Project:Support desk/Sections/Misc

__NEWSECTIONLINK__ = System Messages/Special Pages/Magic Words Support =

Site visits

 * MediaWiki: latest RC
 * PHP: 5.1.4
 * MySQL: 5.x
 * URL: RockCiclopedia

Hi! I'd like to show the number of (total) page views of the site.. This number is visible in the Special:Statistics page but I'd like to display it in my home page, the code would be similar to this: --Lorenzone92 15:16, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Broken redirect

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.0
 * PHP: 5.1.4 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL: 5.0.45-log
 * Database: Unknown, if you know how to figure it out please tell me.
 * URL: Red Orchestra Wiki

So if you look at my Special:Listredirects page then you will see that this text it displayed:

1. :Lyes Krovy (edit) (delete) → Talk:Lyes Krovy

I think this happened when I changed my Extranamespaces from:

$wgExtraNamespaces = array(110 => "Portal", 120 => "Portal_talk", 130 => "Technical", 140 => "Technical_talk", 150 => "WikiProject", 160 => "WikiProject_talk", 170 => "History", 180 => "History_talk", 190 => "Manual", 200 => "Manual_talk", 210 => "Extension", 220 => "Extension_talk", 230 => "Map", 240 => "Map_talk", 250 => "Server", 260 => "Server_talk", 270 => "Modification", 280 => "Modification_talk", 290 => "Mutator", 300 => "Mutator_talk", 310 => "Unit", 320 => "Unit_talk", 330 => "Clan", 340 => "Clan_talk", 350 => "Term", 360 => "Term_talk", 370 => "Tactic", 380 => "Tactic_talk", 390 => "Weapon", 400 => "Weapon_talk", 410 => "Tank", 420 => "Tank_talk", 430 => "Role", 440 => "Role_talk", 450 => "Player", 460 => "Player_talk");

to

$wgExtraNamespaces = array(100 => "Portal", 101 => "Portal_talk", 102 => "WikiProject", 103 => "WikiProject_talk", 104 => "Technical", 105 => "Technical_talk", 106 => "History", 107 => "History_talk", 108 => "Manual", 109 => "Manual_talk", 110 => "Extension", 111 => "Extension_talk", 112 => "Map", 113 => "Map_talk", 114 => "Server", 115 => "Server_talk", 116 => "Modification", 117 => "Modification_talk", 118 => "Mutator", 119 => "Mutator_talk", 120 => "Unit", 121 => "Unit_talk", 122 => "Clan", 123 => "Clan_talk", 124 => "Term", 125 => "Term_talk", 126 => "Tactic", 127 => "Tactic_talk", 128 => "Weapon", 129 => "Weapon_talk", 130 => "Tank", 131 => "Tank_talk", 132 => "Role", 133 => "Role_talk", 134 => "Player", 135 => "Player_talk");

and moved Lyes Krovy from one namespace to another. Help appreciated.

—-PatPeter, MediaWiki Support Team  23:22, 2 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Hmm... If possible, you might have to run the  command line script on your server. I'm not sure if this will work, though. Otherwise, you may have to hack into the MySQL server (for example, using phpMyAdmin) and delete everything about ":Lyes_Krovy", although you should check that very carefully. — color probe  (talk | contribs) 13:59, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * What programs can I use to run the command line? -PatPeter, MediaWiki Support Team  15:53, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * You could try phpShell. — color probe (talk | contribs) 18:01, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Also how do I start phpMyAdmin? -PatPeter, MediaWiki Support Team  03:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * To start phpMyAdmin and phpShell do I need to have access to the entire server computer? -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  02:30, 21 January 2008 (UTC)


 * to start phpMyAdmin you'll need extract it into an sub-folder of your web-space (phpMyAdmin needs php activated of cause) and edit the config.inc.php to according to your needs (example file config.sample.inc.php, just rename it to config.inc.php and edit it ) .. then access the index.php though your browser, thats all ItsMeIGuess 18:30, 4 March 2008 (UTC)


 * How do I access config.inc.php? Do I have to have access to the server? -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  16:38, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

How to show NEW Pages on main page

 * MediaWiki: (Reported by your Wiki's Special:Version page)
 * PHP:
 * MySQL:
 * URL:

Is there a quick way I can list, say the last 5 or 10 New Pages with just titles created and have this list show on the Main Page. Also, same for most recent Revised pages.

