Hi everyone,
I searched the archive for a while and couldn't find any advice on this subject, nor on Mediawiki really.
Right now I have the "feeling", the wiki has so many problems, it would be good to have a clean install and start "from scratch" - without loosing all the content obviously... details and questions below:
My (wiki's) situation: * MW 1.16, hosted on dreamhost, approx. 150 users, can only be read and edited by approved members. * active since 3,5 years * hosted on dreamhost, one-click advanced install, in the past I preferred to use their automatic updates, not to have too much hassle about it. Problems: * in the past all these extensions worked, but I can't get them to work anymore: ConfirmAccount, Collection. * SVGs don't show anymore properly * some minor problems ...
So, now I'm thinking, a fresh install will help. * make it all new, maybe use subversion this time to install MW * install all extensions I need, be more specific this time - I learned a lot in those 3 years, about what I need etc ... * somehow transfer the data, files and the users from the "old wiki"... * invite the other 500 people that wait for access ...
About me and my level of proficiency: I'm not a professional but ended up doing it all by myself, spending many hours searching subversion manuals etc ....
My questions: * is a fresh install advisable? * the way I outlined it above, could this work? * do you have experiences on this? * or any other recommendations?
Thanks a lot, sorry for the very long email ;-) Flo
On 11-04-06 02:49 AM, monkey wrote:
Hi everyone,
I searched the archive for a while and couldn't find any advice on this subject, nor on Mediawiki really.
Right now I have the "feeling", the wiki has so many problems, it would be good to have a clean install and start "from scratch" - without loosing all the content obviously... details and questions below:
My (wiki's) situation:
- MW 1.16, hosted on dreamhost, approx. 150 users, can only be read and
edited by approved members.
- active since 3,5 years
- hosted on dreamhost, one-click advanced install, in the past I preferred
to use their automatic updates, not to have too much hassle about it. Problems:
- in the past all these extensions worked, but I can't get them to work
anymore: ConfirmAccount, Collection.
- SVGs don't show anymore properly
- some minor problems ...
So, now I'm thinking, a fresh install will help.
- make it all new, maybe use subversion this time to install MW
- install all extensions I need, be more specific this time - I learned a
lot in those 3 years, about what I need etc ...
- somehow transfer the data, files and the users from the "old wiki"...
- invite the other 500 people that wait for access ...
About me and my level of proficiency: I'm not a professional but ended up doing it all by myself, spending many hours searching subversion manuals etc ....
My questions:
- is a fresh install advisable?
- the way I outlined it above, could this work?
- do you have experiences on this?
- or any other recommendations?
Thanks a lot, sorry for the very long email ;-) Flo
I believe you should have still database access to your one-click install at Dreamhost. You should be able to get a good transfer by setting up a new 1.16 install from source (svn branches are a good way to do that, I do all my wiki that way myself) and importing a dump of the same database as what's in your one-click install.
...though personally, I'm of the opinion that MediaWiki is best run on at minimum a VPS, not shared hosting like DreamHosts' one-clicks are hosted in. I suppose Dreamhost is one of the few better quality shared hosts though.
...now if I only had services to solicit...
~Daniel Friesen (Dantman, Nadir-Seen-Fire) [http://daniel.friesen.name]
On 04/06/2011 07:49 PM, monkey wrote:
Hi everyone,
I searched the archive for a while and couldn't find any advice on this subject, nor on Mediawiki really.
Right now I have the "feeling", the wiki has so many problems, it would be good to have a clean install and start "from scratch" - without loosing all the content obviously... details and questions below:
Our MediaWiki installation has a configuration file called CommonSettings.php which has, among a great deal of other cruft, this line:
$DP = $IP;
This is setting a global variable which has been obsolete since MediaWiki 1.2 (2004). I'm not saying it's not a good idea to start again every once in a while, I'm just saying that it's possible to go a long, long way without doing that.
You should be able to remove the extensions you don't want, and fix the extensions you do want, without rewriting your configuration files. I've found that "svn checkout --force" is a useful tool for repairing tarball installations with modified files. I can give more details on that if you want them.
-- Tim Starling
$DP = $IP;
This is setting a global variable which has been obsolete since MediaWiki 1.2 (2004). I'm not saying it's not a good idea to start again every once in a while, I'm just saying that it's possible to go a long, long way without doing that.
You should be able to remove the extensions you don't want, and fix the extensions you do want, without rewriting your configuration files. I've found that "svn checkout --force" is a useful tool for repairing tarball installations with modified files. I can give more details on that if you want them.
Thanks Tim,
I'll have a look into that --force parameter, but I've only ever changed localsettings.php ..
Removing extensions/installing extensions: - I had to "svn checkout" some specific revisions, like after updating going back again, to actually have a working copy and so on - doesn't this mess up the system? - and what about the databases? E.g. some extensions needed some DB-adjustments .. I've always run the update.php and so on, but how does this work when you go backwards?
Cheeers Flo
On 04/06/2011 11:50 PM, monkey wrote:
$DP = $IP;
This is setting a global variable which has been obsolete since MediaWiki 1.2 (2004). I'm not saying it's not a good idea to start again every once in a while, I'm just saying that it's possible to go a long, long way without doing that.
You should be able to remove the extensions you don't want, and fix the extensions you do want, without rewriting your configuration files. I've found that "svn checkout --force" is a useful tool for repairing tarball installations with modified files. I can give more details on that if you want them.
Thanks Tim,
I'll have a look into that --force parameter, but I've only ever changed localsettings.php ..
If you only changed LocalSettings.php, it might be easier to check out a new copy of the source and then move the files you want to keep, like configuration files and images.
Removing extensions/installing extensions:
- I had to "svn checkout" some specific revisions, like after updating going
back again, to actually have a working copy and so on - doesn't this mess up the system?
- and what about the databases? E.g. some extensions needed some
DB-adjustments .. I've always run the update.php and so on, but how does this work when you go backwards?
It depends on the extension and the versions involved, in both cases.
-- Tim Starling
mediawiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org