3 '''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.
5 ''' Goals / Why use this guide? '''
7 * Good recommendations. Official docs mostly avoid recommendations among a myriad of possibilities
8 * Closely references & supplements official documentation
9 * Automatic security updates
10 * Explicit automation support wherever practical
11 * Used to setup this site (style is optional)
12 * Support for multiple gnu/linux distros
13 * Holistic scope (backups, server setup), but sections are independent
14 * Code blocks are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotent idempotent]
15 * Edits to this page are tested on this site and reviewed by the main author.
19 * Self hosting, single GNU/Linux system with root Bash shell
24 Very minor adjustments needed for other distros. Help expand this list.
25 * Mediawiki 1.28, updated as new versions are released
26 * Debian 8 + backports
28 * Debian testing (last tested Aug 7, 2016)
30 Pre 5/2016 revisions ran Mediawiki 1.23, tested on Fedora 20 and Ubuntu 14.04.
34 '''Getting a Server & a Domain'''
36 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.
40 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.
42 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]]
44 == Setup Guide Configuration ==
47 # Save the code in this section to a file (~/mw_vars is suggested)
48 # Source it at the beginning of scripts containing later commands
49 # Source it from your .bashrc file while you are setting up Mediawiki
51 '''Requires customization:'''
52 <source lang="bash" type="example">
53 # Replace REPLACE_ME as appropriate
55 export mwdescription="REPLACE_ME" # eg. Opinionated Free Software Wiki
57 # username/pass of the first wiki admin user
58 export wikiuser="REPLACE_ME"
59 export wikipass=REPLACE_ME
61 # root password for the mysql database
62 export dbpass=REPLACE_ME
64 export mwdomain=REPLACE_ME # domain name. for this site, it's ofswiki.org
66 # customize these questions. Try not to have the answer be a word in the question.
68 if ! grep -Fx '$localSettingsQuestyQuestions = array (' $mwc; then
70 $localSettingsQuestyQuestions = array (
71 "What is the name of the wiki software this site (and wikipedia) uses?" => "Mediawiki",
72 "REPLACE_ME with a question" => "REPLACE_ME with an answer"
78 # The rest of this section will work fine with no changes.
80 # git branch for mediawiki + extensions. See intro for supported versions.
81 # branch names: https://git.wikimedia.org/branches/mediawiki%2Fcore.git
82 export mw_branch=REL1_28
84 # As set by gui installer when choosing cc by sa.
85 export mw_RightsUrl='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'
86 export mw_RightsText='Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike'
87 export mw_RightsIcon='$wgScriptPath/resources/assets/licenses/cc-by-sa.png'
89 # Alphanumeric site name for pywikibot.
90 # Here we use the domain minus the dots, which should work fine without changing.
91 export mwfamily=${mwdomain//./}
92 # install path for mediawiki. This should work fine.
93 export mw=/var/www/$mwdomain/html/w
96 # wiki sender address / wiki & wiki server contact email.
97 # see email section for more info on email
98 export mw_email="admin@$mwdomain"
101 mwc="$mw/LocalSettings.php"
104 == Download this page and run it ==
106 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.
108 ''' Requires manual step: inspect output file: /tmp/mw-setup, then run it'''
109 <source lang="bash" type="example">
110 start=' *<source lang="bash"> *'
112 ruby <<'EOF' | sed -rn "/^$start$/,/^$end$/{s/^$start|$end$/# \0/;p} > /tmp/mw-setup"
114 puts JSON.parse(`curl 'https://ofswiki.org/w/api.php?\
115 action=query&titles=Mediawiki_Setup_Guide&prop=revisions&rvprop=content&\
116 format=json'`.chomp)['query']['pages'].values[0]['revisions'][0]['*']
118 chmod +x /tmp/mw-setup
121 == Required Bash Functions ==
123 Here we define some small useful bash functions. This should be part of the same ~/mw_vars file if you are running the code step by step.
