[mediawiki-setup] / Mediawiki_Setup_Guide

== 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.

''' Goals / Why use this guide? '''

* Good recommendations. Official docs mostly avoid recommendations among a myriad of possibilities
* Closely references & supplements official documentation
* Automatic security updates
* Explicit automation support wherever practical
* Used to setup this site (style is optional)
* Support for multiple gnu/linux distros
* Holistic scope (backups, server setup), but sections are independent
* Code blocks are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotent idempotent]
* Edits to this page are tested on this site and reviewed by the main author.

'''Assumptions'''

* Self hosting, single GNU/Linux system with root Bash shell


'''Version Support'''

Very minor adjustments needed for other distros. Help expand this list.
* Mediawiki 1.28, updated as new versions are released
* Debian 8 + backports
* Debian 8
* Debian testing (last tested Aug 7, 2016)

Pre 5/2016 revisions ran Mediawiki 1.23, tested on Fedora 20 and Ubuntu 14.04.

== Prerequisites ==

'''Getting a Server & a Domain'''

The most common route and the one taken by this site is buying a domain name from a site like namecheap, and a cheap vps from companies like linode or digital ocean. They have good getting started guides which mostly apply beyond their own sites.

'''Install Certbot'''

For debian jessie with backports:
<source lang="bash">
apt-get install --install-suggests jessie-backports certbot
</source>
For other distros, follow instructions at [https://certbot.eff.org/ certbot.eff.org].

'''Email Setup'''

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]]

== Setup Guide Configuration ==

# Set variables below
# Save the code in this section to a file (~/mw_vars is suggested)
# Source it at the beginning of scripts containing later commands
# Source it from your .bashrc file while you are setting up Mediawiki

'''Requires customization:'''
<source lang="bash" type="example">
# Replace REPLACE_ME as appropriate

export mwdescription="REPLACE_ME" # eg. Opinionated Free Software Wiki

# username/pass of the first wiki admin user
export wikiuser="REPLACE_ME"
export wikipass=REPLACE_ME

# root & user password for the mysql database
export dbpass=REPLACE_ME

export mwdomain=REPLACE_ME # domain name. for this site, it's ofswiki.org

# customize these questions. Try not to have the answer be a word in the question.
captchaArray() {
    if ! grep -Fx '$localSettingsQuestyQuestions = array (' $mwc; then
       tee -a $mwc <<'EOF'
$localSettingsQuestyQuestions = array (
    "What is the name of the wiki software this site (and wikipedia) uses?" => "Mediawiki",
    "REPLACE_ME with a question" => "REPLACE_ME with an answer"
);
EOF
    fi
}

# The rest of this section will work fine with no changes.

# git branch for mediawiki + extensions. See intro for supported versions.
# branch names: https://git.wikimedia.org/branches/mediawiki%2Fcore.git
export mw_branch=REL1_28

# As set by gui installer when choosing cc by sa.
export mw_RightsUrl='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'
export mw_RightsText='Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike'
export mw_RightsIcon='$wgScriptPath/resources/assets/licenses/cc-by-sa.png'

# Alphanumeric site name for pywikibot.
# Here we use the domain minus the dots, which should work fine without changing.
export mwfamily=${mwdomain//./}
# install path for mediawiki. This should work fine.
export mw=/var/www/$mwdomain/html/w


# wiki sender address / wiki & wiki server contact email.
# see email section for more info on email
export mw_email="admin@$mwdomain"

# Leave as is:
mwc="$mw/LocalSettings.php"
</source>

== Download this page and run it ==

This is an option to do automated setup. Optional code blocks are skipped (they have a bold warning just before them and a tag on the source block). The only important things left after running this are running the automated backup setup code on another machine.

''' Requires manual step: inspect output file: /tmp/mw-setup, then run it'''
<source lang="bash" type="example">
start=' *<source lang="bash"> *'
end=' *<\/source> *'
ruby <<'EOF' | sed -rn "/^$start$/,/^$end$/{s/^$start|$end$/# \0/;p} > /tmp/mw-setup"
require 'json'
puts JSON.parse(`curl 'https://ofswiki.org/w/api.php?\
action=query&titles=Mediawiki_Setup_Guide&prop=revisions&rvprop=content&\
format=json'`.chomp)['query']['pages'].values[0]['revisions'][0]['*']
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/mw-setup
</source>

== Required Bash Functions ==

Here we define some small useful bash functions. This should be part of the same ~/mw_vars file if you are running the code step by step.

