, IDL of Corba, Python, and Microsoft, VHDL, Fortran are also supported. From a collection of documented source files, user can create an HTML online documentation browser and an offline reference manual. It also...
Source: www.educba.com
Doxygen Alternatives
Since the documentation is directly extracted from the sources, it is a lot less difficult to maintain the compatibility between the source code and the documentation. Having said that, this tax has a few problems with it. Therefore, I have compiled a list of some of the other options available to you besides Doxygen.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing XWiki and Doxygen, you can also consider the following products

DokuWiki - DokuWiki is a simple to use and highly versatile Open Source wiki software that doesn't require a database.

GitBook - Modern Publishing, Simply taking your books from ideas to finished, polished books.

MediaWiki - MediaWiki is a free software wiki package written in PHP, originally for use on Wikipedia.

DocFX - A documentation generation tool for API reference and Markdown files!

Confluence - Confluence is content collaboration software that changes how modern teams work

MkDocs - Project documentation with Markdown.