Project:Support desk

We could always see if there's anyone else who would be interested in such an extension. Multiple people who would be interested would give some help.

Is there anywhere that would be good for people interested to signup?

Imperator Sascha‎

Google appliance unable to index pages after 1.17.0 upgrade

About a month ago, I upgraded one of our MW 1.13.3 installations to MW 1.17.0. I've gotten through most of the issues except one huge one. This wiki is indexed ... err, was indexed ... by our Google appliance before the upgrade. Since the upgrade, the Google appliance cannot authenticate pages to index them. I applied the fix for Bugzilla 30275, but there was no change.

Both the wiki and the Google appliance are on an intranet, behind a firewall, not accessible from the internet.

Pages on the wiki are protected against reading unless the user is logged in.

We are still having this issue. I've tried changing every variable introduced since 1.13.0 that looked like it could possibly have an effect. I have been actively trying to disable some of the cross-site hacking code, as if someone gets through the firewall, we've got bigger issues than wiki-spam to contend with.

The log in process changed between 1.13 and 1.17 (specificly in 1.15.3). Your google appliance thing probably needs to be updated. See bugzilla:23076 for the technical details of the change.

Yes, this is the change I have been trying to undo. I will try harder. In the meanwhile, I'll see if the GSA administrator can get an upgrade. He previous said he couldn't, that it would be a customization that would cost big money AND get zapped by the next regular GSA upgrade.

Note, the change in the login process was for security reasons - it wasn't changed just for the heck of it.

The new login process is quite similar to the old process, the only difference is one has to pass the wpToken value in as well.

We have a special case ... this is an intranet wiki behind a firewall. If hackers get inside the firewall, we've got bigger problems than just keeping our own sales guys from giving confidential R&D information to customers. ;) The security risk is acceptable.

Well then the easy solution is to not have read rights restricted to logged in users.

Show 1 reply

I successfully hacked it, yay! Of course, the hack isn't getting our other bots that tie our miscellaneous data sources together working, but at least GSA is happy again.

Big huge caveat on this: I've mentioned that this is on an intranet wiki, inaccessible from the regular internet. Implementing this will leave your wiki vulnerable to attack. This works for me, this may or may not work for you.

In ../includes/templates, comment out the line that adds the hidden form field wpCreateaccounttoken".

In ../includes/api/ApiLogin.php, have the case for LoginForm::NEED_TOKEN take the same path as LoginForm::SUCCESS, comment out the original NEED_TOKEN code.

In ../includes/specials/SpecialUserlogin.php, do the same switch statement case swap that was done in ApiLogin.php.

How should I set Permissions in this situation?

I am setting up MediaWiki software in a certain musical genre. I like the way WikiPedia opens editing for everyone because this subject has so many groups and history this would make it do-able. But the question I have is one of just starting.

WikiPedia has many people to look at the submissions & revisions, whether legitimate or vandals, and can choose whether to submit changes or not. Right now, I am only one person, so would this approach also be good for me at this point?

Thanks,

Trichards2‎

what's the name of text editor extension like the one in this forum (with [[Category:]] [[:Image:]] button under the white box) thx

i need a text editor extension like the one in this forum (with [[Category:]] [[:Image:]] button under the white box)

thx

93.45.77.251‎

That's done by installing extension:CharInsert, then adding some stuff to the page MediaWiki:Edittools that uses that extension (+ some custom css in mediawiki:Common.css to make them look like buttons instead of links)

http://paste.ubuntu.com/805960/

GlobalBlocking extension and IPv6

Just wondering: Since I've never seen this extension used with IPv6 nor have I seen documentation mentioning it at Extension:GlobalBlocking, I'm wondering if IPv6 is supported.

Jasper Deng‎

Fatal error: Call to a member function addWikiMsg() on a non-object in /home/username/public_html/wiki/includes/specials/SpecialLinkSearch.php on line 82

Today I installed media wiki for private use and every thing seems to be OK but when I click on the External links search in special page I get this error

Ibro‎

Have you edited it before?
Check any code errors on LocalSettings.php.

Jeffwang‎

Hi , I did not change any thing in localsettings.php. This is a new installation. please see my localsettings.php here

Can't it be because of my server tight security?