<source lang="bash">
# identify if this is a debian based distro
isdeb() { command -v apt &>/dev/null; }
# tee unique. append each stdin line if it does not exist in the file
teeu () {
    local MAPFILE
    mapfile -t
    for line in "${MAPFILE[@]}"; do
        grep -xFq "$line" "$1" &>/dev/null || tee -a "$1" <<<"$line"
    done
}

# get and reset an extension/skin repository, and enable it
mw-clone() {
    local url=$1
    local original_pwd="$PWD"
    local name
    local re='[^/]*/[^/]*$' # last 2 parts of path
    [[ $url =~ $re ]] ||:
    target=$mw/${BASH_REMATCH[0]}
    if [[ ! -e $target/.git ]]; then
        git clone $url $target
    fi
    if ! cd $target; then
        echo "mw-ext error: failed cd $target";
        exit 1
    fi
    git fetch
    git checkout -qf origin/$mw_branch || git checkout -qf origin/master
    git clean -xffd
    cd "$original_pwd"

}
mw-ext () {
    local ext
    for ext; do
        mw-clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/extensions/$ext
        if [[ -e $mw/extensions/$ext/extension.json ]]; then
            # new style extension
            teeu $mwc <<EOF
wfLoadExtension( '$ext' );
EOF
        else
            teeu $mwc <<EOF
require_once( "\$IP/extensions/$ext/$ext.php" );
EOF
        fi
    done
    # --quick is quicker than default flags,
    # but still add a sleep to make sure everything works right
    sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick; sleep 1
}
mw-skin() {
    local skin=$1
    mw-clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/skins/$skin
    sed -i --follow-symlinks '/^wfLoadSkin/d' $mwc
    sed -i --follow-symlinks '/^\$wgDefaultSkin/d' $mwc
    teeu $mwc <<EOF
\$wgDefaultSkin = "${skin,,*}";
wfLoadSkin( '$skin' );
EOF
    sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick; sleep 1
}

if command -v apt &>/dev/null; then
    apache_user=www-data
else
    apache_user=apache
fi

</source>

== Install Mediawiki Dependencies ==

The best way to get core dependencies is to install the mediawiki package itself. Nothing about it will get in the way of using a version from upstream.

[[mediawikiwiki:Main Page|Mediawiki Main Page]]: the beginning of the official docs.

[[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Installation_requirements|Manual:Installation_requirements]]: Overview of installation requirements.

Note, this guide needs a little adjustment before it will work with php7.0: make sure settings are still valid, update ini path.



<source lang="bash">
# From here on out, exit if a command fails.
# This will prevent us from not noticing an important failure.
# We recommend setting this for the entire installation session.
# If you are running commands interactively, it might be best to
# put it in your ~/.bashrc temporarily.
set -eE -o pipefail
trap 'echo "$0:$LINENO:error: \"$BASH_COMMAND\" returned $?" >&2' ERR
source ~/mw_vars

if isdeb; then
    # main reference:
    # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Running_MediaWiki_on_Ubuntu
    apt-get update
    DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y imagemagick curl
    if apt-get install -s mediawiki &>/dev/null; then
        # mediawiki is packaged in jessie backports.
        DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install php5-apcu mediawiki
    else
        # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Installation_requirements
        if apt-get install -s php7.0 &>/dev/null; then
            # note, 7.0 is untested by the editor here, since it's not
            # available in debian 8. it's listed as supported
            # in the mediawiki page.
            # noninteractive to avoid mysql password prompt.
            DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y apache2  \
                           default-mysql-server \
                           php7.0 php7.0-mysql libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-xml \
                           php7.0-apcu php7.0-mbstring
        else
            # note: mbstring is recommended, but it's not available for php5 in
            # debian jessie.
            DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y apache2 \
                           default-mysql-server \
                           php5 php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 php5-apcu
        fi
    fi
    service apache2 restart
else
    # note
    # fedora deps are missing a database, so some is translated from debian packages
    yum -y install mediawiki ImageMagick php-mysqlnd php-pecl-apcu mariadb-server

    systemctl restart mariadb.service
    systemctl enable mariadb.service
    systemctl enable httpd.service
    systemctl restart httpd.service
fi


# skip if we already set the root pass and are on pre-debian 9.
if ! echo exit|mysql -uroot "-p$dbpass"; then
    # Note: we set a root password here, but in debian 9+, it is ignored;
    # only the local user root can login, and any password is accepted.
    # We answer these interactive prompts:
    # Enter current password for root (enter for none):
    # Set root password? [Y/n]
    # New password:
    # Re-enter new password:
    # Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]
    # Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]
    # Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]
    # Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]
    # Note, I had 1 less newline at the start when doing ubuntu 14.04,
    # compared to debian 8, so can't say this is especially portable.
    echo -e "\n\n$dbpass\n$dbpass\n\n\n\n\n" | mysql_secure_installation
fi
mysql -uroot "-p$dbpass" <<EOF
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON my_wiki.* TO 'wikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '$dbpass';
EOF
</source>


'''Skippable notes'''


php[5]-mysqlnd is a faster mysql driver package, but the default in debian php-mysql, appparently because some non-mediawiki packages are not compatible with it. If you run into this issue, simply use the php-mysql package.


Additional packages rational
* ImageMagick is [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Image_administration#Image_thumbnailing recommended].
* Gui install and [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Cache]] recomend the apc package.
* Clamav for virus scanning of uploads is mentioned in the mediawiki manual. However, wikipedia doesn't seem to do it, so it doesn't seem like it's worth bothering. It also makes uploading a set of images take twice as long on broadband.

