Project:Support desk

Welcome to the MediaWiki Support desk. This is a place where you can ask any questions you have about installing, using or administrating the MediaWiki software.

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See also

• Other places to ask for help

Before you post

• Check the FAQ and Errors and symptoms .
• If your question is about a specific feature, check the relevant technical manual , end-user help or extension page and consider asking on its talk page .
• For issues about the mediawiki.org website, report to Village Pump instead.
• Ask technical questions about Wikimedia websites on meta:Tech instead.

Post a new question

1. To help us answer your questions, please indicate which version of MediaWiki you are using, as found on your wiki's Special:Version page:
2. If possible, add $wgShowExceptionDetails = true;error_reporting( -1 );ini_set( 'display_errors', 1 ); to LocalSettings.php in order to make MediaWiki show more detailed error messages.
3. Please include the web address (URL) to your wiki if possible. It's often easier for us to identify the source of the problem if we can see the error directly.
4. To start a new thread, click the box with the text Add topic.

MySQL 8.4+ Compatibility

MySQL 8.4 has changed the way auto_increment works. Will this affect MediaWiki compatibility?

Data Types & Constraints: 8.4 prohibits AUTO_INCREMENT on FLOAT/DOUBLE columns. Molsen7970 (talk) 18:16, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

MySQL 8.4 was released more than two years ago, not sure why you'd ask now? Compatibility implies compatibility. Malyacko (talk) 10:51, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

The highest version of MySQL listed on the compatibility site is MySQL 5.7.0+. I assume the plus at the end means 8.4 is compatible with Mediawiki 1.43.8 because of the "+" but there seems to be a difference between MySQL 5.7 and 8.4 in the way AUTO_INCREMENT works. We were curious if Mediawiki uses AUTO_INCREMENT in a way that would break when we upgrade to MySQL 8.4. (MySQL 8.0 LTS ended last month which is why we are upgrading to the next LTS, 8.4.) Molsen7970 (talk) 20:21, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

We had this same debate about ambiguity in relation to PHP versions a while back. In that case, "PHP 8.1.0+" did not (at the time) include PHP 8.4. See Talk:Compatibility#PHP_8.4_is_missing_(in_compat_matrix). However, one comment which was wrong in one sense (the truth is "It's hoped that things above it are supported" rather than "everything above is supported") might answer your question here: "e.g. in the database matrix is says MySQL 5.7.0+. For me that means that everything above is supported. e.g. I'm using MySQL 8.4 and mediawiki runs on it" :-) Jonathan3 (talk) 15:24, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia and MediaWiki.org are still using 8.3. Flounder ceo (talk) 14:52, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

How to get my user name from Lua ?

Is it possible to get my user name using Lua? I tried this:

mw.config.get('wgUserName')

but that only returns "attempt to index field 'config' (a nil value)". - Erik Baas (talk) 06:05, 21 May 2026 (UTC)

It's not, lua is there for wikitext processing, and mw.config doesn't even exist there (it's a JS API) Archimedes5000 (talk) 01:53, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

I think there are extensions that could return the current user's username, and I expect you could use one of them via Lua. Jonathan3 (talk) 15:17, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

You could use Help:Magic words#REVISIONUSER, e.g. mw.getCurrentFrame():preprocess("{{REVISIONUSER}}"), but you can't get the current reading user because then the rendered wikitext would have to be cached separately for each viewer. Sam Wilson 11:24, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

关于Special:Version/Creadits

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T427702

该页面不会随参数设置内“国际化->语言”内的设置更改语言。Pawsdt (talk) 07:57, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

@Pawsdt: Thanks for reporting this. It looks like the headings on that page are not actually translatable. I've opened phab:T427702 for this. Sam Wilson 06:57, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

Survey (proposed direction for Wishlist)

You are invited to voice your opinion on a new community-proposed direction for the Community Wishlist. Thank you! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:07, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

Photo Media

Hi Gramps

Please forgive me in advance as I'm no the brightest globe.

I am investigating media storage in my Gramps database and have found what appears to be inconsistent media file referencing.

My media files are stored under a main FAMILIES directory with surname-based subdirectories. For example:

FAMILIES\KOZUBEK@ File KOZUBEK Erna Clara 1938-1999\Pho KOZUBEK Erna Clara 1938-1999.jpg

Many media records in Gramps correctly reference files using their original directory structure and filenames.

However, some media records reference files using a different structure where the path begins directly with the root media folder in uppercase, for example:

FAMILIES\0122343ecbe74c60c28bf4d68b4561c8.jpg

These files exist in the FAMILIES directory and open correctly, displaying the expected image. The media record is therefore working, but I do not understand why Gramps is referencing a generated filename instead of the original path and folder structure.

