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MediaWiki: Difference between revisions

From dankwiki
 
 
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* memcached works out of the box, but doesn't seem very effective
* memcached works out of the box, but doesn't seem very effective
** You want the memcache server at 127.0.0.1:11211
** You want the memcache server at 127.0.0.1:11211
* Ensure <tt>mod_deflate</tt>'s compressing standard html/xml etc, and also <tt>application/x-javascript</tt> and <tt>text/css</tt>


==Postinstallation==
==Postinstallation==
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:PD_help/Copying Install help pages] using Import/Export.
** They require the ParserFunctions extension. Be sure to get the proper version for your MediaWiki install.
* Set a wiki logo: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
* Set a wiki logo: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgLogo = "/mediawiki/skins/common/images/wiki.jpg";</code> with the appropriate path to your logo
** <code>$wgLogo = "/mediawiki/skins/common/images/wiki.jpg";</code> with the appropriate path to your logo
Line 34: Line 37:
** If applicable, set the image background transparent so it'll look better
** If applicable, set the image background transparent so it'll look better
*** Using the Gimp, add an Alpha layer, select the background with the Magic Wand, and Clear it
*** Using the Gimp, add an Alpha layer, select the background with the Magic Wand, and Clear it
* Enable uploads: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgEnableUploads = true;</code>
* Support uploading non-images: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'doc', 'pdf', 'ps', 'xls', 'txt' );</code>
** Supposedly, all types can be allowed via:
<code>$wgCheckFileExtensions = false;
$wgStrictFileExtensions = false;
$wgVerifyMimeType = false;
$wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg' );
$wgFileBlacklist = array();
$wgMimeTypeBlacklist= array();</code>
* Support inline equations: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and change
* Support inline equations: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and change
** <code>$wgUseTeX          = false;</code> so that it uses <tt>true</tt> instead
** <code>$wgUseTeX          = false;</code> so that it uses <tt>true</tt> instead
Line 50: Line 42:
* Disable editing unless logged in: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
* Disable editing unless logged in: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;</code>
** <code>$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;</code>
* Disable per-IP pages:<tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgShowIPinHeader = false;</code>
* Optionally, disable new accounts unless logged in: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
* Optionally, disable new accounts unless logged in: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
** <code>$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;</code>
** <code>$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;</code>
Line 55: Line 49:
** Load <tt>Mediawiki:mainpage</tt>, and update it to reflect this change
** Load <tt>Mediawiki:mainpage</tt>, and update it to reflect this change
* Optionally, remove the 'discussion' tab:
* Optionally, remove the 'discussion' tab:
** Edit <tt>mediawiki/includes/SkinTemplate.php</tt>, and comment out the following:
** Edit [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], and add the following:<code>#ca-talk { display:none!important; }</code>
<code> $content_actions['talk'] = $this->tabAction(
** Ensure <tt>$wgUseSiteCss=true</tt> in LocalSettings.php
                                $talkpage,
===Managing Uploads===
                                'talk',
* Enable uploads: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
                                $this->mTitle->isTalkPage() && !$prevent_active_tabs,
** <code>$wgEnableUploads = true;</code>
                                '',
* Support uploading non-images: <tt>sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php</tt> and add
                                true);</code>
** <pre>$wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'doc', 'pdf', 'ps', 'xls', 'txt', 'svg' );</pre>
** Supposedly, all types can be allowed via:
<pre>
$wgCheckFileExtensions = false;
$wgStrictFileExtensions = false;
$wgVerifyMimeType = false;
$wgFileBlacklist = array();
$wgMimeTypeBlacklist= array();
</pre>
* To allow files larger than the default 2M to be uploaded, edit the value of <tt>upload_max_filesize</tt> in <tt>/etc/php.ini</tt>
** This requires a web server restart to take effect
 
===System strings===
Most strings in e.g. sidebars can be edited in the Special:AllMessages area. To see what message key a string corresponds to, add "uselang=qqx" to a URI, e.g. https://nick-black.com/dankwiki/index.php?title=User:Dank&uselang=qqx.
 
==Moving a wiki==
There's a [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Moving_a_wiki manual entry] on this. My notes follow:
* The uploaded files are '''not''' stored in your database, and need be copied by themselves
** By default, this is the 'images' directory off your wiki toplevel
** Use a copying method that preserves timestamps, such as tar
* Be sure you grab your configuration files, particularly /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
* You will also likely want to transfer your web server config as it relates to the wiki
* If you're using Mediawiki account permissions only, they'll be stored in your wiki database
** Otherwise, you'll of course need to copy over and prepare this supporting infrastructure
* Export your database with mysqldump as explained in the manual, and import it on the new machine
* If you can't do a database dump/load, you can do an XML export of all your pages
** This won't copy things like account data!


