Revision 27 as of 2009-10-11 14:35:23

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MediaWiki is the engine that is used for Wikipedia. See MediaWiki for more information.

== Install pre-requisites== The easiest method is to first install a full LAMP (Linux, Apache2, MySQL, PHP) server: 

 sudo tasksel install lamp-server

Make sure you record your MySQL root superuser name and superuser password that you will create at installation. You will need it later.

(Each of the components (Apache2, MySQL5, and PHP) can also be installed individually, if you wish.)

==Install MediaWiki== Install the package: 

 sudo apt-get install mediawiki

Optionally install add-ons: 

 sudo apt-get install imagemagick mediawiki-math mysql-server

Enable MediaWiki by edit the following file and remove the '#' from the third line so that it reads 'Alias /mediawiki /var/lib/mediawiki': 

sudo nano /etc/mediawiki/apache.conf

Then restart apache: 

 sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Start your MediaWiki

http://localhost/mediawiki

Follow the setup instructions.

Start Mediawiki from a remote location

This method regards starting your website from a remote location. Since you will be entering passwords, you don't want to make an unsecured connection. Either set up a ssl server] ( see forum/server/apache2/SSL) and connect with https://yoursite.example.com/mediawiki, or visit from the server itself (using elinks or lynx, two excellent text-based web browsers): 

 elinks localhost/mediawiki

You could also use ssh to port forward your http traffic from your local machine to the remote server. ssh -C -L 9999:localhost:80 regularuser@www.skippybob.com, edit your /etc/hosts to point the webserver's name to your localhost, then open a web browser to the config page: http://wiki.skippybob.com:9999/config. More detailed instructions here.

fill out the forms, noting that the final form is NOT your root or user password, but the password for the root mysql account (blank by default)

Lastly, move the config files as requested to prevent anyone else from changing these settings:

NOTE: Check the output in your web browser: if its instructions differ from below, follow them. 

 sudo mv /var/lib/mediawiki/config/LocalSettings.php /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
 sudo chmod 600 /etc/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
 sudo rm -Rf /var/lib/mediawiki/config

You are done! you should see a wiki page at: http://yoursite.example.com/mediawiki

Customize

The Apache2 config files reside at /etc/apache2/conf.d/mediawiki.conf

You might want to customize the look of your wiki.

To change the icon make a 135x135 pixel logo in PNG format and move it to the right place: 

 sudo cp my_new_logo.png /var/lib/mediawiki/skins/common/images/wiki.png

To get rid of the default sunburst logo in the background, edit /var/lib/mediawiki/skins/monobook/main.css and change:

  • background: #f9f9f9 url(headbg.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat;

to

  • background: #f9f9f9;

Email Support

MediaWiki can be configured to send email messages for various functions. You will need to install some additional packages: 

sudo apt-get install php-pear
sudo pear install mail
sudo pear install Net_SMTP

Also, you'll need to configure the LocalSettings.php file to use your SMTP server to send out the messages, for example: 

$wgEnableEmail      = true;
$wgEnableUserEmail  = true;
$wgEmergencyContact = "wikidude@mydomain.com";
$wgPasswordSender = "wikidude@mydomain.com";
$wgNoReplyAddress = "noreply@mydomain.com";
$wgPasswordSender = "password_reminder@mydomain.com";

$wgSMTP = array(
 'host'     => "ssl://smtp.gmail.com",
 'IDhost'   => "gmail.com",
 'port'     => 465,
 'auth'     => true,
 'username' => "user_name@mydomain.com",
 'password' => "user_password"
);

Extensions

Mediawiki extensions are stored in the /etc/mediawiki-extensions/extensions-available folder. You can enable an extension using 

sudo mwenext <extension.php>

Tab/autocomplete shows a list of extensions.

Similarly use mwdisext to disable an extension.

More

It is possible to run multiple parallel instances of Mediawiki on a single server:

See also

The following are unverified suggestions made by users.

Turnkey Linux

An Ubuntu-based MediaWiki appliance is one of the easiest ways to get up and running with MediaWiki on Ubuntu. It's part of a family of pre-integrated TurnKey Linux Software Appliances based on Ubuntu 8.04.2 (Hardy LTS).