[Mediawiki-l] Install on Windows Problem

[John Durant]

Nat, 





I have done 4 or 5 Windows installs of MediaWiki. I never bothered to change permissions. 





What the install script does is to write the answers you provide into a file called LocalSettings.php which is located in the \config directory. 



The reason for the note about changing permissions on \config is the installation script writes a new LocalSettings.php into the \config directory, hence the script needs permission to write to the config directory. As mentioned earlier, I have never had to change permissions on a Windows box. 




After the install completes the LocalSettings.php must be manually moved from the \config into the main installation directory. This is the top level directory for your wiki installation, containing the folders for extensions, bin, etc. 





Why all this moving around? Here is what I believe is happening: 





When you navigate to the page //localhost/whatever/index.php, a script checks to see if there is a LocalSettings.php file in your /whatever directory. If there is a LocalSettings, the script goes on its way reads LocalSettings to obtain configuration information and opens the index page as requested. 



If there is no LocalSettings, the installer script, which lives in the config directory is run. Configuration variables are initialized based on your responses and LocalSettings.php is then created. Next step is to move that new LocalSettings to the main directory. 





The reason for this is MW relies on the DefaultSettings.php file to run. Under no circumstances should you change this file. The LocalSettings file consists of a subset of DefaultSettings and is where installation specific information is kept and it may be customizied for your installation. Basically, the devs are protecting you from shooting yourself in the foot by messing with DefaultSettings. 





Sorry for the long winded answer. It was for my edification as much as yours. I have to go over this with a few team members tomorrow. 





John 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nat Colley" <nat.colley at yahoo.com> 
To: mediawiki-l at lists.wikimedia.org 
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 3:18:30 AM 
Subject: [Mediawiki-l] Install on Windows Problem 

I am trying to install MediaWiki on a windows machine (wamp) as a testing server. As near as I can tell, all has gone right 
with the download and installation of the wamp – php info comes up, for 
example. But navigating to index.php gets me this: 



"* If you are reading this in your web 
browser, your server is probably not configured correctly to run PHP 
applications! "  



Then the install.php comments say: 

  

"To run the install script, you'll need to temporarily make 
the 'config' subdirectory writable by the web server. The simplest way to do 
this on a Unix/Linux system is to make it world-writable:  

chmod a+w config  

Hop into your browser and surf into the wiki 
directory."  



Well, obviously I am not on unix or linux. Right 
clicking on the config folder and going to properties tells me that this file 
is read only, but if I uncheck the box it goes right back to being read only 
anyway. I seem to remember that in Windows you have to go up to the highest 
folder because all these properties are normally inherited downward. I did that 
all the way up to my drive itself, and it still doesn't stop them from being 
read only.  



Your assistance, patience, and wisdom are greatly 
appreciated.  Thank you. 


       
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