==Maintenance==
==Maintenance==
* The MediaWiki manual has good information scattered through it; check the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:System_administration system administration page] for sure
* Most everything can be done via the [[Special:Specialpages|Special Pages]] page; learn it
* Most everything can be done via the [[Special:Specialpages|Special Pages]] page; learn it
* Check the [[Special:Lonelypages]] list to watch for orphaned pages; these pages are unreachable from any other page.
* Check the [[Special:Lonelypages]] list to watch for orphaned pages; these pages are unreachable from any other page.
Line 72: Line 93:
** See if the page can't be combined with another one, or if more info isn't sensible to add
** See if the page can't be combined with another one, or if more info isn't sensible to add
* How to check for dead external links? '''FIXME'''
* How to check for dead external links? '''FIXME'''
* Use the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:GenerateSitemap.php generateSitemap.php] maintenance script to generate [http://www.sitemaps.org/ sitemaps]; these can be registered with search services.


==Extensions==
==Extensions==
Line 83: Line 105:


===Enabling other Extensions===
===Enabling other Extensions===
* Download the extension to <tt>/var/lib/mediawiki1.10/extensions</tt>
* Download the extension to <tt>/var/lib/mediawiki/extensions</tt>
* See <tt>/var/lib/mediawiki/extensions/README</tt> for up-to-date information on enabling it
* See <tt>/var/lib/mediawiki/extensions/README</tt> for up-to-date information on enabling it
* Worth noting: [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Google_Analytics_Integration googleAnalytics], [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Countdown Countdown], [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:RSS RSSNews]
==Editing==
Wikipedia's tutorials and the Mediawiki help pages are the best references here:
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_tutorial Wikipedia image tutorial]
I also have [[MediaWiki editing|some information]].
===Editing permissions===
Some editing capabilities are by default disabled even for sysops:
<pre>
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['deleterevision']  = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['editsitecss']  = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['editsitejs']  = true;
</pre>
==See Also==
* [http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/137 mod_deflate configuration] for [[Debian]]

Latest revision as of 01:11, 12 May 2023

I'm using the MediaWiki software from the WikiMedia Foundation to power my wikis. MediaWiki is written in PHP5, and thus precludes the use of a multi-threaded version of Apache.

Installing MediaWiki

The following information is largely Debian-specific.

  • Have handy the administrator account/password for your MySQL installation.
    • I advise you to install MySQL before MediaWiki, not as a single apt step.
    • DO NOT explicitly create the MediaWiki databases / users yourself.
  • Grab the necessary packages:
    • mediawiki and mediawiki-math; mediawiki-extensions is also advised.
    • In addition, memcached, imagemagick and tetex-base should be installed if they're not automatically dragged in.
  • Don't grab the versioned packages (ie mediawiki1.10); the mediawiki package will depend on the proper packages for your version of Debian.
    • Unless you really need a particular version.
    • If you install the versioned packages explicitly, upgrades might eat your configuration. You have been warned.
  • Symlink /var/lib/mediawiki to /var/www/mediawiki with ln -s.
    • This isn't in the install docs, and might be incorrect/suboptimal FIXME.
  • Go to http://yourhost/mediawiki. You should be greeted with a link to the config page. Follow it.
  • Configure that bitch (See Accelerators below).
    • I've seen no problems related to the experimental UTF-8 encoding for use with MySQL 5.0.
  • Following configuration, run chmod 640 /var/lib/mediawiki/config/LocalSettings.php && ln -sf /var/lib/mediawiki/config/LocalSettings.php /etc/mediawiki
  • Go to http://yourhost/mediawiki. You should be greeted with your new main page.