I have identified approximately 385 files with similar generated hash-like filenames in the FAMILIES directory.

For example, the media associated with Erna Clara KOZUBEK points to:

FAMILIES\0122343ecbe74c60c28bf4d68b4561c8.jpg

rather than:

Family\KOZUBEK@ File KOZUBEK Erna Clara 1938-1999\Pho KOZUBEK Erna Clara 1938-1999 i0041.jpg

Questions:

1.      Is there a recommended method to restore media records to the original directory structure?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Mark CHARMAN

~2026-32090-74 (talk) 01:27, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-32090-74: You're reporting this on the wrong website, sorry. Gramps uses MediaWiki, but it sounds like your issue is with Gramps itself. Try https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Using_the_bug_tracker Sam Wilson 05:09, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

Mediawiki Migration Issue 1.35.0 to 1.45.3

I am migrating a private wiki I run from version 1.35.0 to 1.45.3 by restoring the SQL database. When I run update.php it fails when trying to change templatelinks .

Error messages:

Modifying tl_namespace field of table templatelinks...Wikimedia\Rdbms\DBQueryError from line 1225 of /var/www/mw/includes/libs/rdbms/database/Database.php: Error 1054: Unknown column 'tl_target_id' in 'templatelinks'

'''Function: Wikimedia\Rdbms\Database::sourceFile( /var/www/mw/sql/mysql/patch-templatelinks-tl_title-nullable.sql ) '''

'''Query: ALTER TABLE `templatelinks` '''

'''CHANGE tl_target_id tl_target_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL'''

1.35.0 site is fine and runs update without a problem and there is a primary key in templatelinks when update.php starts but then after run it is gone. I do not know what tl_target_id is?

Johnny Wunder JohnnyWunder (talk) 19:46, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

@JohnnyWunder: You must first upgrade to 1.39. If you're not aiming to upgrade often, it's probably best upgrade to each LTS release in turn (every two years). See Manual:Upgrading#Check_requirements for more info. Sam Wilson 05:43, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

Thank you that fixed it JohnnyWunder (talk) 13:38, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

Problem afret installation and login...

After I installed mediawiki on synology DSM system (whole package there is prepared), I cannot login as a admin to media wiki. I am sure, that I am using right username and passwd, which I used during installation mediawiki. I tried it a fewtimes, but the same result - wriong username or password. :-( Zdenek.zemek (talk) 06:28, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@Zdenek.zemek: Have you tried doing a password reset? If that's not working (e.g. you don't have an email address on the account, or emails cannot be sent by the system), see Manual:Resetting passwords for more ways to reset the password. Sam Wilson 09:20, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I tried it, but not work... no e-mail came to me for password reset... :-( But it seems, that I solve it by install it due docker tool. But for now I did wiki.js installation... we will see it is enough... due docker, I can try install media wiki also... if it is better, I think YES :-) Zdenek.zemek (talk) 13:51, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

Internal Server Error

I installed a fresh Wiki (from MediaWiki) on a Strato-hosted webspace into a fresh db, which is again and again running into Internal Server Error. My version can be found here:

MediaWiki	1.45.3
PHP	8.4.21 (cgi-fcgi)
ICU	58.2
MariaDB	11.8.5-MariaDB-log
Lua	5.1.5
Pygments	2.19.2

When Internal Server Error comes up I switch the php-version within a range of 8.2 to 8.5 and all is running fast again. It takes a little time, but then again the wiki stuck into Internal Server Error. The Wiki can be found here: www.helmstedt-wiki.de – Maybe someone can help me get out of this? Mirko Marhenke (talk) 11:49, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

@Mirko Marhenke: Have you looked through Manual:How to debug? You should be able to get a clearer error message. Sam Wilson 12:02, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

I got this now from putting $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; into LocalSettings.php:

Deprecated: Automatic conversion of false to array is deprecated in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/LocalSettings.php on line 44 Warning: session_name(): Session name cannot be changed after headers have already been sent in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Setup.php on line 487 Warning: session_id(): Session ID cannot be changed after headers have already been sent in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Setup.php on line 533 Warning: session_start(): Session cannot be started after headers have already been sent in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Setup.php on line 534 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/LocalSettings.php:44) in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Request/WebResponse.php on line 69 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/LocalSettings.php:44) in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Request/WebResponse.php on line 69 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/LocalSettings.php:44) in /mnt/web115/e0/92/5517492/htdocs/c_helmstedt-wiki_2026/includes/Request/WebResponse.php on line 69 Mirko Marhenke (talk) 12:18, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