—81.156.192.201 14:29, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


 * For newest page, you can include  (replace 5 by the number of pages you want to show), for most recent Revised pages, if you think about Special:Recentchanges, you can do the same (but it's not possible with all special pages). i Alex  18:10, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for that. Is there a way I can display just the title of the page. So:

12:33, 4 February 2008 ‎Scratchpad (hist) ‎[22 bytes] ‎127.0.0.1 (Talk)

becomes

Scratchpad


 * Not w/o writing a script.  Mønobi 03:25, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Any suggestions?


 * Arg, there is a way to do this, I was on a wiki without any date stamps and all usernames, I thought it was this one, but that is the opposite, datestamps and no usernames.
 * The solution exists somewhere and it is going to drive me crazy until I find it, stay posted. -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  20:50, 27 February 2008 (UTC)


 * MediaWiki: 1.11.1
 * PHP: 5.2.3 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 5.0.51a
 * URL: DishiWiki.com]
 * Here's how I do it: I use an RSS read of my wiki's own New Pages RSS feed:

http://dishiwiki.com/index.php?title=Special:Newpages&feed=rss

See "Newest Recipes" on Main Page of DishiWiki]. The RSS reader is extension "RSS Reader" (version 0.2.4). Does this work for you? -Brian7632416 00:17, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Subsequent Edit: I removed Extension RSS Reader, noted above, from my Main Page because I suspect it of causing Main Page to load slowly.... (I put RSS Reader back on my Main Page. Slow-load was probably due to something else.) Brian7632416 02:30, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Statistic of search requests (resolved?)
Hello. Is there a way to get a statistic of search requests? I'd like to know, what users are looking for in my wiki. Something like Special:Wantedpages, but based on "not found" users queries? —213.148.8.233 22:19, 5 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Special:Statistics has most pages visited, which is similar, if you wanted what is searched the most then it would probably be a plug-in to this page. -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  23:38, 5 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Then again MediaWiki (the site not the code) has this option turned off, so look here. -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  23:39, 5 February 2008 (UTC)


 * You might want to check out Extension:SearchLog, this gives a tabular summary of search requests. You could also check the server logs of search requests by filtering on specific query string requests, although searches will be urlencoded --Zven 01:49, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

The SearchLog - is very close to what I need, Special:Statistics shows popularity of existing pages, but I need "What pages I have to add, that readers looking for". The only problem: SearchLog incorrectly shows UTF-8 chars. --89.175.73.253 12:12, 6 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I have modified Extension:SearchLog to display raw Unicode/UTF-8 characters by escaping the ampersands. A special page example is running on OrganicDesign:Special:SearchLog, see if that is what you want. --Zven 23:30, 7 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Still not working, the same black diamonds :-( --Konstbel 18:06, 8 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Is your wiki site publically accessible? Can you tell me what the characters are in the source generating the diamonds? The UTF-8 character &#38;#xFFFD; is a diamond with a question mark inside '�'. Try putting each of these searches in to the new version -See Extension talk:SearchLog --Zven 20:29, 8 February 2008 (UTC)


 * No, site is inside intranet. The HTML code of the generated page is looking like


 * If I open the log file in editor with UTF-8 support, I can read the search phrases, they are really in UTF-8. --Konstbel 15:29, 12 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Wait, what do you mean with the table? -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  20:53, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
 * This is the example of incorrect characters, as I see in generated HTML page. I have found the solution for me (see http://www.organicdesign.co.nz/Extension_talk:SearchLog.php), but it may not be applicable for all others: I've changed the line

$i = strtolower(trim($phrase)); to $i = mb_strtolower(trim($phrase),"UTF-8"); So, the problem was in incorrect lowercase conversion, as in many other cases :-( --Konstbel 08:20, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

disabled access for spezial pages (with german umlaut) for not logged in users causes error