126 # identify if this is a debian based distro
127 isdeb() { command -v apt &>/dev/null; }
128 # tee unique. append each stdin line if it does not exist in the file
132 for line in "${MAPFILE[@]}"; do
133 grep -xFq "$line" "$1" &>/dev/null || tee -a "$1" <<<"$line"
137 # get and reset an extension/skin repository, and enable it
140 local original_pwd="$PWD"
142 local re='[^/]*/[^/]*$' # last 2 parts of path
143 [[ $url =~ $re ]] ||:
144 target=$mw/${BASH_REMATCH[0]}
145 if [[ ! -e $target/.git ]]; then
146 git clone $url $target
148 if ! cd $target; then
149 echo "mw-ext error: failed cd $target";
153 git checkout -qf origin/$mw_branch || git checkout -qf origin/master
161 mw-clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/extensions/$ext
162 if [[ -e $mw/extensions/$ext/extension.json ]]; then
163 # new style extension
165 wfLoadExtension( '$ext' );
169 require_once( "\$IP/extensions/$ext/$ext.php" );
173 # --quick is quicker than default flags,
174 # but still add a sleep to make sure everything works right
175 sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick; sleep 1
179 mw-clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/skins/$skin
180 sed -i --follow-symlinks '/^wfLoadSkin/d' $mwc
181 sed -i --follow-symlinks '/^\$wgDefaultSkin/d' $mwc
183 \$wgDefaultSkin = "${skin,,*}";
184 wfLoadSkin( '$skin' );
186 sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick; sleep 1
189 if command -v apt &>/dev/null; then
197 == Install Mediawiki Dependencies ==
199 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.
201 [[mediawikiwiki:Main Page|Mediawiki Main Page]]: the beginning of the official docs.
203 [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Installation_requirements|Manual:Installation_requirements]]: Overview of installation requirements.
205 Note, this guide needs a little adjustment before it will work with php7.0: make sure settings are still valid, update ini path.
210 # From here on out, exit if a command fails.
211 # This will prevent us from not noticing an important failure.
212 # We recommend setting this for the entire installation session.
213 # If you are running commands interactively, it might be best to
214 # put it in your ~/.bashrc temporarily.
216 trap 'echo "$0:$LINENO:error: \"$BASH_COMMAND\" returned $?" >&2' ERR
221 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Running_MediaWiki_on_Ubuntu
223 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y imagemagick curl
224 if apt-get install -s mediawiki &>/dev/null; then
225 # mediawiki is packaged in jessie backports.
226 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install php5-apcu mediawiki
228 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Installation_requirements
229 if apt-get install -s php7.0 &>/dev/null; then
230 # note, 7.0 is untested by the editor here, since it's not
231 # available in debian 8. it's listed as supported
232 # in the mediawiki page.
233 # noninteractive to avoid mysql password prompt.
234 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y apache2 \
235 default-mysql-server \
236 php7.0 php7.0-mysql libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-xml \
237 php7.0-apcu php7.0-mbstring
239 # note: mbstring is recommended, but it's not available for php5 in
241 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y apache2 \
242 default-mysql-server \
243 php5 php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 php5-apcu
246 service apache2 restart
249 # fedora deps are missing a database, so some is translated from debian packages
250 yum -y install mediawiki ImageMagick php-mysqlnd php-pecl-apcu mariadb-server
252 systemctl restart mariadb.service
253 systemctl enable mariadb.service
254 systemctl enable httpd.service
255 systemctl restart httpd.service
259 # slightly different depending on if we already set the root pass
260 if echo exit|mysql -u root -p"$dbpass"; then
261 # answer interactive prompts:
262 # mysql root pass, change pass? no, remove anon users? (default, yes)
263 # disallow remote root (default, yes), reload? (default, yes)
264 echo -e "$dbpass\nn\n\n\n\n" | mysql_secure_installation
266 # I had 1 less newline at the start when doing ubuntu 14.04,
267 # compared to debian 8, so can't say this is especially portable.
268 # It won't hurt if it fails.
269 echo -e "\n\n$dbpass\n$dbpass\n\n\n\n\n" | mysql_secure_installation
274 '''Skippable notes'''
277 php[5]-mysqlnd is a faster mysql driver package, but the default in debian php-mysql, appparently because some non-mediawiki packages are not compatible with it. If you run into this issue, simply use the php-mysql package.