== Install Mediawiki ==


Here, we [[mediawikiwiki:Download_from_Git]], or reset our installation if it is already there, and create the wiki database. [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Installing_MediaWiki]]

<source lang="bash">
mkdir -p $mw
cd $mw
# this will just fail if it already exists which is fine
if [[ ! -e .git ]]; then
    git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/core.git .
fi
# to see available branches: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle
# and
# git branch -r
git checkout -f origin/$mw_branch
git clean -ffxd
# apply librejs patch
curl "https://iankelling.org/git/?p=mediawiki-librejs-patch;a=blob_plain;f=mediawiki-1.28-librejs.patch;hb=HEAD" | patch -r - -N -p1
# Get the php libraries wmf uses. Based on:
# https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_Git#Fetch_external_libraries
if [[ ! -e vendor/.git ]]; then
    git clone  https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/vendor.git
fi
cd vendor
git checkout -f origin/$mw_branch
cd ..

# Drop any previous database which may have been installed while testing.
# If upgrading, we should have a db backup which will get restored.
# https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading
mysql -uroot "-p$dbpass" <<'EOF' ||:
drop database my_wiki;
exit
EOF
php $mw/maintenance/install.php --pass $wikipass --scriptpath /w \
    --dbuser wikiuser --dbpass $dbpass "$mwdescription" "$wikiuser"
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
# lock down the wiki to only the initial owner until anti-spam measures are put in place
# limit edits to registered users
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
# don't allow any account creation
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;
EOF
</source>


Note: When testing, you may need to clear the apc cache to see changes take effect in the browser. Simplest solution is
just restart apache. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/911158/how-to-clear-apc-cache-entries

''' Skippable Notes'''

If we wanted to reset our installation, but leave the extension repositories alone, alter the command above to be <code>git clean -fxd</code>

'''Rational for choosing git sources'''

Upstream vs distro packages. Upstream is responsive, and it's distributed within a single directory, so packaging does not integrate with the distro's filesystem. The only potential value would be less bugs by using stable versions, but we choose not to make that tradeoff.

Why use git over zip file releases? Mediawiki supports git usage through release branches which get post-release fixes. This means we can auto-update, get more granular fixes, easier to manage updates, and rollbacks.

== Configure Apache ==

Note, non-debian based installs: modify instructions below to use /etc/httpd/conf.d/$mwdomain.conf, and don't run a2ensite.

I use scripts I maintains separately to setup Let's Encrypt certificates and apache config: (url pending).

If you are doing a test setup on your local machine, you can make your domain resolve to your local test installation, then remove it later when you are done. Note, you will need non-local site to get Let's Encrypt certificates, and then transfer them locally, or disable ssl from the apache config (neither is covered here) and replace all instances of https in these instructions with http. Another option is to get a cheap 2 dollar domain for your test site.

'''Not for production:'''
<source lang="bash" type="example">
teeu /etc/hosts<<<"127.0.0.1 $mwdomain"
</source>

To not use my scripts, and still use Let's Encrypt: follow this doc page: https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/. It's a little long winded, so I would boil it down to this:

'''Optional & requires additional steps:'''
<source lang="bash" type="example">
git clone https://github.com/certbot/certbot
cd certbot
./certbot-auto apache
cd /etc/apache/sites-available
mv 000-default-le-ssl.conf $mwdomain.conf
rm ../sites-enabled/000-default-le-ssl.conf
# edit $mwdomain.conf, so documentroot is /var/www/$mwdomain/html
# and ServerName is $mwdomain
a2ensite $mwdomain.conf
</source>
Then, copy the input to apache-site below and insert it into the apache config.

Here, we use some scripts automate setting up the Let 's Encrypt cert and
the apache config.

<source lang="bash">
l=$mw/../../logs
mkdir -p $l
temp=$(mktemp -d)
cd $temp
git clone https://iankelling.org/git/basic-https-conf
{ cat <<EOF
ServerAdmin $mw_email
RewriteEngine On
# make the site's root url go to our main page
RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?\$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]
# use short urls https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL
RewriteRule ^/*\$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]
EOF
find -L $(readlink -f $mw) -name .htaccess \
    | while read line; do
    echo -e "<Directory ${line%/.htaccess}>\n $(< $line)\n</Directory>";
done
} | basic-https-conf/web-conf -r ${mw%/*} - apache2 $mwdomain
cd
rm -rf $temp
</source>

Now mediawiki should load in your browser at $mwdomain .

Allow proper search bots and internet archiver bots, via [[Mediawiki:Robots.txt]],
and install the default skin.

<source lang="bash">
dd of=$mw/../robots.txt <<'EOF'
        User-agent: *
Disallow: /w/
        User-agent: ia_archiver
Allow: /*&action=raw
EOF
mw-skin Vector
</source>

'''Skippable Notes'''

This section assumes we are redirecting www to a url without www.