Ibro‎

Hmm... well it isn't LocalSettings? Are you sure you did not change anything? Sometimes notepad will add BOMs.

Jeffw • (talk)‎

Note, BOM's cause a different type of error. (headers already sent error)

This type of error would be caused if the relavent OutputPage wasn't being returned properly from the SpecialPage's context. I have no idea how that can happen (and furthermore, no idea how that could happen without many other massive errors popping up everywhere on your wiki) [This is probably a bug in MediaWiki]

Could you test temporarily disabling all extensions (just comment out the require_once lines near the bottom of LocalSettings.php) just to check if its being caused by one of those extensions (seems unlikely, but good to check).

p.s. You may want to change the value of $wgSecretKey and $wgUpgradeKey afterwards since they were left in your LocalSettings.php

You said " You may want to change the value of $wgSecretKey and $wgUpgradeKey afterwards since they were left in your LocalSettings.php

How to do it? for test I just addes abc at the end of $wgSecretKey and $wgUpgradeKey but got the same error. What can I do now? Amy body can help?

Ibro‎

Show 5 replies

OK Jeff not sure, Is there any original file I can replace it with what I have? but when I try to add the data base info in there what should I do? what is the right way or editor to make the changes?

114.202.247.100‎

Use a text editor other then notepad. See BOM. However, if that was the issue you would be getting a different error message. See Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Warning:_Cannot_modify_header_information_-_headers_already_sent_by_.28....29

Show 2 replies

Reinstalling?

Jeffw • (talk)‎

Thanks Jeff but I have already filled it with more than 100 entries . Any better suggestion? or an Idea on how to re install without loosing my data?

Ibro‎

Backup all your SQL databases, suggestively "export" via PhpMyAdmin.

Jeffw • (talk)‎

Thanks Jeff so you mean I use SSH to backup my whole database I install a fresh wiki and then restore the datbase?

114.202.247.100‎

Yes.

Jeffw • (talk)‎

Show 4 replies

I have this same error on my wiki when I click on the Special page for the link search (the search page doesnt load and it gives an error). Its 1.18.0 (correctly updated from previous MW, deleted old files, everything else works). "Fatal error: Call to a member function addWikiMsg() on a non-object in /home/[user] ... /includes/specials/SpecialLinkSearch.php on line 82". I can turn on debugging and stuff to get some more detail messages and post them here. Whats the best way to do that?

Choshi‎

You don't need to turn on any further debugging to fix that error. If you have SSH (shell) access, connect to the server and use a text editor (such as nano or vim) to edit the file includes/specials/SpecialLinkSearch.php. Find line 82, which looks like this: $out->addWikiMsg( ... and change the $out to $wgOut and that fixes the error.
If you don't have SSH access, use FTP or something to access the server, copy the file into your local computer and make the modification with your favorite non-Microsoft Notepad text editor.

It's a nasty bug that slipped into the 1.18.0 release, and I believe this bug has been fixed in 1.18.1 (although I haven't tested 1.18.1 myself). Sadly this means that every unpatched MediaWiki 1.18.0 will have a broken Special:LinkSearch. :-(

Jack Phoenix _(Contact)‎

I have the same issue, this even happens on a clean install of 1.18.1 (which hows up as version 1.18.0 under Special:version.

Is there a patch for this? I changed the $out to $wgOut and got further issues such as $self->getPrefixedDbKey() does not exist (would need to go through and repeat my changes to find out the exact errors.

92.41.233.20‎

If it shows up as 1.18.0 in Special:version, then you didn't install 1.18.1. Make sure that all files from your 1.18.0 install are over-written by the 1.18.1 files (Except LocalSettings.php)

This issue should be fixed in 1.18.1 (1.18.1 uses $out, but its supposed to use $out. The issue in 1.18.0 is only half of the $wgOut -> $out change went through, breaking things badly for that special page)

using '#' in sidebar

Hi,

How can I use an anchor link on sidebar?

When I try use a # in a link the # disapear.

Thanks,

Paulo

Psctec‎

Seems to work fine for me. Please include the exact code you are using in MediaWiki:Sidebar.

I'm using **somepage#anchor|Somepage

And when I pass the mouse on SideBar the # disapear and the anchor didn´t work.