280 Additional packages rational
281 * ImageMagick is [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Image_administration#Image_thumbnailing recommended].
282 * Gui install and [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Cache]] recomend the apc package.
283 * Clamav for virus scanning of uploads is mentioned in the mediawiki manual. However, wikipedia doesn't seem to do it, so it doesn't seem like it's worth bothering. It also makes uploading a set of images take twice as long on broadband.
285 == Install Mediawiki ==
288 Here, we [[mediawikiwiki:Download_from_Git]], or reset our installation if it is already there, and create the wiki database. [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Installing_MediaWiki]]
293 # this will just fail if it already exists which is fine
294 if [[ ! -e .git ]]; then
295 git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/core.git .
297 # to see available branches: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle
300 git checkout -f origin/$mw_branch
302 # apply librejs patch
303 curl "https://iankelling.org/git/?p=mediawiki-librejs-patch;a=blob_plain;f=mediawiki-1.28-librejs.patch;hb=HEAD" | patch -r - -N -p1
304 # Get the php libraries wmf uses. Based on:
305 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_Git#Fetch_external_libraries
306 if [[ ! -e vendor/.git ]]; then
307 git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/vendor.git
310 git checkout -f origin/$mw_branch
313 # Drop any previous database which may have been installed while testing.
314 # If upgrading, we should have a db backup which will get restored.
315 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading
316 mysql -u root -p$dbpass <<'EOF' ||:
317 drop database my_wiki;
320 php $mw/maintenance/install.php --pass $wikipass --scriptpath /w \
321 --dbuser root --dbpass $dbpass "$mwdescription" "$wikiuser"
323 # lock down the wiki to only the initial owner until anti-spam measures are put in place
324 # limit edits to registered users
325 $wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
326 # don't allow any account creation
327 $wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;
332 Note: When testing, you may need to clear the apc cache to see changes take effect in the browser. Simplest solution is
333 just restart apache. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/911158/how-to-clear-apc-cache-entries
335 ''' Skippable Notes'''
337 If we wanted to reset our installation, but leave the extension repositories alone, alter the command above to be <code>git clean -fxd</code>
339 '''Rational for choosing git sources'''
341 Upstream vs distro packages. Upstream is responsive, and it's distributed within a single directory, so packaging does not integrate with the distro's filesystem. The only potential value would be less bugs by using stable versions, but we choose not to make that tradeoff.
343 Why use git over zip file releases? Mediawiki supports git usage through release branches which get post-release fixes. This means we can auto-update, get more granular fixes, easier to manage updates, and rollbacks.
345 == Configure Apache ==
347 Note, non-debian based installs: modify instructions below to use /etc/httpd/conf.d/$mwdomain.conf, and don't run a2ensite.
349 I use scripts I maintains separately to setup Let's Encrypt certificates and apache config: (url pending).
351 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.
353 '''Not for production:'''
354 <source lang="bash" type="example">
355 teeu /etc/hosts<<<"127.0.0.1 $mwdomain"
358 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:
360 '''Optional & requires additional steps:'''
361 <source lang="bash" type="example">
362 git clone https://github.com/certbot/certbot
364 ./certbot-auto apache
365 cd /etc/apache/sites-available
366 mv 000-default-le-ssl.conf $mwdomain.conf
367 rm ../sites-enabled/000-default-le-ssl.conf
368 # edit $mwdomain.conf, so documentroot is /var/www/$mwdomain/html
369 # and ServerName is $mwdomain
370 a2ensite $mwdomain.conf
372 Then, copy the input to apache-site below and insert it into the apache config.
374 Here, we use some scripts automate setting up the Let 's Encrypt cert and
380 git_site=https://iankelling.org/git
381 git clone $git_site/acme-tiny-wrapper
385 acme-tiny-wrapper/acme-tiny-wrapper -t $mwdomain
387 git clone $git_site/basic-https-conf
389 ServerAdmin $mw_email
391 # make the site's root url go to our main page
392 RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?\$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]
393 # use short urls https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL
394 RewriteRule ^/*\$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]
396 find -L $(readlink -f $mw) -name .htaccess \
397 | while read line; do
398 echo -e "<Directory ${line%/.htaccess}>\n $(< $line)\n</Directory>";
400 } | basic-https-conf/apache-site -r ${mw%/*} - $mwdomain
405 Now mediawiki should load in your browser at $mwdomain .
407 Allow proper search bots and internet archiver bots, via [[Mediawiki:Robots.txt]],
408 and install the default skin.