[http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/howto/htaccess.html Apache recommends] moving .htaccess rules into it's config for performance. So we look for .htaccess files from mediawiki and copy their contents into this config. In modern apache versions, we would have to explicitly set options like AllowOverride to allow .htaccess files to take effect.

== Mediawiki Settings ==

Overall reference: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Configuration_settings]].

Settings which the gui setup prompts for but aren't set by the automated install script.
<source lang="bash">
teeu $mwc<<EOF
\$wgServer = "https://$mwdomain";
\$wgDBserver = "localhost";
\$wgRightsUrl = "$mw_RightsUrl";
\$wgRightsText = "$mw_RightsText";
\$wgRightsIcon = "$mw_RightsIcon";
EOF
</source>
Settings asked by the gui setup which are different than the install script defaults. They different because the defaults are the most compatible and unobtrusive.
<source lang="bash">
teeu $mwc<<EOF
\$wgPasswordSender = "$mw_email";
\$wgEmergencyContact = "$mw_email";
\$wgEnotifUserTalk = true; # UPO
\$wgEnotifWatchlist = true; # UPO
\$wgMainCacheType = CACHE_ACCEL;
\$wgEnableUploads = true;
\$wgUseInstantCommons = true;
\$wgPingback = true;
EOF
</source>

Other misc settings
<source lang="bash">
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
# from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL
$wgArticlePath = "/wiki/$1";

# https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam
# check that url if our precautions don't work
# not using nofollow is good practice, as long as we avoid spam.
$wgNoFollowLinks = false;
# Allow user customization.
$wgAllowUserCss = true;
# use imagemagick over GD
$wgUseImageMagick = true;
# manual says this is not production ready, I think that is mostly
# because they are using MobileFrontend extension instead, which gives
# an even cleaner more minimal view, I plan to try setting it up
# sometime but this seems like a very nice improvement for now.
$wgVectorResponsive = true;
EOF


# https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Configuring_file_uploads
# Increase from default of 2M to 100M.
# This will at least allow high res pics etc.
php_ini=$(php -r 'echo(php_ini_loaded_file());')
sed -i --follow-symlinks 's/^\(upload_max_filesize\|post_max_size\)\b.*/\1 = 100M/' $php_ini
if isdeb; then
    service apache2 restart
else
    systemctl restart httpd.service
fi

# if you were to install as a normal user, you would need this for images
# sudo usermod -aG $apache_user $USER

# this doesn't propogate right away
chgrp -R $apache_user $mw/images
chmod -R g+w $mw/images
</source>

Style settings. Omit to use a different style.
<source lang="bash">
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
$wgLogo = null;
#$wgFooterIcons = null;
EOF
# Make the toolbox go into the drop down.
cd $mw/skins/Vector
if ! git remote show ian-kelling &>/dev/null; then
    git remote add ian-kelling https://iankelling.org/git/forks/Vector
fi
git fetch ian-kelling
git checkout ian-kelling/${mw_branch}-toolbox-in-dropdown
</source>

== Install and Configure Mediawiki Extensions ==

When installing extensions on a wiki with important content, backup first as a precaution.

''' Extensions with no configuration needed '''

{| class="writable"
 ! Name
 ! Description
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Cite|Extension:Cite]]
    | Have references in footnotes*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:CiteThisPage|Extension:CiteThisPage]]
    | Ability to generate citations to pages in a variety of styles*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:CheckUser|Extension:CheckUser]]
    | Get ip addresses from inside mediawiki so you can ban users''
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:CSS|Extension:CSS]]
    | Allows CSS stylesheets to be included in specific articles
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Echo|Extension:Echo]]
    | Notification subsystem for usage by other extensions
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Gadgets|Extension:Gadgets]]
    | UI extension system for users*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ImageMap|Extension:ImageMap]]
    | Links for a region of an image*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Interwiki|Extension:Interwiki]]
    | Tool for nice links to other wikis*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:News|Extension:News]]
    | Embed or rss recent changes
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Nuke|Extension:Nuke]]
    | Mass delete of pages, in the case of spam*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ParserFunctions|Extension:ParserFunctions]]
    | Useful for templates*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Poem|Extension:Poem]]
    | Useful for formatting things various ways*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Renameuser|Extension:Renameuser]]
    | Allows bureaucrats to rename user accounts*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi|Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi]]
    | Source code highlighting*
    |-
    | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Variables|Extension:Variables]]
    | Define per-page variables
    |}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> = Comes with the MediaWiki default download.

