[Mediawiki-l] Any leads on a basic wiki setup-and-configure instruction manual?

[Rob Church]

On 12/04/07, Monahon, Peter B. <Peter.Monahon at uspto.gov> wrote:
> "run php"

PHP is, I assume, running, given that you claim to have installed
MediaWiki. If you mean to run the PHP command-line interpreter, then
this is done...from the command line. Typically, the path to the PHP
binary is already in your shell path; if this is not the case, then
you can either use an absolute path as standard, or add it to the
path.

Some Unix builds of PHP don't include the CLI if it's been switched
off during the configuration process; some packages don't include it,
but will allow it to be installed in the same manner as modules such
as MySQL support often are. Windows binary distributions typically
include the CLI as standard.

> "log in as admin"

Click on the "log in" link at the top right of the page or enter
"Special:Userlogin" in the search box and click "Go", then enter the
username and password of a user with administrative permissions and
click "Log In".

During MediaWiki installation, the configuration script prompts for a
username and password for the first administrator, which is also a
bureaucrat user capable of altering user group membership. If, for
some reason, you don't know the username to use, then check the
"Special:Listadmins" page for a list of users with administrator
permissions and find out. If, for some reason, you can't remember the
password you supplied, then search the FAQ or mediawiki-l mailing list
archives for information on manual password resets.


Rob Church

>
> If I *could* report a "full" anything analyzing a MediaWiki install
> according to any reference (none exist?) then I could troubleshoot and
> repair it myself, thank you.  Maybe someone can write a HiJackThis-style
> log reporter we can share that takes inventory of our MediaWiki setup
> ...
>
> (See http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php for v2 or later of
> HiJackThis, then see 977,000 links at
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22hijackthis.log%22&btnG=Google+Se
> arch showing HiJackThis.log in tech-support troubleshooting dialogs.
> This is what I'm comparing MediaWiki to when I say "MediaWiki is not
> mature".  I'm talking about the depth of support.  MediaWiki has neither
> a HiJackThis-type tool nor 977,000 links discussing MediaWiki
> diagnostics yet.  Not an insult, just an assessment.  How many Spybot
> and registry cleaning tools are there?  How many MediaWiki diagnosis and
> repair tools are there?  Please correct me if I'm wrong about how
> "mature", product life cycle and market penetration wise, MediaWiki is.
> I'd LOVE someone to point me to a MediaWiki installation repair and
> report tool.)
>
> > Peter Blaise wrote:
> > ... Note: we desperately need a neat, clean,
> > sophisticated group of accurate and
> > unambiguous instruction manuals for each part
> > of a WikiMedia's life:
>
> > Rob sparkled back: It's not a "WikiMedia", it's
> > a "MediaWiki wiki". "Wikimedia" is an
> > organisation, "MediaWiki" is a piece of
> > software, and a "wiki" is the actual site
> > running that software. Wikimedia have no
> > affiliation whatsoever with third-party wikis.
>
> Oh, Rob!
>
> You're so ... wrong!
>
> > "MediaWiki wiki" ?!?
>
> Where do you get "MediaWiki wiki"?  I do not see the Wikimedia
> Foundation, Inc. labeling their product as "MediaWiki-brand wiki" the
> way Kimberly-Clark says "Kleenex-brand facial tissues" or the way
> Johnson & Johnson says "Band-Aid-brand adhesive bandages"!  I see the
> product marketed as MediaWiki software.  WikiMedia says, quote,
> "MediaWiki is ..." not "MediaWiki wiki is ..." nor "MediaWiki-brand wiki
> is ..." Period.  No wonder no one can keep them straight, let alone
> remember which list-serve we are writing to (I note other mis-sends
> recently).  I try, try, try to keep WikiMedia and MediaWiki
> differentiated in spite of the whimsical evolution of the marks, but
> Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. apparently wants it both ways: MediaWiki and
> WikiMedia, hence my post the other day to commons-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>
> ========== begin quote ==========
>
> Perhaps we should also define in what arena we're posturing.  I think
> there are at least three, possibly non-interchangeable, venues:
>
> - MediaWiki - http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki the SOFTWARE we're
> all using either as participants in WikiMedia's Wikis, or building and
> participating in our own on-WikiMedia Wikis, and hitchhiking on the
> experiences and examples of the WikiMedia "family".
>
> - WikiMedia - the name for that COMPANY at
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home who host a collection of Wikis
> at http://www.wikimedia.org/
>
> - Wikipedia - http://www.wikipedia.org/ one IMPLEMENTATION of the
> WikiMedia company using their own MediaWiki software
>
> From Google:
>
> Definitions of [wikimedia] on the Web:
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the parent organization of Wikipedia,
> Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks (including Wikijunior and Wikiversity),
> Wikisource, In Memoriam 9/11, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies, Wikinews,
> and Nupedia (defunct). It is a non-profit corporation organized under
> the laws of Florida, USA. Its existence was officially announced by
> Wikia CEO and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on June 20, 2003.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia
>
> Definitions of [mediawiki] on the Web:
>
> MediaWiki is a Wiki software package licensed under the GNU General
> Public License. It is a feature-rich wiki implementation, and is used to
> run Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects, as well as many
> other wikis.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki
>
> Definitions of [wikipedia] on the Web:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page A free content, multilingual
> encyclopedia written collaboratively by contributors around the world.
> The site is a Wiki - anybody can edit and add to an article. Offers
> quick understanding on controversial issues. Strong in current affairs.
> http://www.uccb.ca/library/subject/reference/encyclopedias.html
>
> Wikipedia is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia written
> collaboratively by volunteers and sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia
> Foundation. It has editions in roughly 200 different languages (about
> 100 of which are active) and contains entries both on traditional
> encyclopedic topics and on almanac, gazetteer, and current events
> topics. Its purpose is to create and distribute a free international
> encyclopedia in as many languages as possible. ...
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
>
> ========== end quote ==========
>
> Oh, Rob!
>
> I didn't start the confusion over where the "Wiki" words goes - before
> or after the differentiating source-identifier word, I'm just trying to
> survive it!  MediaWiki, WikiMedia, MediaWiki, WikiMedia ... potato,
> potato ... !!!
>
> The only arguments I have with you are:
>
> - blocking non-spammers from posting.
>
> - you think that if someone gets lost after you give them directions,
> it's their fault.
>
> - Peter Blaise
>
>
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