411 dd of=$mw/../robots.txt <<'EOF'
414 User-agent: ia_archiver
420 '''Skippable Notes'''
422 This section assumes we are redirecting www to a url without www.
424 [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.
426 == Mediawiki Settings ==
428 Overall reference: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Configuration_settings]].
430 Settings which the gui setup prompts for but aren't set by the automated install script.
433 \$wgServer = "https://$mwdomain";
434 \$wgDBserver = "localhost";
435 \$wgRightsUrl = "$mw_RightsUrl";
436 \$wgRightsText = "$mw_RightsText";
437 \$wgRightsIcon = "$mw_RightsIcon";
440 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.
443 \$wgPasswordSender = "$mw_email";
444 \$wgEmergencyContact = "$mw_email";
445 \$wgEnotifUserTalk = true; # UPO
446 \$wgEnotifWatchlist = true; # UPO
447 \$wgMainCacheType = CACHE_ACCEL;
448 \$wgEnableUploads = true;
449 \$wgUseInstantCommons = true;
457 # from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL
458 $wgArticlePath = "/wiki/$1";
460 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam
461 # check that url if our precautions don't work
462 # not using nofollow is good practice, as long as we avoid spam.
463 $wgNoFollowLinks = false;
464 # Allow user customization.
465 $wgAllowUserCss = true;
466 # use imagemagick over GD
467 $wgUseImageMagick = true;
468 # manual says this is not production ready, I think that is mostly
469 # because they are using MobileFrontend extension instead, which gives
470 # an even cleaner more minimal view, I plan to try setting it up
471 # sometime but this seems like a very nice improvement for now.
472 $wgVectorResponsive = true;
476 # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Configuring_file_uploads
477 # Increase from default of 2M to 100M.
478 # This will at least allow high res pics etc.
479 php_ini=$(php -r 'echo(php_ini_loaded_file());')
480 sed -i --follow-symlinks 's/^\(upload_max_filesize\|post_max_size\)\b.*/\1 = 100M/' $php_ini
482 service apache2 restart
484 systemctl restart httpd.service
487 # if you were to install as a normal user, you would need this for images
488 # sudo usermod -aG $apache_user $USER
490 # this doesn't propogate right away
491 chgrp -R $apache_user $mw/images
492 chmod -R g+w $mw/images
495 Style settings. Omit to use a different style.
499 #$wgFooterIcons = null;
501 # Make the toolbox go into the drop down.
503 if ! git remote show ian-kelling &>/dev/null; then
504 git remote add ian-kelling https://iankelling.org/git/forks/Vector
506 git fetch ian-kelling
507 git checkout ian-kelling/${mw_branch}-toolbox-in-dropdown
510 == Install and Configure Mediawiki Extensions ==
512 When installing extensions on a wiki with important content, backup first as a precaution.
514 ''' Extensions with no configuration needed '''
520 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Cite|Extension:Cite]]
521 | Have references in footnotes*
523 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:CiteThisPage|Extension:CiteThisPage]]
524 | Ability to generate citations to pages in a variety of styles*
526 | [[mediawikiwiki:CheckUser|Extension:CheckUser]]
527 | Get ip addresses from inside mediawiki so you can ban users''
529 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:CSS|Extension:CSS]]
530 | Allows CSS stylesheets to be included in specific articles
532 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Echo|Extension:Echo]]
533 | Notification subsystem for usage by other extensions
535 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Gadgets|Extension:Gadgets]]
536 | UI extension system for users*
538 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ImageMap|Extension:ImageMap]]
539 | Links for a region of an image*
541 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Interwiki|Extension:Interwiki]]
542 | Tool for nice links to other wikis*
544 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:News|Extension:News]]
545 | Embed or rss recent changes
547 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Nuke|Extension:Nuke]]
548 | Mass delete of pages, in the case of spam*
550 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ParserFunctions|Extension:ParserFunctions]]
551 | Useful for templates*
553 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Poem|Extension:Poem]]
554 | Useful for formatting things various ways*
556 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Renameuser|Extension:Renameuser]]
557 | Allows bureaucrats to rename user accounts*
559 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi|Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi]]
560 | Source code highlighting*
562 | [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Variables|Extension:Variables]]
563 | Define per-page variables
566 <nowiki>*</nowiki> = Comes with the MediaWiki default download.