I'm using mediawiki 1.17 and Vector extension.

Thanks, Paulo

200.196.239.134‎

Interesting.

This seems to be an issue in 1.18 and earlier releases that was accidentally fixed in (the not yet released) MediaWiki 1.19. (MediaWiki 1.19 will probably be released in about one and a half months)

Furthermore, in versions before 1.19 you can work around this by using full urls:

**http://mywiki/SomePage#section|Somepage

I'm using **somepage#anchor|Somepage

And when I pass the mouse on SideBar the # disapear and the anchor didn´t work.

I'm using mediawiki 1.17 and Vector extension.

Thanks, Paulo

200.196.239.134‎

mediawiki refuses to connect to db after server move

Http://kitsunetsuki.net/wiki

For some reason after a server move I cannot get mediawiki to connect to my database.

Everything was moved as it should have been (1:1 file copy and db import)

I've checked my localsettings.php file and it has all of the correct settings for my new server in it. I have also confirmed that those settings work (I can connect to it via terminal just fine)

Thoughts?

209.6.117.139‎

Resolved. I had two copies of localsettings.php and was editing the wrong one. Derp.

174.226.65.9‎

[edit] platform

MW:1.18.1
PHP: 5.2.17
MySQL:5.1.52

[edit] user environment

OS X 10.6.8
Safari 5.1.1 (6534.51.22)

[edit] problem

editing pages at http://www.sebokwiki075.org/dev/index.php with the above user environment. if you edit a page, save it, then edit it again, weird things start to happen.

possible edit conflicts
the edit page shows data from the FIRST edit
saving never completes (white page)

[edit] troubleshooting

upgraded to 1.18.1 from 1.18 --same problem
made sure there was no ISP/proxy/accelerator software
works fine in 1.17
have not yet disabled extensions, and we have a ton of them.
- http://www.sebokwiki075.org/dev/index.php?Title=Special:Version

[edit] workaround

work around is to use a different browser. this is not acceptable to the user, who feels the wiki software should work on safari.

[edit] solution

Anyone?

Phalseid‎

Spambot users with no edits

This is my wiki

I have MediaWiki 1.16.0, PHP 5.3.6 (cgi-fcgi), MySQL 5.5.17

I have spambots logging in and creating accounts but I have set up the wiki so that they do not make any edits. Is there any harm in having many spambot users if they cannot actually add any spam? Also is there any way of stopping new account creations from appearing in recent changes?

Martin Hogbin‎

There are several ways to prevent and clean up Spam.

I have read the spam page and implemented some of the suggestions but I cannot find the answer to my questions. To repeat:

1) Does the registering of accounts alone (no spam added) cause any problems?

2) Is there a way to prevent account creations from showing up on recent changes?

Martin Hogbin‎

1) Yes, as they may be able to can edit altho you may restrict editing to registered users with advanced registration protection.

2) on RecentChanges select: Namespace: User / "Invert selection", save as favorite.

But again, you actually don't want to hide such accounts, you want to prevent their creation (e.g. with Extension:ConfirmEdit). Please stop double posting threads.

I had the same problem and took a few measures (on advisement) to control the on-slot of spambots. The one step I see working is Extension:AbuseFilter and a filter a developer friend wrote for my project. Not sure if this is the answer to all but, it works for me and I know how frustrating this problem can be.

Mlpearc (powwow)‎

Thanks for the help. Your method for removing account creations from RC works fine but my first question remains. I can stop the spambots from editing but is there any harm in letting them create accounts?

Subfader, what do you mean by 'double posting threads'?

Martin Hogbin‎

Users can potentially do other things then edit ( See Special:usergrouprights on your wiki for the full list ) like sending email to other users. Assuming you have those things also similarly restricted there is no harm.

An alternative way to disable new users appearing in RC is to turn off new user logging altogether - see manual:$wgNewUserLog

Show 1 reply

Extra Edit Buttons

Dear Community,

I wish to uninstall "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MarkS/Extra_edit_buttons" from my wiki.

Already asked Goggle, but doesnt`t help.

Please write me a short Guide or a link. Thanks!!!