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.1
 * PHP: 5.2.0
 * MySQL: 5.0.26
 * URL: local testing

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['read'] = false; $wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false; $wgWhitelistRead = array("Hauptseite", "Special:Userlogin"); $wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;
 * disabled access for most pages :

Interner Fehler
 * Error Message appears trying to access e.q "Spezial:Letzte_Änderungen" without login :

Invalid special page name ""

Backtrace:


 * 1) 0 /.../test/includes/Title.php(1305): SpecialPage::getTitleFor(false)
 * 2) 1 /.../test/includes/Wiki.php(132): Title->userCanRead
 * 3) 2 /.../test/includes/Wiki.php(43): MediaWiki->preliminaryChecks(Object(Title), Object(StubObject), Object(WebRequest))
 * 4) 3 /.../test/index.php(89): MediaWiki->initialize(Object(Title), Object(StubObject), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
 * 5) 4 /.../test/index.php5(1): require('/srv/www/...')
 * 6) 5 {main}

I'm not a developer, but I compared the functions and found a solution : Is this a way, or can I get other problems without these lines ?

Function in Title.php : userCanRead

/** * If it's a special page, ditch the subpage bit * and check again */ if( $this->getNamespace == NS_SPECIAL ) { $name = $this->getText; list( $name, /* $subpage */) = SpecialPage::resolveAliasWithSubpage( $name ); $pure = SpecialPage::getTitleFor( $name )->getPrefixedText; if( in_array( $pure, $wgWhitelistRead, true ) ) return true; }
 * I disabled all the folling lines, so it works again, like in MediaWiki 1.10

—79.199.9.25 09:40, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

content bar

 * MediaWiki: (Reported by your Wiki's Special:Version page)
 * PHP:
 * MySQL:
 * URL:

How can remove the content bar on the top of each page from the startpage or any page i dont need it?

—84.57.49.247 06:10, 27 February 2008 (UTC)


 * What do you mean "content bar"? -PatPeter, [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] MediaWiki Support Team  21:38, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I guess, you mean the ? So maybe you like to add   to your MediaWiki:Common.css. *confused* --WIKImaniac 22:45, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Customising the Search

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5-0.dotdeb.2 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 5.0.51-2-log
 * URL:

Hello,

this is less an error report than a configuration matter which I didn't find in the "knowledge base", so to speak; I would like to know if you can customise the search in a way that it excludes all pages with a certain name in it (in this case it would be "Dienstberichte*"; having them searched, too, is an annoyance so I would like to generally exclude it somehow from the queries. Where do I have to add which line to be able to do so?

—141.20.120.198 13:29, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I take it that it isn't possible?....

Cheers, kris

Special:Allmessages won't display

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5
 * MySQL: 5.0.51
 * URL:

Some days ago my Special:Allmessages worked perfectly, but now i receive just an empty page. The sourcecode of the page looks ok, but between both body tags there is no data. My apache error log reports no problems. I can still change system messages when I know their names through the url...I haven't found any other pages with this problem yet. I'm logged in as WikiSysop and have all rights so this shouldn't be the problem... Has anyone an idea how it came or how to solve this issue?

—212.184.19.70 07:47, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Special: Version does not work after upgrading from 1.6.9 to 1.11.2

 * MediaWiki: (Reported by your Wiki's Special:Version page) - which does not work: 1.11.2
 * PHP: 5.2.0-8+etch10
 * MySQL: 5.0.32-Debian_7etch5
 * URL: TechWiki

I upgraded my MediaWiki from 1.6.9 to 1.11.2 and everything seems to be working just fine except for my Special:Version page. It shows just nothing. It also did not work for the 1.6.9 to 1.11.1 upgrade which I performed with a copy of my wiki earlier due to some testing. I looked for a new option that maybe disables this page, but i found nothing alike. Since everything else seems to be working fine it is not a very big problem, but I would like to have it working.

—87.234.104.203 13:47, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Maybe you installed an extension that does not work with 1.11.2 anymore. --MF-Warburg 14:59, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, an new version of the cite extension solved this issue for me. --87.234.104.203 11:17, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

How can a SysOp edit a user profile/account?

