Manual:Short URL/Page title -- Aliasing method--Root access

From MediaWiki.org

Originally from the page http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Using_a_very_short_URL

[edit] Aliasing method

This modification will make very short url.

Edit LocalSettings.php variables:

 $wgScriptPath       = "";
 $wgScript           = "";
 $wgArticlePath      = "/$1";

Edit Apache2 configuration file (require mod_alias enabled):

<IfModule mod_alias.c>
   Alias /skins /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/skins
   Alias /index.php /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/index.php
   Alias / /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/index.php
  <Directory /var/lib/mediawiki1.8>
     Options -Indexes
   </Directory>
</IfModule>

Be sure to change /var/lib/mediawiki1.8 to reflect the root of the wiki folder (i.e. /home/bob/public_html/wiki, /Library/WebServer/Documents)

Remember to restart apache for changes to take effect

If you cannot get it to work with this sample - try adding a / sign after index.php in following 2 alias lines, so they look like this:

   Alias /index.php /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/index.php/
   Alias /images /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/images/
   Alias /skins /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/skins/
   Alias / /var/lib/mediawiki1.8/index.php/

This sample did not work in my server until I added / after index.php - now it works like a charm.

Tip for Windows users: Use double quotes around your dirs, like this:

Alias /skins "c:\wamp\www\skins"
Alias /index.php "c:\wamp\www\index.php\"