569 mw-ext Cite CiteThisPage CheckUser CSS Echo Gadgets ImageMap Interwiki News \
570 Nuke ParserFunctions Poem Renameuser SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi Variables
574 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:AntiSpoof|Extension:AntiSpoof]]: Disallow usernames with unicode trickery to look like existing names'''
578 # recommended setup script to account for existing users
579 sudo -u $apache_user php $mw/extensions/AntiSpoof/maintenance/batchAntiSpoof.php
583 '''[[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Wikidiff2|Extension:Wikidiff2]]: Faster and international character supported page diffs'''
585 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.
588 apt-get -y install php-wikidiff2
590 $wgExternalDiffEngine = 'wikidiff2';
592 dir=$(dirname $(php -r 'echo(php_ini_loaded_file());'))/../apache2/conf.d
593 ln -sf ../../mods-available/wikidiff2.ini $dir
594 service apache2 restart
599 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:Math|Extension:Math]] Display equations'''
603 # php5-curl according to Math readme
606 if ! apt-get -s install $curl_pkg &>/dev/null; then
609 apt-get -y install latex-cjk-all texlive-latex-extra texlive-latex-base \
610 ghostscript imagemagick ocaml $curl_pkg make
612 # todo, php5-curl equivalent on fedora
613 yum -y install texlive-cjk ghostscript ImageMagick texlive ocaml
615 service apache2 restart
617 cd $mw/extensions/Math/math; make # makes texvc
618 cd $mw/extensions/Math/texvccheck; make
621 # Enable MathJax as rendering option
622 $wgUseMathJax = true;
623 # Enable LaTeXML as rendering option
624 $wgMathValidModes[] = 'latexml';
625 # Set LaTeXML as default rendering option, because it is nicest
626 $wgDefaultUserOptions['math'] = 'latexml';
630 '''Skippable notes'''
632 There is no current list of package depencies so I took dependencies from mediawiki-math package in Debian 7. Fedora didn't have a mediawik math package, so I just translated from debian. Ocaml is for math png rendering, as backup option to the nicer looking LatexML and MathJax. Debian has texvc package, but it didn't work right for me, plus it required additional configuration in mediawiki settings.
635 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:SpamBlacklist|Extension:SpamBlacklist]]: Import/create IP blacklists, mainly for spam'''
637 Comes with MediaWiki.
641 if ! grep -F '$wgSpamBlacklistFiles = array(' $mwc &>/dev/null; then
643 $wgEnableDnsBlacklist = true;
644 $wgDnsBlacklistUrls = array( 'xbl.spamhaus.org', 'dnsbl.tornevall.org' );
646 ini_set( 'pcre.backtrack_limit', '10M' );
647 $wgSpamBlacklistFiles = array(
648 "[[m:Spam blacklist]]",
649 "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist"
655 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:TitleBlacklist|Extension:TitleBlacklist]]: Anti-spam '''
657 Comes with Mediawiki.
660 mw-ext TitleBlacklist
661 if ! grep -F '$wgTitleBlacklistSources = array(' $mwc &>/dev/null; then
663 $wgTitleBlacklistSources = array(
666 'src' => 'MediaWiki:Titleblacklist',
670 'src' => 'http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Title_blacklist&action=raw',
677 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:WikiEditor|Extension:WikiEditor]]: Editing box extras and a fast preview tab '''
