Fedora Linux

database interface (DBI) abstraction layer to work with databases in Perl. For details on writing software that accesses a MySQL database, see Chapter 22 in the MySQL documentation ( http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/apis.html ).

7.9.4. Where Can I Learn More?

? The manpages for mysqld , mysql , mysqladmin , mysqldump , and mysqlshow

? The MySQL manual: http://www.mysql.com/doc

? Documentation on the Perl DBI module: perldoc DBI

? Documentation on the PHP MySQL functions: http://ca.php.net/mysql

7.10. Installing and Configuring a Wiki

A Wiki is a series of web pages that can be easily edited using only a web browsera simple and convenient way of producing a collaborative web site. Perhaps the most impressive examples of Wikis are those operated by the Wikimedia Foundation ( http://wikimedia.org ), including Wikipedia, the Wiktionary, and WikiBooks.

Fedora Extras includes the Wiki software used by the Wikimedia Foundation, named MediaWiki. Once installed, it can be configured and ready for use in a few minutes.

7.10.1. How Do I Do That?

MediaWiki requires a MySQL server. yum won't automatically install a MySQL server when you install MediaWiki because MySQL isn't truly a dependency: the database server doesn't have to be on the same computerbut for a small installation, that makes the most sense.

To configure MediaWiki, start your web server (if it's not already running) and then, using a browser on the same computer as the MediaWiki software, go to http://localhost/mediawiki/ . You will see an introduction page like that in Figure 7-27 , informing you that the software must be configured before use.

Figure 7-27. MediaWiki before initial configuration

To configure the software, click on the link provided. The page shown in Figure 7-28 will appear.

Figure 7-28. MediaWiki configuration page

This page presents the results of some initial configuration tests, followed by a form that you must fill in with configuration information. The fields on this form are:

Site name

Input an opaque string (no spaces and no punctuation marks) of letters and numbers for the name of your Wiki.

Contact email

Enter an email address that can be used to contact the Wiki administrator. It is probably best to use an email alias here.

Language

The language for the Wiki prompts and messages (the content can be in any language, regardless of the value you choose here).

Copyright/license metadata

The license that will be used to tag the Wiki contents. You can choose not to tag your pages with license information, or you can use one of two types of open content licenses: GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL) or a Creative Commons license. If you are not sure what to use, select 'no license metadata .'

Sysop account name and password

Enter the username of the system operator ( sysop ) or Wiki administrator. This user does not have to have a Fedora login account. The password must be entered twice to verify that it is typed correctly.

Shared memory

Use a memory cache system for performance acceleration. This is not necessary for small installations.

E-mail (general)

Enable all email operations. In almost all cases, this should be left on.

User-to-user e-mail

Enable users to send mail to each other; whether this makes sense depends on the intended use of your Wiki.

E-mail notification

Select the events that trigger an automatic notification email. Use the middle setting for most small-to- medium Wikis.

E-mail address authentication

If enabled, this feature sends a token to the email address of newly registered users to verify that the email address is valid. This presents a minor inconvenience to your users, but prevents email from being sent to invalid addresses and, more importantly, prevents a user from entering someone else's email address.

MySQL server

Leave this set to localhost if the MySQL server is on the same computer as the MediaWiki software.

Database name, DB username, and DB password

The name of the MySQL database, and the username and password for the MySQL access account, respectively. Leave the default values for the Database name and the DB username, and make up a new password (twice) for the DB password.