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext Cite CiteThisPage CheckUser CSS Echo Gadgets ImageMap Interwiki News \
       Nuke ParserFunctions Poem Renameuser SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi Variables
</source>


''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:AntiSpoof|Extension:AntiSpoof]]: Disallow usernames with unicode trickery to look like existing names'''

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext AntiSpoof
# recommended setup script to account for existing users
sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/extensions/AntiSpoof/maintenance/batchAntiSpoof.php
</source>


'''[[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Wikidiff2|Extension:Wikidiff2]]: Faster and international character supported page diffs'''

I used packaged version since this is a c++ and probably not very tied to the Mediawiki version. This isn't packaged in fedora, haven't gotten around to testing and adding the code to compile it for fedora.
<source lang="bash">
if isdeb; then
    apt-get -y install php-wikidiff2
    teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
$wgExternalDiffEngine = 'wikidiff2';
EOF
    dir=$(dirname $(php -r 'echo(php_ini_loaded_file());'))/../apache2/conf.d
    ln -sf ../../mods-available/wikidiff2.ini $dir
    service apache2 restart
fi
</source>


''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Math|Extension:Math]] Display equations'''

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext Math
# php5-curl according to Math readme
if isdeb; then
    curl_pkg=php7.0-curl
    if ! apt-get -s install $curl_pkg &>/dev/null; then
        curl_pkg=php5-curl
    fi
    apt-get -y install latex-cjk-all texlive-latex-extra texlive-latex-base \
            ghostscript imagemagick ocaml $curl_pkg make
else
    # todo, php5-curl equivalent on fedora
    yum -y install texlive-cjk ghostscript ImageMagick texlive ocaml
fi
service apache2 restart

cd $mw/extensions/Math/math; make # makes texvc
cd $mw/extensions/Math/texvccheck; make

teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
# Enable MathJax as rendering option
$wgUseMathJax = true;
# Enable LaTeXML as rendering option
$wgMathValidModes[] = 'latexml';
# Set LaTeXML as default rendering option, because it is nicest
$wgDefaultUserOptions['math'] = 'latexml';
EOF
</source>

'''Skippable notes'''

There is no current list of package depencies so I took dependencies from mediawiki-math package in Debian 7. Fedora didn't have a mediawik math package, so I just translated from debian. Ocaml is for math png rendering, as backup option to the nicer looking LatexML and MathJax. Debian has texvc package, but it didn't work right for me, plus it required additional configuration in mediawiki settings.


''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:SpamBlacklist|Extension:SpamBlacklist]]: Import/create IP blacklists, mainly for spam'''

Comes with MediaWiki.

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext SpamBlacklist
if ! grep -F '$wgSpamBlacklistFiles = array(' $mwc &>/dev/null; then
    tee -a $mwc <<'EOF'
$wgEnableDnsBlacklist = true;
$wgDnsBlacklistUrls = array( 'xbl.spamhaus.org', 'dnsbl.tornevall.org' );

ini_set( 'pcre.backtrack_limit', '10M' );
$wgSpamBlacklistFiles = array(
   "[[m:Spam blacklist]]",
   "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist"
);
EOF
fi
</source>

''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:TitleBlacklist|Extension:TitleBlacklist]]: Anti-spam '''

Comes with Mediawiki.

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext TitleBlacklist
if ! grep -F '$wgTitleBlacklistSources = array(' $mwc &>/dev/null; then
    tee -a $mwc <<'EOF'
$wgTitleBlacklistSources = array(
    array(
         'type' => 'local',
         'src'  => 'MediaWiki:Titleblacklist',
    ),
    array(
         'type' => 'url',
         'src'  => 'http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Title_blacklist&action=raw',
    ),
);
EOF
fi
</source>

''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:WikiEditor|Extension:WikiEditor]]: Editing box extras and a fast preview tab '''

Comes with MediaWiki.

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext WikiEditor
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
# Enable Wikieditor by default
$wgDefaultUserOptions['usebetatoolbar'] = 1;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['usebetatoolbar-cgd'] = 1;

# Display the Preview and Changes tabs
$wgDefaultUserOptions['wikieditor-preview'] = 1;
EOF
</source>

''' [[mediawikiwiki:CategoryTree|Extension:CategoryTree]]: Enables making nice outlines of pages in a category'''
<source lang="bash">
mw-ext CategoryTree
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
# Mediawiki setting dependency for CategoryTree
$wgUseAjax = true;
EOF
</source>

''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:AbuseFilter|Extension:AbuseFilter]]: Complex abilities to stop abuse '''

Used by big wiki sites. As a smaller site, we won't use it much, but it's good to have. It's page suggests a few defaults:
<source lang="bash">
mw-ext AbuseFilter
teeu $mwc<<'EOF'
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log-detail'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-view'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-private'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify-restricted'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-revert'] = true;
EOF
</source>

'''[[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ConfirmEdit|Extension:ConfirmEdit]]: Custom Captcha.'''

Uses captchaArray defined in mw_vars. Comes with MediaWiki.

<source lang="bash">
mw-ext ConfirmEdit
captchaArray
teeu $mwc <<'EOF'
wfLoadExtension( 'ConfirmEdit/QuestyCaptcha' );
$wgCaptchaClass = 'QuestyCaptcha';
# only captcha on registration
$wgGroupPermissions['user'         ]['skipcaptcha'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['autoconfirmed']['skipcaptcha'] = true;
EOF
if ! grep -Fx 'foreach ( $localSettingsQuestyQuestions as $key => $value ) {' $mwc; then
    tee -a $mwc <<'EOF'
foreach ( $localSettingsQuestyQuestions as $key => $value ) {
        $wgCaptchaQuestions[] = array( 'question' => $key, 'answer' => $value );
}
EOF
fi
</source>

Enable account creation that we initially disabled.
<source lang="bash">
sed -i --follow-symlinks "/\\\$wgGroupPermissions\\['\\*'\\]\\['createaccount'\\] = false;/d" $mwc
</source>

== Additional Configuration with Pywikibot ==

There are quite a few [[mediawikiwiki:Help:Namespaces|special pages]] which act like variables to configure special wiki content and style. A big part of this wiki's style is configured in this section. We use Pywikibot to automate editing those pages.