679 Comes with MediaWiki.
684 # Enable Wikieditor by default
685 $wgDefaultUserOptions['usebetatoolbar'] = 1;
686 $wgDefaultUserOptions['usebetatoolbar-cgd'] = 1;
688 # Display the Preview and Changes tabs
689 $wgDefaultUserOptions['wikieditor-preview'] = 1;
693 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:CategoryTree|Extension:CategoryTree]]: Enables making nice outlines of pages in a category'''
697 # Mediawiki setting dependency for CategoryTree
702 ''' [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:AbuseFilter|Extension:AbuseFilter]]: Complex abilities to stop abuse '''
704 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:
708 $wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify'] = true;
709 $wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log-detail'] = true;
710 $wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-view'] = true;
711 $wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log'] = true;
712 $wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-private'] = true;
713 $wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify-restricted'] = true;
714 $wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-revert'] = true;
718 '''[[mediawikiwiki:Extension:ConfirmEdit|Extension:ConfirmEdit]]: Custom Captcha.'''
720 Uses captchaArray defined in mw_vars. Comes with MediaWiki.
726 wfLoadExtension( 'ConfirmEdit/QuestyCaptcha' );
727 $wgCaptchaClass = 'QuestyCaptcha';
728 # only captcha on registration
729 $wgGroupPermissions['user' ]['skipcaptcha'] = true;
730 $wgGroupPermissions['autoconfirmed']['skipcaptcha'] = true;
732 if ! grep -Fx 'foreach ( $localSettingsQuestyQuestions as $key => $value ) {' $mwc; then
734 foreach ( $localSettingsQuestyQuestions as $key => $value ) {
735 $wgCaptchaQuestions[] = array( 'question' => $key, 'answer' => $value );
741 Enable account creation that we initially disabled.
743 sed -i --follow-symlinks "/\\\$wgGroupPermissions\\['\\*'\\]\\['createaccount'\\] = false;/d" $mwc
746 == Additional Configuration with Pywikibot ==
748 There are quite a few [[mediawikiwiki:Help:Namespaces|special pages]] which act like variables to configure special wiki content and style. A big part of this wiki's style is configured in this section. We use Pywikibot to automate editing those pages.
751 '''Pywikibot Install'''
753 [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Installation|Manual:Pywikibot/Installation]]
757 if [[ ! -e ~/pywikibot/.git ]]; then
758 git clone --recursive \
759 https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/pywikibot/core.git ~/pywikibot
768 '''Pywikibot Configuration'''
770 Relevent docs: [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Use_on_non-WMF_wikis|Manual:Pywikibot/Use_on_non-WMF_wikis]], [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot/Quick_Start_Guide|Manual:Pywikibot/Quick_Start_Guide]]
775 dd of=user-config.py <<EOF
777 usernames["$mwfamily"]['en'] = u'$wikiuser'
779 console_encoding = 'utf-8'
780 password_file = "secretsfile"
783 dd of=secretsfile <<EOF
784 ("$wikiuser", "$wikipass")
787 # it won't overrwrite an existing file. Remove if if one exists
788 rm -f pywikibot/families/${mwfamily}_family.py
790 apt-get install -y python-requests
792 yum -y install python-requests
795 python generate_family_file.py https://$mwdomain/wiki/Main_Page "$mwfamily"
797 # Note, this needed only for ssl site
798 tee -a pywikibot/families/${mwfamily}_family.py<<'EOF'
799 def protocol(self, code):
805 '''Pywikibot Script'''
807 This will take a full minute or so because the bot waits a few seconds between edits. Useful doc: [[mediawikiwiki:Pywikipediabot/Create_your_own_script]].