 * MediaWiki: 1.6.8
 * PHP: 4.4.0-pl1-gentoo (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 4.1.15-log
 * URL: mozillaZine

How can a SysOp modify an existing users profile such as registering a email address or changing the password? I know how to block a user or a range of IP users, and find a users contributions but can't find a special page that will let me do that. Do I have any options other than creating a new account for that user?

I've looked in http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:System_admin and browsed our special pages. The only solutions I've found assume I have abilities that a SysOp doesn't have such as making a SQL query. i.e. all of the solutions seem to assume you're the person who installed the software.

The site admin is in the midst of moving the forum (phpBB) and wiki (MediaWiki) software to new servers and updating the forum software. Afterwards he will update the wiki software. Can you recommend any plugins that will provide some of the traditional user management capabilities that forum moderators are used to, for the wiki? We plan on eventually having all forum moderators also be knowledge base (wiki) SysOps. I'm obviously not expecting a integrated or a compatible solution, I'm just trying to find any way to do that type of account maintenance.

tanstaafl

—66.245.255.249 00:27, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Extension:EditUser & Extension:PasswordReset. -- Sayuri 11:28, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Removing retrievedfrom

 * MediaWiki: 1.12
 * PHP: 5
 * MySQL:
 * URL: RockCiclopedia

How can I remove the retrievedfrom message? Because Google crawls that text and I don't want...

—Lorenzone92 18:36, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

What is the variable name (Magicword?) for the current user's username?
MediaWiki: 1.11.1

PHP: 5.2.3 (apache2handler)

MySQL: 5.5.51a

URL: DishiWiki

I wish to personalize the special:newarticletext (and possibly others) to return/display the current user's username, e.g., "Greetings, Brian7632416."

What is the name of the variable for the current user's username, and how is it set forth in the newarticletext text?

Brian7632416 20:42, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

MediaWiki: 1.11.1

PHP: 5.2.3 (apache2handler)

MySQL: 5.5.51a

URL: DishiWiki


 * One option is Extension:Variables, but that's not the only way (and it may not be cache-friendly).
 * Various Uncyclopedias already do this using JavaScript. They have a template which inserts a code into the page; a routine in the sitewide client-side JavaScript then searches for this code and substitutes the username. Very prone to use and overuse for nonsense like «*27 -  vandaliza este artigo e acaba sendo banido da Desciclopédia por Infinite»  --Carlb 16:14, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I must have overlooked Extension:Variables, so I'll go take a look. I've had really good luck with my only four extensions: RSS Reader, SGMT Mass Mailer, Breadcrumb by Category, and Google NewsBar. Thanks, Carlb. Brian7632416 05:25, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Variable/Magicword for number of articles in category?
What is the variable/magicword and syntax for returning/displaying the number of articles in a certain category?

My wiki is a recipe wiki. I would like to display on the main page the number of users (got it!) and the number of articles that are in the recipes category.

I tried experimented with

and such, [ but (^look^) ] it comes back as a template, and I'm trying to figure out why

Edit: Okay, I now know about the nowiki tag. Baby steps, but

- –

denotes both a template and system variables (I think). But that's not my question, sorry to drift. —Brian7632416 01:11, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * You may want to create "recipes:" as a namespace and not a simple category; if you do so, (subsituting whichever namespace number you choose to use) would display the number of recipes. --Carlb 16:25, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That's fantastic, Carlb. Then I THINK that, for pages in the Recipe namespace, I could change the tab to read "recipe" instead of "article," which would "un-confuse" my users. Thanks for the advice!Brian7632416 05:18, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * You can definately change what the tab says; I've done it on my wiki. It's one of the MediaWiki system messages (Special:Allmessages), though I forget which one exactly.  But that would change the main namespace tab, which you may not even have to do.  When you create a new namespace and visit a page in that namespace, where the article tab would be is a tab with the name of the newly created namespace.  So you are probably covered in that regard. Smaug  22:32, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks Smaug, too. I'm trying to figure out how to make my new namespace "Recipes" searchable by default for all users, since that's what they'll come to DishiWiki for, mostly. Not finding anything, so I haven't created a new namespace "Recipes" yet. Any thoughts, anybody? -Brian7632416 00:24, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Use $wgNamespacesToBeSearchedDefault. Smaug 02:14, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Got it, just found it. Thanks, Smaug. Brian7632416 16:58, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Getting Rid of "Special Pages" link in Toolbox
I know that you can use MediaWiki:Sidebar to edit the portion of the sidebar above the search bar on the left hand navigation panels (assuming monobook), but what edits what appears in the "toolbox" below it?