'''Pywikibot Install'''

[[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Installation|Manual:Pywikibot/Installation]]

<source lang="bash">
# get repo
if [[ ! -e ~/pywikibot/.git ]]; then
    git clone --recursive \
        https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/pywikibot/core.git ~/pywikibot
fi
cd ~/pywikibot
#updating
git pull --all
git submodule update
</source>


'''Pywikibot Configuration'''

Relevent docs: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Use_on_non-WMF_wikis|Manual:Pywikibot/Use_on_non-WMF_wikis]],  [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Quick_Start_Guide|Manual:Pywikibot/Quick_Start_Guide]]


<source lang="bash">
cd $HOME/pywikibot
dd of=user-config.py <<EOF
mylang = 'en'
usernames["$mwfamily"]['en'] = u'$wikiuser'
family = "$mwfamily"
console_encoding = 'utf-8'
password_file = "secretsfile"
EOF

dd of=secretsfile <<EOF
("$wikiuser", "$wikipass")
EOF

# it won't overrwrite an existing file. Remove if if one exists
rm -f  pywikibot/families/${mwfamily}_family.py
if isdeb; then
    apt-get install -y python-requests
else
    yum -y install python-requests
fi

python generate_family_file.py https://$mwdomain/wiki/Main_Page "$mwfamily"

# Note, this needed only for ssl site
tee -a pywikibot/families/${mwfamily}_family.py<<'EOF'
    def protocol(self, code):
        return 'https'
EOF
</source>


'''Pywikibot Script'''

This will take a full minute or so because the bot waits a few seconds between edits. Useful doc: [[mediawikiwiki:Pywikipediabot/Create_your_own_script]].

<source lang="bash">
cd "$HOME/pywikibot"

dd of=scripts/${mwfamily}_setup.py<<EOF
import pywikibot
import time
import sys
site = pywikibot.Site()
def x(p, t=""):
   page = pywikibot.Page(site, p)
   page.text = t
   #force is for some anti-bot thing, not necessary in my testing, but might as well include it
   page.save(force=True)

# Small/medium noncommercial wiki should be fine with no privacy policy
# based on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Footer
x("MediaWiki:Privacy")

# licenses for uploads. Modified from the mediawiki's wiki
x("MediaWiki:Licenses", u"""* Same as this wiki's text (preferred)
** CC BY-SA or GFDL| Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike or GNU Free Documentation License
* Others:
** Unknown_copyright|I don't know exactly
** PD|PD: public domain
** CC BY|Creative Commons Attribution
** CC BY-SA|Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike
** GFDL|GFDL: GNU Free Documentation License
** GPL|GPL: GNU General Public License
** LGPL|LGPL: GNU Lesser General Public License""")
x("MediaWiki:Copyright", '$mw_license')
x("MediaWiki:Mainpage-description", "$mwdescription")



# The rest of the settings are for the site style

# Remove various clutter
x("MediaWiki:Lastmodifiedat")
x("MediaWiki:Disclaimers")
x("MediaWiki:Viewcount")
x("MediaWiki:Aboutsite")
# remove these lines from sidebar
# ** recentchanges-url|recentchanges
# ** randompage-url|randompage
# ** helppage|help
x("MediaWiki:Sidebar", """* navigation
** mainpage|mainpage-description
* SEARCH
* TOOLBOX
* LANGUAGES""")

# remove side panel
# helpfull doc: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interface/Sidebar
x("mediawiki:Common.css", """/* adjust sidebar to just be home link and up top  */
/* adjust sidebar to just be home link and up top  */
/* panel width increased to fit full wiki name. */
/* selectors other than final id are for increasing priority of rule */
div#mw-panel { top: 10px; padding-top: 0em; width: 20em }
div#footer, #mw-head-base, div#content { margin-left: 1em; }
#left-navigation { margin-left: 1em; }


/* logo, and toolbar hidden */
#p-logo, div#mw-navigation div#mw-panel #p-tb {
   display:none;
}

div#mw-content-text {
    max-width: 720px;
}
""")
EOF

# this can spam a warning, so uniq it
python pwb.py ${mwfamily}_setup |& uniq
</source>


''' Skippable Notes '''

The docs suggest manually entering the pass with python pwb.py login.py, then it should stay logged in. That didn't work for me, and anyways, we automation, so we use secrets file method.

Family name, and all its duplicattions documented as supposed to be $wgSitename, but it works fine using any name.

