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MediaWiki

MediaWiki is a widely used free software content management system for the web in wiki format, written in PHP and using a relational database (such as MariaDB, MySQL, or others) for data storage. It is developed by the Wikimedia Foundation for Wikipedia and the other projects managed by the organization, but since it is distributed under the GNU GPL license, it is also adopted by many third-party websites (some examples are Fandom, Miraheze, and WikiHow).

The name is an anagram of "Wikimedia", while the original logo (used until April 1, 2021) represents how its markup language uses double square brackets ([[, ]]) to create hyperlinks. MediaWiki can interface with other optional programs to improve performance and functionality. Support for memcached, the Squid cache system, and LaTeX rendering (mathematics) are all available in the current version. An extension system allows additional features and interfaces to be added.

History of the software's development

MediaWiki was originally written for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske. Wikipedia initially used UseModWiki (also known as "Phase I") and switched to the new version ("Phase II") on January 25, 2002. In May 2003, it moved to version 1.3, and in December 2004 to 1.4.

A subsequent rewritten and improved version of the Phase II software was once known as "Phase III". It was later renamed MediaWiki, recognizing that the software was capable of supporting not only Wikipedia but also other projects, and that a more significant version numbering system was necessary.

The software was named MediaWiki as a wordplay based on the name of the Wikimedia Foundation, the U.S. foundation that oversees Wikipedia and its sister projects, all of which run on MediaWiki.

MediaWiki is currently provided with the necessary components to be usable on smartphones.

License

MediaWiki is free software distributed under the GNU GPL v2+ license. Its documentation is available under the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license, but some parts are in the public domain. Specifically, the manuals and other content on mediawiki.org are published under Creative Commons licenses, while the set of software-specific help pages is in the public domain to allow free and unrestricted copying on any new installation of the software. This avoids the legal problems that arose when importing help pages into wikis that use licenses incompatible with those of Creative Commons.

Markup language (MediaWiki Syntax)

MediaWiki uses a markup language similar to HTML but with simplified syntax to make writing content easier. Here are some common examples:

Hyperlinks

To create a link, use the format [[Page name]].

• Syntax: [[Tea]]
• Output: Tea

Quotes and text formatting

Double apostrophes can be used to highlight or change the type of text.

• Italic: ''text'' -> text
• Bold: '''text''' -> text
• Quote: ""text"" → "text"

Mathematics (LaTeX)

To insert mathematical formulas, use the $formula$ format.

• Syntax: $x = \sqrt{y}$
• Output: $x = \sqrt{y}$

Images and files

An image can be inserted using [[Image:Filename.jpg|alt=Description]].

• Syntax: [[Image:Logo.png|MediaWiki Logo]]
• Output: MediaWiki Logo

Complete example of a dialogue

Here is what a classic dialogue example looks like in MediaWiki:

==== A dialogue ====
"Have some more [[tea]]", said the March Hare to Alice, very seriously.

"I haven't had any yet", Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take some more".

"You mean that you can't take ''less''", said the Hatter: "it is '''much''' easier to take ''more'' than nothing, than less."
</nowiki>

Rendered output: ==== A dialogue ==== "Have some more tea", said the March Hare to Alice, very seriously.

"I haven't had any yet", Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take some more".

"You mean that you can't take less, said the Hatter: it is much easier to take more than nothing, than less."

Installation and Download

To install MediaWiki on a Linux server, you can download the latest stable version (for example 1.46.0) using wget or curl.

Via wget:

wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.46/mediawiki-1.46.0.tar.gz

Via curl:

curl -O https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.46/mediawiki-1.46.0.tar.gz

After downloading, you need to extract the archive and configure the access permissions to run the web server (Apache or Nginx) and the PHP processor. It is always recommended to verify the GPG signature of the downloaded file to ensure the integrity of the software.

Related entries

• Wiki
• Wikimedia Foundation
• Wikipedia
• Vikidia

Other projects

• Wikibooks: Contains the MediaWiki user and installation manual.
• Wikimedia Commons: Contains images or other files about MediaWiki.

Configuration Parameters

After purchasing this application on Esadax, you will be prompted to provide the configuration parameters below. Esadax adds the supplied variables to the deployment so the application can be launched with the configuration it requires.

Normal Version

Configuration values for the normal version of the application are supplied below.

Parameter	Description
mediawikiUser	Value supplied to the deployment for mediawikiUser.
mediawikiPassword	Value supplied to the deployment for mediawikiPassword.
mediawikiEmail	Value supplied to the deployment for mediawikiEmail.
mediawikiName	Value supplied to the deployment for mediawikiName.
mediawikiHost	Value supplied to the deployment for mediawikiHost.

Lite Version

Configuration values for the Lite version of the application are supplied below.

Parameter	Description
MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_USER	Value supplied to the deployment for MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_USER.
MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Value supplied to the deployment for MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_PASSWORD.
MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_EMAIL	Value supplied to the deployment for MEDIAWIKI_ADMIN_EMAIL.

Once the values are configured, click Deploy to launch the application. The purchased application will use the supplied configuration values, including credentials such as usernames and passwords when those parameters are provided.