MediaWiki on Shared Hosting

MediaWiki works fine on shared hosting, but there is (at least) on catch. When uploading files, MediaWiki, by default, saves a lock file in the /tmp folder without randomizing the file name. This will cause a conflict with multiple installations on the same server. As a solution, we you must add the following line to the LocalSettings.php file: $wgTmpDirectory = ‘/home/UserName/private/tmp’; where UserName is the Linux username of your account (on CiviHosting servers, this is the main Control Panel login as well). Then the upload wizard works fine.

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MediaWiki and ImageMagick

All of our servers have ImageMagick installed, as well as the GD image library for PHP. However if you set $wgUseImageMagick = true; on our servers, MediaWiki will try to adjust the server settings before it uses ImageMagick and then image operations, such as thumbnail creation, will fail, because our servers do not allow that (for good reasons). Thus we recommend you leave that set to false and then MediaWiki will use the GD library which will be as effective as ImageMagick in almost all situations.

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PHP Update for WordPress

As of August 2019, WordPress sites on CiviHosting are starting to display a message: PHP Update Reqquired WordPress has detected that your site is running on an insecure version of PHP. What is PHP and how does it affect my site? PHP is the programming language we use to build and maintain WordPress. Newer versions of PHP are both faster and more secure, so updating will have a positive effect on your site’s performance. This is because on the Get a faster, more secure website: update your PHP today page, WordPress has announced that users of older versions of PHP, while still supported, will now see a message to upgrade.… Read More

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ScrewTurn Wiki Alternative

ScrewTurn Wiki was a wiki package built in ASP.NET. It is now defunct, but if you’re looking for a good self-hosted wiki alternative, we have two to suggest. One is MediaWiki and one is DokuWiki. They are both great wiki tools, both secure and up to date and maintained etc. We have experience and expertise at hosting both of these packages, and we actually recommend either. How do you choose which one you want? Check out our post called War of the Wikis where we detail “MediaWiki vs DokuWiki” question.

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What Version of CiviCRM does MediaWiki does CiviHosting Support?

This is a great question, that we get a lot. The answer is all versions. Our hosting is not locked down at all and it’s not SAAS. Each hosting account with us is completely separate and private just to its owners and we provide you with full access to your files and databases. When we install MediaWiki for you, we install the latest stable release (unless you request something different) and then after that, we do not automatically run upgrades. You can always contact us for upgrades, but anyhow if you don’t, we will not update your software for you.

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What Version of CiviCRM does CiviHosting Support?

This is a great question, that we get a lot. The answer is all versions. Our hosting is not locked down at all and it’s not SAAS. Each hosting account with us is completely separate and private just to its owners and we provide you with full access to your files and databases. When we install CiviCRM for you, we install the latest stable release (unless you request something different) and then after that, we do not automatically run upgrades. You can always contact us for upgrades, but anyhow if you don’t, we will not update your software for you.

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MediaWiki with my Own Domain

Interested in running your own MediaWiki instance on your own domain name? In response to a recent issue on the MediaWiki site, here are the basics: there are three issues involved: Domain Name Hosting Installation To expand a bit, you would first need a domain name which means you must purchase that from a domain name seller, or from your webhost. They will register the domain name for you and then you can use it. CiviHosting of course can sell you a domain name. Next you need hosting for your wiki. For this, you need to purchase a hosting account from a web host who can work with MediaWiki. We… Read More

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MediaWiki Categories

Categories are built into MediaWiki. See the Help:Categories page for more details. Not everyone realizes however, that subcategories are also built in. For simple instructions how to create a subcategory see the How to create new categories or subcategories page at Wikimedia Commons. When you assign pages to categories, then the actual category page, listing all pages marked with that category, are available automatically. It’s all just built in and ready to use.

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