No one system message seemed to do it, though I have seen individual messages for "toolbox" and "whatlinkshere". I looked through some of the code to try to find where the code might be calling these messages and am certain it is MonoBook.php. I don't know what to edit to acheive what I want, however.

Specifically, I wish to get rid of the "Special Pages" link in the toolbox box. How can I do this?

Thank you. Smaug 22:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)


 * In /skins/MonoBook.php, find
 * foreach( array('contributions', 'log', 'blockip', 'emailuser', 'upload', 'specialpages') as $special ) {
 * and replace it with
 * foreach( array('contributions', 'log', 'blockip', 'emailuser', 'upload') as $special ) {
 * —Emufarmers(T 01:07, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It works. Thank you! Smaug  22:34, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Blocking users issue

 * MediaWiki: 1.6.10
 * PHP: 4.4.4 (cgi)
 * MySQL: 4.1.22-standard
 * URL: http://siren-fleet.com/wiki

A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

(SQL query hidden)

from within function "Block::insert". MySQL returned error "1062: Duplicate entry 'JSolomon-14-0-0' for key 2 (localhost)".

I get this error when I try to block any user in the special pages. —KDLevenham 13:17, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * MediaWiki: 1.11.1
 * PHP: 5.2.5
 * MySQL: 5.0.45
 * URL:

I know how to that I can set limit permission of guest in DefaultSetting.php. But if i give their consent to the reading, they can watch all pages. I don't want it. for example, if the guest click the 'Special Pages', they have to see the same page that they click the 'Upload file'. How can I set limit permission of guest in detail.

—Probitas 09:22, 1 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Does Manual:User_rights help you? Also, edit LocalSettings.php, not DefaultSettings.php. Smaug  20:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Watchlist->Not logged in->Logon
Hey. Suppose I have my Watchlist page opened and leave the computer for about an hour. The browser cookie gets expired and I now need to logon again. So if I click onto Watchlist link or hit Refresh I get to the page saying that I need to logon to see my watchlist. But to actually logon I have to click on the link and this gets me to the logon page. That's one extra click. If MediaWiki wants me to logon once again it should show me the page with the text above and already containing controls for entering and submitting my username/password.

Will you please modify this behaviour? Alkonaft 11:19, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[RESOLVED] Call "members": ammount of pages in category
Special:Mostlinkedcategories calls the number of members in a category. Can that number be called on each category as well? Cos you don't see how many members it are when it's more than 200 and the navigation (previous 200) (next 200) pops up. It's pretty annoying imo. I'm on MW 1.12.0 --Subfader 06:38, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Heard it will be in MW 1.13 --Subfader 10:00, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

[RESOLVED] wgTitle
There's not much information about it. I use encodeURIComponent(wgTitle) in a javascript in Common.js to create a link to google the article name. Now my articles all have a date in front, e.g. "2008-03-21 - Text". Is there a way to only include the text but not the date? Maybe exclude numbers and special characters from wgTitle? Thanks! --Subfader 20:33, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Used javascript replace --Subfader 10:01, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

user login error

 * MediaWiki 	1.12.0
 * PHP 	5.2.5 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL 	5.0.24-community-nt
 * URL:
 * OS: Windows server 2003, standard
 * webserver : IIS

Using broswer: IE7 Trying to login, after placing user namer and password into http://10.0.0.4/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&returnto=Main_Page I am taken to page: http://10.0.0.4/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&wpCookieCheck=login With the error: Login error:Datesweiser uses cookies to log in users. You have cookies disabled. Please enable them and try again.
 * note: link only works externaly of our network with a VPN connection.