812 dd of=scripts/${mwfamily}_setup.py<<EOF
816 site = pywikibot.Site()
818 page = pywikibot.Page(site, p)
820 #force is for some anti-bot thing, not necessary in my testing, but might as well include it
821 page.save(force=True)
823 # Small/medium noncommercial wiki should be fine with no privacy policy
824 # based on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Footer
825 x("MediaWiki:Privacy")
827 # licenses for uploads. Modified from the mediawiki's wiki
828 x("MediaWiki:Licenses", u"""* Same as this wiki's text (preferred)
829 ** CC BY-SA or GFDL| Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike or GNU Free Documentation License
831 ** Unknown_copyright|I don't know exactly
832 ** PD|PD: public domain
833 ** CC BY|Creative Commons Attribution
834 ** CC BY-SA|Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike
835 ** GFDL|GFDL: GNU Free Documentation License
836 ** GPL|GPL: GNU General Public License
837 ** LGPL|LGPL: GNU Lesser General Public License""")
838 x("MediaWiki:Copyright", '$mw_license')
839 x("MediaWiki:Mainpage-description", "$mwdescription")
843 # The rest of the settings are for the site style
845 # Remove various clutter
846 x("MediaWiki:Lastmodifiedat")
847 x("MediaWiki:Disclaimers")
848 x("MediaWiki:Viewcount")
849 x("MediaWiki:Aboutsite")
850 # remove these lines from sidebar
851 # ** recentchanges-url|recentchanges
852 # ** randompage-url|randompage
854 x("MediaWiki:Sidebar", """* navigation
855 ** mainpage|mainpage-description
861 # helpfull doc: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interface/Sidebar
862 x("mediawiki:Common.css", """/* adjust sidebar to just be home link and up top */
863 /* adjust sidebar to just be home link and up top */
864 /* panel width increased to fit full wiki name. */
865 /* selectors other than final id are for increasing priority of rule */
866 div#mw-panel { top: 10px; padding-top: 0em; width: 20em }
867 div#footer, #mw-head-base, div#content { margin-left: 1em; }
868 #left-navigation { margin-left: 1em; }
871 /* logo, and toolbar hidden */
872 #p-logo, div#mw-navigation div#mw-panel #p-tb {
876 div#mw-content-text {
882 # this can spam a warning, so uniq it
883 python pwb.py ${mwfamily}_setup |& uniq
887 ''' Skippable Notes '''
889 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.
891 Family name, and all its duplicattions documented as supposed to be $wgSitename, but it works fine using any name.
893 == Automatic Backups ==
895 Here we will have a daily cronjob where a backup host sshs to the mediawiki host, makes a backup then copies it back. Copy ~/mw_vars to the backup host at /root/mw_vars. Setup passwordless ssh from the backup host to the mediawiki host. Then run this code on the backup host. This will make a versioned backup of the wiki to ~/backup.
897 <source lang="bash" type="backup">
898 backup_script=/etc/cron.daily/mediawiki_backup
899 sudo dd of=$backup_script <<'EOFOUTER'
901 # if we get an error, keep going but return it at the end
903 trap 'last_error=$?' ERR
905 # No strict because the host is likely not named the same as
907 ssh="ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no"
908 logfile=/var/log/${mwdomain}_backup.log
910 echo "#### starting backup at $(date) ####"
911 $ssh root@$mwdomain <<ENDSSH
914 \$wgReadOnly = 'Dumping Database, Access will be restored shortly';
916 mkdir -p ~/wiki_backups
917 mysqldump -p$dbpass --default-character-set=binary my_wiki > ~/wiki_backups/wiki_db_backup
918 sed -i '\$ d' $mwc # delete read only setting
920 # add no strict option to the defaults
922 rdiff() { rdiff-backup --remote-schema "$ssh -C %s rdiff-backup --server" "$@"; }
924 rdiff root@$mwdomain::/root/wiki_backups ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_db_backup
925 rdiff root@$mwdomain::$mw ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_file_backup
927 echo "=== ending backup at $(date) ===="
929 if [[ $last_error != 0 ]]; then
930 echo "backup for $mwdomain failed. See $logfile"
935 sudo chmod +x $backup_script
938 '''Optional & requires additional steps'''
940 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].
942 == Restoring Backups ==
944 '''Whenever you implement a backup system, you should test that restoring the backup works.'''
946 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.
948 To test a backup restore:
949 # Do a backup of your wiki with some content in it, as described in the previous section
950 # Move your mediawiki install directory, or setup Mediawiki on a new machine
951 # Re-execute the mediawiki install steps
952 # Change REPLACE_ME in the code below (as in the backup section so you get the right variables),
953 # Execute the code on the backup machine.
