MediaWiki

Resources

MediaWiki is a powerful wiki application used by the Gentoo Wiki and the various Wikimedia Project websites (including Wikipedia).

Installation

Prerequisites

Install PHP. Enable the xmlreader USE flag, because MediaWiki requires it:

root #echo "dev-lang/php xmlreader" >> /etc/portage/package.use

Install a web server and set it up for use of PHP:
- Apache
- Lighttpd

Install MySQL (MariaDB is a suitable alternative). Create a database for MediaWiki:

root #

mysql -u root -p

mysql> CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `mediawiki` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET `utf8` COLLATE `utf8_unicode_ci`;
mysql> CREATE USER 'mediawiki'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'changeme';
mysql> GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER ON `mediawiki`.* TO 'mediawiki'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'changeme';
mysql> \q

www-apps/mediawiki

USE flags for www-apps/mediawiki The MediaWiki wiki web application (as used on wikipedia.org)

`+sqlite`	Add support for sqlite - embedded sql database
`imagemagick`	Enable optional support for the ImageMagick or GraphicsMagick image converter
`mysql`	Add mySQL Database support
`postgres`	Add support for the postgresql database
`vhosts`	Add support for installing web-based applications into a virtual-hosting environment

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2025-02-08 08:58 More information about USE flags

Install www-apps/mediawiki:

root #emerge --ask www-apps/mediawiki

Setup

Copy mediawiki files from /usr/share/webapps/mediawiki/{version}/htdocs to /var/www/localhost/htdocs/mediawiki
Point your browser at http://127.0.0.1/mediawiki and follow the instructions.
Page "Welcome to MediaWiki!":
- "Database name" is "mediawiki"
- "Database username" is "mediawiki"
- "Database password" is "changeme" (or what else you have setup)
Page "Connect to database":
- Database character set" should be "UTF-8"
Page "Name"
- "Name of wiki" has to be set
- Setup admin user and password
Page "Complete!"
- Download your LocalSettings.php configuration and move it to /var/www/localhost/htdocs/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php.
Point your browser at http://127.0.0.1/mediawiki/ to see your installed and configured wiki.

Advanced configuration

To use a shorter URL make the following modifications:

add this somewhere (does not matter exactly where):

FILE /var/www/localhost/htdocs/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php

$wgArticlePath = "/wiki/$1"; 
$wgUsePathInfo = true;

and add this between <Directory> tags:

FILE /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/default_vhost.include

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/mediawiki/index.php [L]

By default the landing page in MediaWiki is unlocked for anyone to edit. Login as admin. By the top right of the page is an arrow that points down, click it and the 3rd option down is "protect" to lock down the page.

Set an avatar for your wiki. Add to the bottom of /var/www/localhost/htdocs/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php:

FILE /var/www/localhost/htdocs/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php

$wgLogo = "/mediawiki/wiki.png";

External Resources