Manual:Running MediaWiki on Slackware Linux

'Warning: no promises of security are made in this guide. It was intended to be run on an offline workstation.'

System

 * Slackware Linux full install:
 * Apache:
 * MySQL:
 * MediaWiki:
 * Cur dump of the database (20031231_cur_table.sql.bz2):

Slackware's full installation includes Apache, MySQL, and PHP, though some administrative work is still needed to get them up and running.

Settings
For this guide, I will make the following assumptions about names, directories, and the like, but you will want to make some of them different:


 * name - The wiki needs a name; this example is called vicuna.
 * database - It also needs a database, which will also be called vicuna in this example.
 * passwords - There are several passwords involved, most importantly the password for the wiki database, and the initial administrator account you'll create when running the configuration page.
 * directory - The directory where the wiki will be installed. In this example, it's /var/wiki.

Configuration of Apache
At a minimum, the webserver must access your wiki on demand. There are better and more complex ways of setting it up, but this will suffice. In /etc/httpd/httpd.conf, in the  section: , add the following line:

Alias /wiki/ /var/wiki

Replace  with the directory you've chosen.

Apache will not be configured to use PHP by default, so you may need to do the following.


 * 1) Edit   by uncommenting the line:
 * 2) Edit   by adding:   to the line
 * 3) Make sure Apache is set to run at startup:
 * 4) Test your httpd.conf syntax:
 * 5) Restart/Start Apache:.

Configuration of MySQL
Perform the following commands as root.


 * 1) Copy one of the MySQL configuration files in /etc to my.cnf:
 * 2) Initialize the MySQL databases (only necessary once per system, but harmless):
 * 3) Set the Mysql server to start at boot:
 * 4) Start the MySQL daemon:
 * 5) Secure your Installation with the script provided:

You'll be prompted for a root mysql password. (This and all other mysql user passwords are completely independent from the system passwords so don't confuse them!)

Follow the prompts and choose the most secure options that suit your situation.

Configuration of MediaWiki

 * 1) Go to the directory where you will install Mediawiki, such as , and unpack the package:
 * 2) Rename the directory to something manageable:
 * 3) Make the config directory world-writable:
 * 4) Load the configurating page in your web browser and use it. Go to.
 * 5) Once the configuration has completed successfully, shut off the config directory:
 * 6) And get your LocalSettings.php file installed:
 * 7) Edit LocalSettings.php as desired.

Loading the dump

 * 1) Unzip the dump by typing:   (this will take a while depending on the size of the dump and the speed of your workstation).
 * 2) Import the dump in your database by starting a mysql session as above, if you have not done so, loading the wiki database (the name as you gave above), by typing:   and then importing the data by typing:  . This will also take a long time.

At this point you should have a working install with some data in it. Other things will also need to be set up (classic TODO here).