956 <source lang="bash" type="example">
959 restore="rdiff-backup --force -r now"
960 $restore ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_file_backup /tmp/wiki_file_restore
961 $restore ~/backup/${mwdomain}_wiki_db_backup /tmp/wiki_db_restore
962 o=-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no
963 scp $o -r /tmp/wiki_file_restore/images/* root@$mwdomain:$mw/images
964 scp $o -r /tmp/wiki_db_restore root@$mwdomain:/tmp
965 ssh $o root@$mwdomain <<EOF
967 chmod -R g+w $mw/images
968 chgrp -R www-data $mw/images
969 mysql -u root -p$dbpass my_wiki < /tmp/wiki_db_restore/wiki_db_backup
970 php $mw/maintenance/update.php
974 Then browse to your wiki and see if everything appears to work.
978 Subscribe to get release and security announcements [https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce MediaWiki-announce].
980 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).
982 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]]
984 Minor updates script:
986 s=/etc/cron.daily/mediawiki_update
993 [[ -d $dir ]] || return 1
995 branch=$(git describe --all)
996 branch=${branch#remotes/}
998 new_head=$(git rev-parse $branch)
999 log=$(git log HEAD..$new_head)
1000 if [[ ! $log ]]; then
1005 git checkout -qf $new_head
1009 for dir in extensions/* skins/* vendor; do
1013 curl "https://iankelling.org/git/?p=mediawiki-librejs-patch;a=blob_plain;f=mediawiki-1.28-librejs.patch;hb=HEAD" | patch -r - -N -p1
1015 php $mw/maintenance/update.php -q --quick
1020 == Upgrading Major Versions ==
1022 Reference documentation is at [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Upgrading]]
1026 # Read the "Upgrade notices for MediaWiki administrators" on the upgrade version and any skipped versions at [[mediawikiwiki:Version_lifecycle]].
1027 # Setup a blank test wiki with the new version.
1028 # Backup the old database, restore it to the new wiki, run php maintenance/update.php.
1029 # If everything looks good, repeat and replace the old wiki with the new one.
1033 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:
1035 * Find new spam quickly, revert it & ban the user.
1036 ** 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."
1037 ** 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].
1038 * Require registration to edit, and a custom captcha question on registration.
1039 * Install all non-user inhibiting anti-spam extensions / settings that take a reasonable amount of time to figure out.
1041 == Choosing Extensions ==
1043 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.
1045 Here are brief descriptions of extensions that are part of distributions and why they were rejected for this wiki.
1047 {| class="wikitable"
1049 | '''Footnote''' || deprecated in newer versions
1051 | '''InputBox''' || Add html forms to pages. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
1053 | '''LocalisationUpdate'''|| update localization only. I'm fine updating all of mediawiki, there aren't many updates.
1055 | '''NewestPages''' || A page creation history that doesn't expire like recent-changes. Meh
1057 | '''NewUserNotif''' || Send me a notification when a user registers. Seems like an excessive notification.
1059 | '''Openid''' || Poor UI. 2 pages & 2 links <login> <login with openid> which is confusing & ugly.
1061 | '''Pdfhandler''' || Gallery of pages from a pdf file. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
1063 | '''RSSReader''' || Embed an rss feed. Can't imagine using it. Would install if I did.
1065 | '''Semantic''' || Seems like a lot of trouble around analyzing kinds of data which my wiki will not have.
1067 | '''Validator''' || dependency of of semantic
1073 ''' Web Analytics Software '''
1075 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.
1077 ''' Mediawiki Documentation Quality '''
1079 Overall the documentation is good, but like wikipedia, it depends.
1081 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.
1083 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].
1086 '''Bash here documents, EOF vs 'EOF' '''
1088 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.
1091 ''' Mediawiki automation tools survey 7/2014 '''
1094 * https://github.com/ianweller/mw
1095 * http://search.cpan.org/~markj/WWW-Mediawiki-Client/bin/mvs
1096 * https://github.com/alexz-enwp/wikitools 3000 lines of code, no response to a bug reports in 2/2014
1098 Getting basic maintenance
1099 * https://github.com/mwclient/mwclient 2000 lines of code
1101 Actively developed, used by wikimedia foundation a lot.
1102 * [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Pywikibot]]
1105 ''' Troubleshooting Errors '''
1107 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]]
1111 This page and this wiki is licensed under cc-by-sa 4.0.
1112 This means the code is compatible with gplv3.
1114 == todo list for this page ==
1116 * Get Visual editor extension.
1117 * Don't require registration for edits