However, the cookies are enabled in IE7 and have tried on multiple computers. Login works fine in firefox. This wiki is installed on a local server, not sure if that would affect cookies. I need IE to work because of links to local files. If I comment out in the defaultsettings.php it alows me in, only to ask me to login again if any link is clicked on.

—Matt 18:14, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Solved
see link for answer Manual_talk:%24wgCookiePath

Error message

 * MediaWiki: (Reported by your Wiki's Special:Version page)
 * PHP: PHP 4.1.0
 * MySQL: Database Version:4.1
 * URL: http://www.psychokillaentertainment.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

What does this error message mean? I cant find the meaning anywhere?

Fatal error: Class 'DOMDocument' not found in /home/psycho/public_html/mediawiki/includes/Preprocessor_DOM.php on line 566

—12.152.70.169 05:05, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

users can change permissions and have access to special pages

 * MediaWiki: 1.6.10
 * PHP: 4.3
 * MySQL: 4
 * URL: Seedcamp-Wiki

It's a very odd problem I have here. I already solved it but what I did should not be necessary.

The problem:

Registered users can access the special pages and furthermore can change their own permissions up to bureaucrats by default. That's a big security issue. I used a fresh DefaultSettings.php and there was no effect.

However. I solved the problem by giving the users no rights by adding following line to the group permissions: $wgGroupPermissions['user' ]['userrights'] = false;

In this case no typical user can access to the special pages.

—84.112.104.49 22:46, 29 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Either you changed something in LocalSettings.php by accident, or you're getting your copy of DefaultSettings.php from some other place, or the users in question already have bureaucrat rights. The default configuration does not allow access to Special:Userrights (which I assume is what you mean by "special pages"). —Emufarmers(T 01:11, 30 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your reply! I first thought. my solution would do the thing I considered it for, but in the end nobody could edit anything. I had to delete all users .. anyway this obviously helped.

Special:Allmessages is blank.

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5
 * MySQL: 5.0.45
 * URL: http://cursed-rose.net/dragonsoffate

I have only begun to have this problem on new MediaWiki installations on my shared hosting server, which was recently configured to use only PHP 5 and was upgraded to MySQL 5. Special:Allmessages simply appears as a blank white page. If anyone can point me in a direction I would be very grateful.

—Amber (talk) 23:29, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


 * There isn't a page called "Special:Allmessages". Did you mean "Special:All pages"?

Problems converting from version 1.4.5 to 1.12.0

 * MediaWiki: Migrating from 1.4.5 on windows to 1.12.0 on CentOS
 * PHP:
 * MySQL: Windows
 * Postgres: CentOS
 * URL:

I am trying to move content using special export from version 1.4.5 to version 1.12.0 using special import. I am encountering all sort of weird problems. For example, I am current getting the following error:

Import failed: XML import parse failure at line 241, col 46 (byte 10949; "&amp;lt;/pre&amp;gt;" ): Invalid character

This occurs even though the sequence '&amp;lt;/pre&amp;gt;' appears all over the exported file above where the error is occuring. I also have to replace and occurrences of ' link goes here ' with '[link goes here]]'. The double '[[' causes all sorts of weird problems. Additionally I have to convert all occurences of 'http' to'ttp' or I get parsing problems.  I am about to give up but I thought someone may be able to show me the error of my ways.

Another issue I also have is with running maintenance scripts like deleteBatch. This script in particular does not seem to work at all with postgresql. There is an error when it tries to execute "SHOW processlist" which I think is a MySQL statement. Are there postgresql specific scripts I need to get from somewhere?

Thanks, Greg

—142.166.23.210 16:15, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Special pages list categories and list users numbered

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5
 * MySQL: 5.1.24

I have recently updated my mediawiki from 1.8.2 to 1.12. In previous versions, I had my special pages Categories and List Users, numbered, as well as some other special categories pages. However, in this latest version, I don't get Categories and List Users numbered which I need (although I still have the rest of special pages numbered). Is there any way to change this? Is it a bug?

Thanks.

