Installer ideas
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Here are some ideas for what the MediaWiki installer should be like. If you have ideas, please add them below.
Short term
[edit]- All user to specify temp directory durring installation.
- As is right now some users are unable to /usr/local/apache/proxy
- Use command line options, so that it can be run non-interactively
- Accept command line options from an environment variable
- Merge update.php into install.php.
- Do not delete the database unless an appropriate command line option is given, and the user confirms it
- If a database exists, update it appropriately
- Optionally take a target directory from the command line, and create a LocalSettings.php with appropriate directories set up
- also dbname
- Make install.php appropriate for use on the main Wikipedia:
- If there are already scripts in the target directory, move them to a backup directory
- Make a rollback command, which copies the scripts back from the backup. No need to roll back schema alterations
- Allow multilingual installation, with the directory structure currently used on the Wikipedia servers
Long term
[edit]- Automatic installation/configuration of PHP, MySQL and Apache? Especially Apache.
- Use something other than PHP for the install script?
- Curses UI?
- PHP-GTK! ;)
Alternative
[edit]- Use the C++ version instead. Still in alpha status, but:
- No need to install PHP
- Uses built-in database (sqlite), but can run with mysql just as easily
- Can run on tinyweb server, which requires no installation
The Waikiki isn't a version of MediaWiki, it's just a reader. Rewriting the remainder of MediaWiki in efficient C++ would take far longer than even the most ambitious of installer ideas above. -- Tim Starling 05:55, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
True Path
[edit]- Its difficult to obtain the proper versions of all software and configure it so that you can be sure that you have a perfect duplicate setup (its simple science to eliminate variables to isolate a problem). Its thus amazingly simple to distribute the software as standalone image. UserModeLinux can be used if someone does not want to donate their whole machine.