@Mirko Marhenke: What is on LocalSettings.php line 44? Sam Wilson 12:22, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

From 44 on is

$wgLogos['wordmark'] = [

  'src' => "$wgScriptPath/resources/assets/helmstedt-wiki-wordmark.svg",

  'width' => 120,

  'height' => 30,

];

# $wgLogos = [

# '1x' => "$wgResourceBasePath/resources/assets/change-your-logo.svg",

# 'icon' => "$wgResourceBasePath/resources/assets/change-your-logo.svg",

# ]; Mirko Marhenke (talk) 12:23, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

@Mirko Marhenke: You probably need to define the whole structure of $wgLogos, e.g.:

    $wgLogos = [
        'wordmark' => [
            'src' => "$wgScriptPath/resources/assets/helmstedt-wiki-wordmark.svg",
            'width' => 120,
            'height' => 30,
    ];

(I'd also recommend not storing helmstedt-wiki-wordmark.svg in the main resources directory, as it might get overwritten when you upgrade.) Sam Wilson 13:10, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

OK, thank you. I'll try this, and otherwise come back here. Mirko Marhenke (talk) 13:25, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

Solved for now. Using standard parameters to logo settings. Mirko Marhenke (talk) 15:06, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

Open unanswered question re page translation

Talk:Content translation#Translates the article from English to English - what am I doing wrong? Can someone please take a look and advise? Many thanks! Chrisdevelop (talk) 14:26, 7 June 2026 (UTC)

Location Map Errors

I am trying to enable the OSM location map template on my personal wiki, but despite importing it, the template page is still reporting an error:

Lua error in Module:OSM_Location_map at line 481: bad argument #1 to 'abs' (number expected, got nil).

The backtrace is as follows:

1. (tail call): ?
2. [C]: in function "abs"
3. Module:OSM_Location_map:481: in function "getScale"
4. Module:OSM_Location_map:1915: ?
5. (tail call): ?
6. mw.lua:527: ?
7. (tail call): ?
8. [C]: in function "xpcall"
9. MWServer.lua:99: in function "handleCall"
10. MWServer.lua:313: in function "dispatch"
11. MWServer.lua:70: ?
12. (tail call): ?
13. mw.lua:177: ?
14. Module:Arguments:254: ?
15. Module:Documentation:658: in function "_content"
16. Module:Documentation:154: ?
17. (tail call): ?
18. mw.lua:527: ?
19. (tail call): ?
20. [C]: in function "xpcall"
21. MWServer.lua:99: in function "handleCall"
22. MWServer.lua:313: in function "dispatch"
23. MWServer.lua:52: in function "execute"
24. mw_main.lua:7: in main chunk
25. [C]: ?

I am not sure if it is related, but it also has:

Lua error in Module:OSM_Location_map at line 1984: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

at the top of the page. According to another thread, the method to fix that error is to download something called Wikibase.

The regular location map template page is also giving me a different error:

Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value.

The backtrace is as follows:

1. (tail call): ?
2. [C]: in function "error"
3. Module:Location_map:115: in function "coord2text"
4. Module:Location_map:411: in function "mark"
5. Module:Location_map:566: in function "main"
6. Module:Location_map:562: in function "chunk"
7. mw.lua:527: ?
8. (tail call): ?
9. [C]: in function "xpcall"
10. MWServer.lua:99: in function "handleCall"
11. MWServer.lua:313: in function "dispatch"
12. MWServer.lua:70: ?
13. (tail call): ?
14. mw.lua:177: ?
15. Module:Arguments:254: ?
16. Module:Documentation:658: in function "_content"
17. Module:Documentation:154: ?
18. (tail call): ?
19. mw.lua:527: ?
20. (tail call): ?
21. [C]: in function "xpcall"
22. MWServer.lua:99: in function "handleCall"
23. MWServer.lua:313: in function "dispatch"
24. MWServer.lua:52: in function "execute"
25. mw_main.lua:7: in main chunk
26. [C]: ?

This one doesn't make any sense to me, as the page is a verbatim import of the Wikipedia location map template page, where it has no errors. If the coordinates are not malformed there, why would they be malformed on my wiki?

Lastly, when attempting to implement a regular location map on a page, it renders without a "thumbinner" outline and does not float right despite being instructed to do so. Again, the original version functioned correctly in a section on my Wikipedia user sandbox page.

Am I missing something? Any help would be greatly appreciated. –Noha307 (talk) 22:43, 7 June 2026 (UTC)