Samuel Richardson wrote:
Would checking out the latest version of MediaWiki from SVN then replacing each of the folders in the base MediaWiki install (excluding the Images folder) with symlinks be enough? What do I do about some of the rogue php files that living the root of the MediaWiki folder? (img_auth.php, StartProfiler.php) etc? Symlink those as well?
Images: If you have image uploads for each wiki, then you shouldn't symlink the images directories (and subdirs). Among other possible problems, you won't be able to deal with name clashes.
If you only have uploads in a common wiki, then the images directories are not essential. On my wikis, I only have one common wiki for images so all wikis can share the same files.
Root: Each wiki should have its own root directory - no symlink here. You'll need separate LocalSettings.php files as well as other files in the root.
Maintenance: For convenience, it's easy to have a separate maintenance directory for each wiki. That allows for the scripts to find their own version of AdminSettings.php (in the root) and act "nicely" without having to resolve paths and such when you run a script.
You can symlink the maintenance directory if you choose - there was a recent series of posts on this either here or on the msusers.com forum (can't remember).
Others: You can symlink the other code directories.
Mike