== Automatic Backups ==

Here we will have a daily cronjob where a backup host sshs to the mediawiki host, makes a backup then copies it back. Copy ~/mw_vars to the backup host at /root/mw_vars. Setup passwordless ssh from the backup host to the mediawiki host. Then run this code on the backup host. This will make a versioned backup of the wiki to ~/backup.

<source lang="bash" type="backup">
backup_script=/etc/cron.daily/mediawiki_backup
sudo dd of=$backup_script <<'EOFOUTER'
#!/bin/bash
# if we get an error, keep going but return it at the end
last_error=0
trap 'last_error=$?' ERR
source ~/mw_vars
# No strict because the host is likely not named the same as
# the domain.
ssh="ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no"
logfile=/var/log/${mwdomain}_backup.log
{
echo "#### starting backup at $(date) ####"
$ssh root@$mwdomain <<ENDSSH
set -x
tee -a $mwc<<'EOF'
\$wgReadOnly = 'Dumping Database, Access will be restored shortly';
EOF
mkdir -p ~/wiki_backups
mysqldump -p$dbpass --default-character-set=binary my_wiki  > ~/wiki_backups/wiki_db_backup
sed -i '\$ d' $mwc # delete read only setting
ENDSSH
# add no strict option to the defaults

rdiff() { rdiff-backup --remote-schema "$ssh -C  %s rdiff-backup --server" "$@"; }
set -x
rdiff root@$mwdomain::/root/wiki_backups ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_db_backup
rdiff root@$mwdomain::$mw ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_file_backup
set +x
echo "=== ending backup at $(date) ===="
}  &>>$logfile
if [[ $last_error != 0 ]]; then
    echo "backup for $mwdomain failed. See $logfile"
fi
exit $last_error
EOFOUTER

sudo chmod +x $backup_script
</source>

'''Optional & requires additional steps'''

If you are like most people and don't use the old-school mail spool, setup the backup system to send mail externally so you are notified if it fails. For examples of how to do this, [http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/36982/can-i-set-up-system-mail-to-use-an-external-smtp-server stackoverflow], [https://iankelling.org/git/?p=ian-specific/distro-setup;a=blob;f=mail-setup;hb=HEAD script I use].

== Restoring Backups ==

'''Whenever you implement a backup system, you should test that restoring the backup works.'''

You ''should'' be able to restore your wiki to a new machine by repeating all install steps, then restoring the database and the images directory. I've done this many times. However, we backup the entire Mediawiki directory in case you forget to record a step or some corner case happens. Since most people don't record the steps they took to setup Mediawiki, this is also the officially recommended method. In the code below we restore only the database and images folder from the full backup. You can try this after setting up a wiki from scratch. If it doesn't work, you know your fresh setup is not replicating your backed up wiki correctly. In that case, you can fall back to doing a full restore by copying the full directory instead of just the images. See [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Restoring a wiki from backup]] if you run into any problems.

To test a backup restore:
# Do a backup of your wiki with some content in it, as described in the previous section
# Move your mediawiki install directory, or setup Mediawiki on a new machine
# Re-execute the mediawiki install steps
# Change REPLACE_ME in the code below (as in the backup section so you get the right variables),
# Execute the code on the backup machine.

'''Optional'''
<source lang="bash" type="example">
#!/bin/bash
source ~/mw_vars
restore="rdiff-backup --force -r now"
$restore ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_file_backup /tmp/wiki_file_restore
$restore ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_db_backup /tmp/wiki_db_restore
o=-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no
scp $o -r /tmp/wiki_file_restore/images/* root@$mwdomain:$mw/images
scp $o -r /tmp/wiki_db_restore root@$mwdomain:/tmp
ssh $o root@$mwdomain <<EOF
set -e
chmod -R g+w $mw/images
chgrp -R www-data $mw/images
mysql -uroot "-p$dbpass" my_wiki < /tmp/wiki_db_restore/wiki_db_backup
php $mw/maintenance/update.php
EOF
</source>

Then browse to your wiki and see if everything appears to work.

== Updates ==

Subscribe to get release and security announcements [https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce MediaWiki-announce].

For updates, we simply git pull all the repos, then run the maintenance script. This should be done after a backup. We recommend automatic updates to get security fixes and since not much is changing on the release branch. In this example, we update at 5 am daily (1 hour after the automatic backup example).

