Software bundles

Manual installation of MediaWiki can be painful and time consuming, especially for users lacking technical proficiency. Some users find it easier to get up and running with MediaWiki using a software bundle of some combination of operational system, AMP package, Mediawiki software, extension package and/or template package.

Be warned that third-party packages often introduce crazy changes enforcing FHS or other vendor-specific requirements. These patches are not reviewed by core developers and tend to break the wiki in a number of subtle (or even not) ways. Also, packages may contain older versions of MediaWiki, so pay close attention to compatibility information for directions and extensions. The MediaWiki development team refers you to your operational system distributor and the individual communities and companies who maintain these packages for assistance with installing, configuring or using them.

Mediawiki software appliances
A MediaWiki software appliance is a MediaWiki and AMP software preintegated in a just-enough operational system. It allows users to altogether skip manual installation of MediaWiki and its dependencies, and instead deploy a self-contained, ready-to-use system that requires little to no setup, especially in combination with virtual machine software such as VirtualBox or  VMware.

Several third-party MediaWiki software appliances exist. These are LAMP software bundles (Linux+AMP) including a MediaWiki server:


 * TurnKey MediaWiki, based on Ubuntu, includes a pre-integrated collection of popular extensions.
 * rPath MediaWiki, based on rPath Linux. (No extensions included.)

Mediawiki pre-integrated with AMP packages
These are AMP packages including a MediaWiki server, but requiring an operational system:
 * Bitnami MediaWiki Stack. (No extensions included.)

Extension packages
These are packages of several MediaWiki extensions, requiring Mediawiki software, AMP and an operational system:
 * Debian package Mediawiki-extensions
 * Ubuntu package Mediawiki-extensions
 * Unofficial bundles of the extensions in the Wikimedia SVN repository can sometimes be found on the toolserver. These bundles are arbitrary snapshots, so keep in mind they might contain a broken version of the extension (just as if you load them from the developer's repository directly).
 * The Semantic Bundle

Package that requires no installation of MW and AMP:
 * SMW+ - A MW-based distribution, containing Semantic MediaWiki, Halo extensions and other useful extensions.

AMP packages without Mediawiki
There are also AMP packages available that are not bundled with Mediawiki. If you go this route, you have to install Mediawiki and extensions as a separate step. Depending on your operating system, you would want a LAMP (for Linux), a WAMP (for Windows), a SAMP (for Solaris), or a FAMP (for FreeBSD).

One AMP package that has worked well is XAMPP. See Manual:Running MediaWiki on XAMPP. However, the current version of XAMPP uses PHP 5.3.1, which is incompatible with MediaWiki due to a bug. XAMPP beta uses PHP 5.3.2 and will work.

Another WAMP package is Uniform Server. See Manual:Installation on Uniform Server (Windows).