—195.245.185.37 11:26, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Creation of a redirection page for the abbreviation "PRN"

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.0
 * PHP: 5.1.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 5.0.24a-community-nt
 * URL: http://pc030025527/fr_erp-wiki/index.php/Accueil

We have in my company a process to be described for which the abbreviation is "PRN". I would like to create this page as a redirection page but this is impossible. The message error 403 appears. What can I do? Thanks.

—195.177.247.202 12:19, 2 June 2008 (UTC)


 * How are you trying to create the redirect? Smaug [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] 17:38, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

I type PRN in the research field, I click on Go and then, the error message appears. When I usually do this, I see a link to create the page, I click on and I type what I want in the page. Is there an another way to create a page?

Thanks


 * In the URL, replace the title of a page (such as "Accueil" in the url you provide) with "PRN". This should bring you directly to the page with a link to edit it. Smaug  [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] 15:26, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

My Watchlist in User Help

 * MediaWiki: 1.6.8
 * PHP: 5.0.4 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 4.1.20
 * URL: http://www.openwatcom.org/index.php/Special:Watchlist

I finally set up the Open Watcom wiki (www.openwatcom.org) to email me changes made by others to pages I have created. Well, I thought so, anyway.

I will start by pointing out that, when I try to get help from User Help on the My Watchlist page, I instead get the Login page, apparently because there is no help on the My Watchlist page and the link is trying to open up an actual My Watchlist on your Wiki. Which, I submit, is not what a link in a User Help page should be doing.

The questions I have are probably mostly unanswerable or have to do with configuration, over which I have no control. Here they are, nonetheless:

Even though the "Add pages I create to my watchlist" box was checked, this did not happen; even though the "Watch this page" box was checked every time I edited, this did not happen; I had to track down every page I created and click on the "Watch" tab to add them to the list.

I have no idea what the button "Mark all pages visited" is supposed to do. If this is a toggle, then the text should change to "Stop marking all pages visited" so the setting can be reversed. But, for all I know, it runs the American flag up the pole of the local firehouse.

The email I got about a change (showing that something I did worked) had this text in it:

(text begins) There will be no other notifications in case of further changes unless you visit this page. You could also reset the notification flags for all your watched pages on your watchlist. (text ends)

I have no idea what this is talking about. Neither My Watchlist nor its Edit page show any "notification flags". Neither searching the FAQ nor the MediaWiki search box on the left of each page finds a match.

You know, it should really be very simple: I check the "Add pages I create to my watchlist" and, when I check the box for email notification, I get an email notification every time any of the pages I created is edited by someone else. No ifs, no ands, no buts, no maybes, no notification flags, no need to manually toggle the "Watch" tabs, no nonsense.

I am currently looking at My Watchlist. It claims that there has been exactly one Edit of one page in the last three days, and that is one of mine. Yet the page's history shows /six edits/ in the last three days, one of which prompted the email notification. Perhaps its because they are all on one page, but then, the My Watchlist really should claim to be displaying "pages changed" rather than "changes" as such.

Don't get me wrong -- I find MediaWiki to be a fine environment for documenting my work on Open Watcom. I just wish the watchlist had a less-complex implementation.

—72.244.201.108 00:22, 7 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Have you resolved any of the above? If so, please update us. Because I started to (try to) help, by first going to your wiki, and I did not see "User Help." I saw "User Resources" in your navigation bar, and it took me to your "User Resources" page, which is correct behavior, yes? As far as I know, there is no "User Help" on a "My Watchlist" page. Can you clarify?


 * Also, are you still having a problem with pages you create not being auto-checked to "Watch this page" and therefore not showing up in your "My Watchlist?" Because I tested it on your wiki, and it worked for me. (User: 7632416.) Please mark what parts of your issue have been resolved, and let us know what you found out. Thanks. -Brian7632416 16:43, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

--72.244.201.108 responds!--

I see I confused you a bit. Sorry about that.

The "User Help" referred to is the one on /this/ Wiki (www.mediawiki.org). Someone picked this up, because the "watchlist" links on User Help now point to an unwritten help page. Well, that's a start!

