for anyone that cares.
On my Fedora 14 server I updated my MediaWiki package to
mediawiki-1.16.2-56.fc14.i686 from whatever version I used to have. After the update the wiki no longer worked. The page wouldn't load. Just blank. The httpd logs gave some clues as to what was wrong but frankly, a certain portion of the info is above my level of expertise, whatever that level may be. I poked and prodded MediaWiki for the next several days but got nowhere. Tonight I poked and prodded and looked at /etc/httpd/logs/error_log. I'm not going to go into what was in the logs but suffice it to say that it got me thinking and for whatever reason, rational thinking aside, here's how I got MediaWIki working again based on what I had read on the 'net (mediawiki wiki) and my personal notes
Code:
yum reinstall mediawiki
Probably didn't need to reinstall the thing
Code:
cp /usr/share/mediawiki/index.php /var/www/wiki/
Was informed that the files were the same. Does that mean that the system didn't copy the file?
Code:
cp -R /usr/share/mediawiki/includes/ /var/www/wiki/
This folder did not exist until I put it there tonight. The error logs indicated that a file in this folder couldn't be loaded. It was expected to be there but wasn't. Once I executed this step the wiki roared to life.
Code:
ln -s /usr/share/mediawiki/skins/ /var/www/wiki/
After I got the wiki working with the previous three steps it loaded but was very generic. No skins at all. No style. The
ln command was something I was aware of from previous "skins" issues and it "fixed things up" this time too.
Now I'm back up and running. Problem caused by accepting a yum update to a newer version without reading any documentation about the new release. Shame on me. However, in my defense, the MediaWiki is, in my opinion, like so many other wikis, scattered with information and often hard to follow.
I am also of the opinion that upgrades shouldn't be offered if they're likely to hose a previously working installation. Shame on them!
Oh, and don't forget to restart httpd once in a while throughout your frantic attempts to get your newly destroyed wiki working. It just might make all the difference.
Just a few little notes for anyone that cares about this sort of thing.
Carry on.
Linear Mode
