== Introduction ==
-'''tldr''': For Gnu/Linux (with a bit of Debian bias), a more concise, holistic and automated install than the official Mediawiki docs. Do some initial configuration then download this page and run it, or execute it as you read.
+'''tldr''': For GNU/Linux (with a bit of Debian bias), a more concise, holistic and automated install than the official Mediawiki docs. Do some initial configuration then download this page and run it, or execute it as you read.
''' Goals / Why use this guide? '''
* Explicit automation support wherever practical
* Used to setup this site (style optional)
* Contributions welcome and will be updated/tested on this very site!
-* Support for multiple linux distros
+* Support for multiple gnu/linux distros
* Holistic scope (backups, server setup), but sections stand on their own
* Explicit support for production & local testing instance. Additions for production like https and web analytics.
* Edits to this page are closely monitored by the original author.
'''Assumptions'''
-* Self hosting, single Linux system with Bash shell
+* Self hosting, single GNU/Linux system with Bash shell
* Root shell is assumed throughout
* Code blocks are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotent idempotent]
'''Email Setup'''
-Setting up email can be an involved process. Mediawiki is perfectly happy to disable email with 1 setting (no password reminders or notifications), but it is a nice feature to have. You could run your own mail server (on the mediawiki server, or elsewhere), or use one of many services which sends mail for very cheap, or free within limits (popular examples [http://www.mailgun.com/ mailgun], [https://mandrillapp.com/ mandrill], [http://www.mailjet.com/pricing mailjet], [https://aws.amazon.com/ses/ aws]), or connect to a full featured send/receive mail provider like [https://fastmail.com fastmail] (this server is setup that way). How we did that is for a future wiki page.
+Setting up email can be an involved process, and this guide assumes that a some program (usually postfix or exim) is implementing a functional sendmail interface. Mediawiki uses email with to send password reminders or notifications, and this guide includes cronjobs for updating mediawiki and doing backups which will send mail in the case of an error. Email is also the recommended way to get notifications of package updates which require manual steps such as restarting of services.
If you are not setting up your server to send mail with a program that uses the default sendmail interface, see these pages when you are configuring mediawiki: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgEnableEmail|Manual:$wgEnableEmail]], [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Configuration_settings#Email_settings Manual:Email_settings], [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgSMTP|Manual:$wgSMTP]]
# Make the toolbox go into the drop down.
cd $mw/skins/Vector
if ! git remote show ian-kelling &>/dev/null; then
- git remote add ian-kelling https://iankelling.org/git/Vector
+ git remote add ian-kelling https://iankelling.org/git/forks/Vector
fi
git fetch ian-kelling
git checkout ian-kelling/REL1_27-toolbox-in-dropdown
Overall the documentation is good, but like wikipedia, it depends.
-The closer a topic is to core functionality and commonly used features, the better the documentation is likely to be. My guess is that Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has a competing priority of being a good upstream to mediawiki users and being good for their own sites. That, plus the multitude of unconnected extension developers, and official documentation is sometimes neglected in favor of bug reports, readme files, comments, code, and unpublished knowledge. User's edits vary in quality, and often aren't reviewed by anyone. If you run into an issue, try viewing/diffing the most recent version of a page by the last few editors.
+The closer a topic is to core functionality and commonly used features, the better the documentation is likely to be. Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has a competing priority of being a good upstream to mediawiki users and being good for their own sites. That, plus the multitude of unconnected extension developers, and official documentation is sometimes neglected in favor of bug reports, readme files, comments, code, and unpublished knowledge. User's documentation edits vary in quality, and often aren't reviewed by anyone. If you run into an issue, try viewing/diffing the most recent version of a page by the last few editors.
One issue is that mediawiki.org needs a lot of organizing, deleting, and verifying of material, and that is relatively unpopular, tedious, and sometimes difficult work. The discussion pages of mediawiki.org are a wasteland of unanswered questions and outdated conversations, which is [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages poor form] for a wiki. However, if you communicate well, you can get great help from their [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Communication support forum, irc, and mailing list].