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

[Lane, Ryan]

> Peter Blaise says: GREAT challenge - multiple MySQL services ... MySQL
> offers to name itself as a service, and perhaps I can play with that
and
> have 2 or more MySQLs running at the same time without bumping into
each
> other...

Why would you need multiple mysql database servers running on the same
system? If you need permission separation use separate databases in the
server.

> Thanks for confirming much of my experience.  I've been building and
> crashing dozens of MediaWikis daily for months now (I've been at this
> since early February of this year).  Though I imagine that I now know
> more than the average bear, especially those lucky ones who had no
> problems, I still don't really feel a lot smarter, and I can still go
a
> whole day without any success, with half a dozen
> MediaWiki/Apache/MySQL/PHP/PHPMyAdmin installation attempts tried,
> deleted and rebooted from!

It sounds to me like you aren't a sysadmin... I hope.

> 
> I got MediaWiki on WOS working fine
> (http://www.chsoftware.net/en/useware/wos/wos.htm?action=download ) as
a
> local, single-user wiki for development.  I made copies of that on a
few
> tester's hard drives to let them each play.  They now have private
> MediaWikis and can give me useful development feedback (though they
> can't see each other's changes!):

Why don't you set up a test wiki?

> So, I THINK I'm well on the way to a workable a script that builds
> MediaWiki on Microsoft Windows XP Pro, Apache, MySQL, PHP and
PHPMyAdmin
> ... but until I successfully test it ... 10 times at least, through
> successive reboots, and see it working time and again, and also watch
as
> a novice tries the script, I'm not sure it's ready for prime time!
How
> many times have I tried something that worked perfectly on my
computer,
> but on someone else's computer it failed miserably?  I'm not even at
> that point at the moment since I can't get it reliable on my own
> computers, yet!  Argh, argh, argh!  One of our challenges here is that
> many of us do not have admin rights, so we have to be able to
> successfully install NOT in the hard drive root, and NOT touching the
> non-local Windows registry (also meaning NOT installing Apache/PHP as
> services for "all users") and staying out of "C:\Program Files" and
> "C:\Windows" directories.  Windows has an environment variable for a
> user login name - %USERPROFILE%.  So I'm experimenting with a script
> that allows any non-admin user to setup their own departmental
MediaWiki
> on their own computer here:
> 

If you don't have admin rights, why don't you get a sysadmin to do this
for you, and have it set up in one centralized location? Why does each
wiki need to be running on a different system?

It sounds like your project is fairly large, and probably too large for
you to handle. I think you need to talk to your IT people before taking
on a task like this. Your project seems doomed to failure currently.

> However, the 12 steps (?!?) to accurately install and coordinate
Apache,
> MySQL, PHP, modify the PHP ini and move it, move PHP dll files, change
> Apache conf file, install and configure MediaWiki and PHPMyAdmin and
so
> on ... well, these steps are still not unambiguously reliable, time
> after time, computer after computer, for me.  That is why I am
searching
> so diligently for anyone who has success in this particular
environment
> using these particular modules.

Done correctly, this wouldn't require that many steps. You would setup
Apache, PHP, and MySQL once, and only have to set up MediaWiki for each
new wiki. There is also an extension (or is it just a special
configuration?) to allow MediaWiki to use the same source for all wikis.

You are absolutely going about this the wrong way. Wikis are meant to be
a shared resource, not a one-user standalone application.

> 
> Thanks for your sharing.  I'll copy much of this to the MediaWiki-l as
a
> resource at least.  When I do have something I confirm is accurate,
I'll
> share it and also post it somewhere to MediaWiki.org, though I agree,
> wiki's in general and MediaWiki.org/WikiMedia.org specifically are a
> scattered mess.  ... maybe if ONE MediaWiki person took ownership
rather
> than leaving it as a committee design, where I'm sure everyone
presumes
> someone *else* will handle the messy reorganization stuff ...

I ignored most of the flamebait, but this one actually coincides with
the rest of this email. You do not understand the purpose of a wiki. One
of the main ideas of a wiki is that no single person owns anything. It
is a collaborative tool, and if you don't understand that, your project
is worthless.

V/r,

Ryan Lane