Major version upgrades should be done manually, and it is recommended to use a new installation directory and the same procedure as for backup & restore. Official reference: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Upgrading|Manual:Upgrading]]

Minor updates script:
<source lang="bash">
s=/etc/cron.daily/mediawiki_update
dd of=$s<<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
source ~/mw_vars
update() {
    dir=$1
    cd $mw
    [[ -d $dir ]] || return 1
    cd $dir
    branch=$(git describe --all)
    branch=${branch#remotes/}
    git fetch --all -q
    new_head=$(git rev-parse $branch)
    log=$(git log HEAD..$new_head)
    if [[ ! $log ]]; then
        return 1
    fi
    pwd
    echo "$log"
    git checkout -qf $new_head
    cd $mw
    return 0
}
for dir in extensions/* skins/* vendor; do
    update "$dir" ||:
done
if update .; then
    curl "https://iankelling.org/git/?p=mediawiki-librejs-patch;a=blob_plain;f=mediawiki-1.28-librejs.patch;hb=HEAD" | patch -r - -N -p1
fi
php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick
EOF

</source>

== Upgrading Major Versions ==

Reference documentation is at [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Upgrading]]

My strategy is:

# Read the "Upgrade notices for MediaWiki administrators" on the upgrade version and any skipped versions at [[mediawikiwiki:Version_lifecycle]].
# Setup a blank test wiki with the new version.
# Backup the old database, restore it to the new wiki, run php maintenance/update.php.
# If everything looks good, repeat and replace the old wiki with the new one.

== Stopping Spam ==

There is a balance between effective anti-spam measures and blocking/annoying contributors. Mediawiki documentation on how to combat spam, is not very good, but it has improved over time: [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam manual: Combating Spam]. It's possible for a spammer to quickly make thousands of edits, and there is no good documentation on purging lots of spam, so you should have a good strategy up front. My current strategy is 3 fold, and is limited to small/medium wiki's:

* Find new spam quickly, revert it & ban the user.
** Watch, and get notified of changes on all primary content pages: Special:Preferences, Bottom of the page, set an email address, then turn on "Email me also for minor edits of pages and files."
** Use a rss/atom feed reader, and subscribe to recent changes across the wiki. Newer browsers have an rss feed subscribe button, you can click after going to Special:RecentChanges. If that is not available, you can construct the proper url based on [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Recent_changes#Web_feed these instructions].
* Require registration to edit, and a custom captcha question on registration.
* Install all non-user inhibiting anti-spam extensions / settings that take a reasonable amount of time to figure out.

== Choosing Extensions ==

Mediawiki.org has pages for ~5200 extensions. Mediawiki maintains ~700 extensions [http://git.wikimedia.org/tree/mediawiki%2Fextensions.git in it's git repo]. Wikipedia uses [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Version over 100 extensions]. Major distributors package [[mediawikiwiki:Comparison_of_extensions_in_distributions| ~36 extensions]]. We looked closely at the distributor's and briefly at the Mediawiki repo extensions. We haven't found any other useful list or recommendations.

Here are brief descriptions of extensions that are part of distributions and why they were rejected for this wiki.

{| class="wikitable"
   |+
   | '''Footnote''' || deprecated in newer versions
   |+
   | '''InputBox''' || Add html forms to pages. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
   |+
   | '''LocalisationUpdate'''|| update localization only. I'm fine updating all of mediawiki, there aren't many updates.
   |+
   | '''NewestPages''' ||  A page creation history that doesn't expire like recent-changes. Meh
   |+
   | '''NewUserNotif''' || Send me a notification when a user registers. Seems like an excessive notification.
   |+
   | '''Openid''' || Poor UI. 2 pages & 2 links <login> <login with openid> which is confusing & ugly.
   |+
   | '''Pdfhandler''' || Gallery of pages from a pdf file. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
   |+
   | '''RSSReader''' || Embed an rss feed. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
   |+
   | '''Semantic''' || Seems like a lot of trouble around analyzing kinds of data which my wiki will not have.
   |+
   | '''Validator''' || dependency of of semantic
   |+
|}

== Misc Notes ==

''' Web Analytics Software '''

I do not recommend using google analytics: it's proprietary software and gives private information of your website visitors to google for them to make money. Piwik has the best features and I recommend it, but I use goaccess because it is simpler to manage and good enough.

''' Mediawiki Documentation Quality '''

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. 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].


'''Bash here documents, EOF vs 'EOF' '''

Here documents are used throughout this page, some people may not be aware of a small but important syntax. When the delimiter is quoted, as in <<'EOF', then the contents of the here document are exactly verbatim. Otherwise $ and ` are expanded as in bash, and must be escaped by prefixing them with \, which itself must then also be escaped to be used literally.


''' Mediawiki automation tools survey 7/2014 '''

Barely maintained:
* https://github.com/ianweller/mw
* http://search.cpan.org/~markj/WWW-Mediawiki-Client/bin/mvs
* https://github.com/alexz-enwp/wikitools 3000 lines of code, no response to a bug reports in 2/2014

Getting basic maintenance
* https://github.com/mwclient/mwclient 2000 lines of code

Actively developed, used by wikimedia foundation a lot.
* [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot]]


''' Troubleshooting Errors '''

If mediawiki fails to load, or shows an error in the browser, enable some settings and it will print much more useful information. [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:How to debug]]

''' License '''

This page and this wiki is licensed under cc-by-sa 4.0.
This means the code is compatible with gplv3.

== todo list for this page ==

* Get Visual editor extension.
* Don't require registration for edits
* Take a look at the new debian mediawiki package's apache conf
* For perf, translate extensions allow/deny directives, and set AllowOverride None in apache.conf