Accelerators

  • MediaWiki: kinda slow.
  • XCache is rumoured to be the best choice.
    • On Debian, you'll need edit the default /etc/php5/xcache.ini to provide non-0 size values
  • memcached works out of the box, but doesn't seem very effective
    • You want the memcache server at 127.0.0.1:11211
  • Ensure mod_deflate's compressing standard html/xml etc, and also application/x-javascript and text/css

Postinstallation

  • Install help pages using Import/Export.
    • They require the ParserFunctions extension. Be sure to get the proper version for your MediaWiki install.
  • Set a wiki logo: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgLogo = "/mediawiki/skins/common/images/wiki.jpg"; with the appropriate path to your logo
    • Be sure the image is world-readable, 135x135 and has a correct extension
    • The path is relative to your Apache's configured DocumentRoot
    • If applicable, set the image background transparent so it'll look better
      • Using the Gimp, add an Alpha layer, select the background with the Magic Wand, and Clear it
  • Support inline equations: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and change
    • $wgUseTeX = false; so that it uses true instead
    • The texex-bin package must be installed for this to work!
  • Disable editing unless logged in: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
  • Disable per-IP pages:sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgShowIPinHeader = false;
  • Optionally, disable new accounts unless logged in: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;
  • Optionally, rename the main page: first, move the main page to the new title
    • Load Mediawiki:mainpage, and update it to reflect this change
  • Optionally, remove the 'discussion' tab:
    • Edit MediaWiki:Common.css, and add the following:#ca-talk { display:none!important; }
    • Ensure $wgUseSiteCss=true in LocalSettings.php

Managing Uploads

  • Enable uploads: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgEnableUploads = true;
  • Support uploading non-images: sudoedit /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php and add
    • $wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'doc', 'pdf', 'ps', 'xls', 'txt', 'svg' );
    • Supposedly, all types can be allowed via:
 $wgCheckFileExtensions = false;
 $wgStrictFileExtensions = false;
 $wgVerifyMimeType = false;
 $wgFileBlacklist = array();
 $wgMimeTypeBlacklist= array();
  • To allow files larger than the default 2M to be uploaded, edit the value of upload_max_filesize in /etc/php.ini
    • This requires a web server restart to take effect

System strings

Most strings in e.g. sidebars can be edited in the Special:AllMessages area. To see what message key a string corresponds to, add "uselang=qqx" to a URI, e.g. https://nick-black.com/dankwiki/index.php?title=User:Dank&uselang=qqx.

Moving a wiki

There's a manual entry on this. My notes follow:

  • The uploaded files are not stored in your database, and need be copied by themselves
    • By default, this is the 'images' directory off your wiki toplevel
    • Use a copying method that preserves timestamps, such as tar
  • Be sure you grab your configuration files, particularly /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
  • You will also likely want to transfer your web server config as it relates to the wiki
  • If you're using Mediawiki account permissions only, they'll be stored in your wiki database
    • Otherwise, you'll of course need to copy over and prepare this supporting infrastructure
  • Export your database with mysqldump as explained in the manual, and import it on the new machine
  • If you can't do a database dump/load, you can do an XML export of all your pages
    • This won't copy things like account data!

Maintenance

  • The MediaWiki manual has good information scattered through it; check the system administration page for sure
  • Most everything can be done via the Special Pages page; learn it
  • Check the Special:Lonelypages list to watch for orphaned pages; these pages are unreachable from any other page.
    • This almost always indicates a mistyped or misspelled attempt to link to this page; check the Special:Wantedpages list
  • Check the Special:Deadendpages list to watch for dead-end pages; these pages link to no other pages.
    • This almost always indicated a failure to add a relevant link, or a short entry (see below)
  • Check the Special:Shortpages list to watch for short pages; these pages might need more information.
    • See if the page can't be combined with another one, or if more info isn't sensible to add
  • How to check for dead external links? FIXME
  • Use the generateSitemap.php maintenance script to generate sitemaps; these can be registered with search services.

Extensions

A variety of extensions are available for MediaWiki. The most popular and stable are collected in the Debian package mediawiki-extensions, including (as of 1.10) GeSHi, Cite, inputbox, and ParserFunctions. By default, none are enabled -- the package only provides the extensions; it does not enable them!

Enabling Debian-Supported Extensions

  • Install the mediawiki-extensions package.
  • Enter the /etc/mediawiki-extensions/extensions-enabled directory.
  • Enable extensions by creating symbolic links to contents of the /etc/mediawiki-extensions/extensions-available directory.
    • To enable all extensions, run: for i in ../extensions-available/* ; do sudo ln -s /etc/mediawiki-extensions/extensions-available/`basename $i` . ; done

Enabling other Extensions

  • Download the extension to /var/lib/mediawiki/extensions
  • See /var/lib/mediawiki/extensions/README for up-to-date information on enabling it
  • Worth noting: googleAnalytics, Countdown, RSSNews

Editing

Wikipedia's tutorials and the Mediawiki help pages are the best references here:

I also have some information.

Editing permissions

Some editing capabilities are by default disabled even for sysops:

$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['deleterevision']  = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['editsitecss']  = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['editsitejs']  = true;

See Also