I haven't had an occasion to create a new page since discovering the above. I am too busy using that MediaWiki to document a program called "wgml". Any time spent on this takes time away from exploring wgml, and that is not what I want to be doing. Especially since, being very much a MediaWiki newbie, I am probably confusing myself on these issues.

IIRC, when I first checked the watch list, the correct Prefences | Editing box had been checked ("Add pages I create to my watchlist"), my Watchlist only contained five pages. When I finished adding pages using the "Watch" tabs, I had 23. So, it clearly stopped at some point.

It is also a fact that every edit has the "watch this page" box checked, and every page gets edited. If this check box were truly doing what it said, all 23 pages would have been present when I finally got around to checking on this.

The "Mark all pages visited" button still keeps the same text however often it is pressed. I still have no idea what it does. I have no idea whether I want it turned on or off, or even if, having pressed the button, I have a choice.

And I have no explanation of the "notification flags for all your watched pages". The Watchlist has no flags. Searching for "notification flags" in /your/ Wiki (www.mediawiki.org) now finds an installation manual reference and a bug reference, the solution to which ("go to your watchlist page and click the button to one-click-clear all notification flags") is incomprehensible because there is no button on My Watchlist labled "clear notification flags". Perhaps it is labled "Mark all pages visited" instead ...

I honestly do not see why it has to be so complicated to set up a MediaWiki to send an email notification to me if anyone else modifies a page I created. Two check boxes (one for the email, one for all pages I create to be watched) really should be enough, yet here I am forced to click "Watch" tabs, check additional boxes, and then be told by the email I do receive that I will not get another for that page unless I personally visit the page that was modified or change flags which, so far as I can tell, do not exist.

But thanks for trying, anyway. If the Help page for Watchlist ever gets done, maybe it will have some answers.

How do I set a link to a namespace?
Hello, how do I set a link to a namespace? I think a link like this http://eniak.info/index.php?title=Spezial%3AAlle+Seiten&from=&namespace=4 looks ugly... Is there a better way to link to a namespace? Thanks, —PMay 15:00, 13 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, if lookin ugly is the only problem then you could link it with alternate text like Namespace 4. Smaug [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] 17:16, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Adding messages to image uploads

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5 (apache)
 * MySQL: 4.1.13-standard
 * URL: http://wiki.heavengames.com/aom/Special:Upload

How can I get a message to explain information like on Wikipedia above the upload form?

—Mephiles 18:29, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

How to sort Special:AllPages into a single column

 * MediaWiki: 1.6.10
 * PHP: 4.4.4-8+etch6 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL: 4.0.24_Debian-10sarge2
 * URL: Private

Hi there,

I'm hoping this is the right place to ask this question.

Basically I have my own private wiki, and all of my users open the Special Page "All Pages" by default. I want to be able to sort the list into a single column instead of three columns, as this makes it hard to pick out an individual article.

Is this possible? I looked at the SpecialAllpages.php file but it's a bit over my head.

Thanks for any help.

—202.27.218.212 03:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

How can I customize new userpage creation a la Wikipedia? I can't figure out how they did it!

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.6
 * MySQL: 5.0.45
 * URL: www.narratinglandscapes.net

I don't have an issue, per se, but I need some assistance in customizing MediaWiki. WikiPedia has some cool new userpage functionality: it has different edit text than usual pages, unlike, it appears, in the default install where the MediaWiki:Newarticletext is used. It also seems to be locked, for creation, to users with the same name as the intended page. And I think it also perhaps has an automatic template/category association.

I don't care so much about the user authentication type bits, but I would like to know how to change the newarticletext for userpage only, and also how I might preload a template for user pages.

—67.204.4.161 23:03, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Undefined offset

 * MediaWiki: 1.13alpha
 * PHP: 5.2.6 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL: 5.0.27-log
 * URL: http://www.gough-name.org.uk/wiki/Special:Version

I have just installed Semantic MediaWiki (version 1,1,2) and am now getting an undefined offet: 1 error in line 334 of SpecicialVersion.php

—Martin Gough 13:26, 26 June 2008 (UTC)