It2010bg‎

Just do the reverse of User:MarkS/Extra_edit_buttons#Installing. Edit your monobook.js and remove what you added.

union of 2 category pages

I want to display on the main page 2 categories of my wiki, for categories i mean pages like [[Category:category_I]], that because i don t want to put on my main page (it is a private wiki) only 2 link, one for each category. I know that is not natural put on wiki 2 pages as one, expecially two categories, but i really need that, maybe is possible with an extension, i ask here for have the best way to do that :) ty.

Mediawiki 1.15.1 PHP 5.3.3-7+squeeze3 mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.49

151.9.118.2‎

I'm confused as to what you're asking, but perhaps extension:DynamicPageList (Wikimedia) is what you're looking for.

Search results page redirects to unsafe site

Using multiple wikis on the same site for some months without problems. Suddenly search pages for all wikis on the site have started to do the following

search for a term
results are displayed in a raw HTML only format, i.e. it appears that the style sheets or skins are not being applied
when I click one of the links I am redirected to http://hidrocaribe.gob.ve/innova which our firewall blocks as a threat

Where would I look to find what is going on?

Also, our hosting company suggests that the corruption likely happened via a hacked admin wiki account. Could that be? Tenbergen 22:51, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Tenbergen‎

It would be helpful if you provided a link to your wiki (Mostly looking through Special:Recentchanges [in particular, any edits to the mediawiki namespace] could rule out if its a compromised admin account or something else).

In theory, an admin account can add site-wide js, which could potentially be used to do something like that. However, if someone did that, there are more evil things they could do for quite a bit less effort, so that seems unlikely.

I think its more likely that someone got into your server (possibly via some other insecure web application that you had installed) and modified some of MediaWiki's php files.

Thanks for your reply, I had thought something along that line. The URL is http://ccmdb.kuality.ca/index.php?title=Special:UserLogout&returnto=Main_Page. Even without login, running a blank search does the trick. We had already looked in the recent changes and there was nothing enlighenting there. For one of the wikis, common.js and common.css seemed to be corrupted, the pages were not accessible at all via wiki. Not for the other wikis, though. Any ideas how to proceed troubleshooting?

Tenbergen‎

yeah, that definitely looks like someone modified one of the php files (server sends 301 redirects to bad places).

(Furthermore, The admin editable js isn't even being loaded for people not logged in, since it's not on the page whitelist and the wiki is read restricted)

What I would probably do would be:

Save your LocalSettings.php, and any uploaded images.
- Look through your LocalSettings.php to make sure nothing unusual or strange is in there
Delete everything (except not your database)
Re-install MediaWiki (putting the LocalSettings.php and images directory you saved back).

If you have your apache access_log going back a while, looking for unusual requests might be able to tell you how the attacker gained access (obviously getting rid of the tainted php files means nothing if the attacker can still regain access). There are no known security vulnerabilities that give filesystem access in MediaWiki 1.16.5 (although that version is outdated), so I'd say its more likely that they gained access through something else.

Thanks Bawolff; we ended up able to convince the host admin that this really is an issue with their site (the whole site redirects, too) and they are looking into it now. Some other sites mentioned that this might have slipped in through joomla or wordpress, but apparently it doesn't actually affect those products, just their google rankings. Guess mediawiki was the only one actually showing symptoms...

Tenbergen‎

How to hide portions of text from site visitors

For the convenience of editors of my site, I’ve added a number of extra links (e.g. semantic forms) to the sidebar. However, because this is rather confusing to regular visitors who have not logged in, I was looking for a way to hide those links from them. Contrary to what is claimed on this page, CustomSidebar does not offer such functionality. As a workaround I was hoping I could embed these links in content pages using Extension:ConditionalShow, but this extension is broken as of 2008/2009.

Any ideas?

Cavila ^{MW 1.17, MySQL 5.5.16, Php 5.3.8}‎

I use CSS for that. Hide by default, but in the skin file add according CSS rules to show it for logged in users.

Filename not found

In the default search (MySQL search without Lucene) foo doesn't find "File:Foo.jpg" (only foo* or foo.jpg does). But bar finds "File:Foo Bar Baz.jpg".

Is there a solution for this? Don't say users should truncate, the search should find it ;)