Installing Wikka Wiki

Uniform Server 3.5-Apollo.

Wikka Wiki is a flexible, standards-compliant and lightweight wiki engine written in PHP, uses MySQL server to store pages. Easy to install on either a test or live server the latest release runs smoothly on Uniform Server. The following step-by-step guide will have you up and running in no time.

Wikka Wiki Download

The latest stable version (Wikka-1.1.6.4) can be found on the home page Wikka Wiki

Archived versions can be found at their download site.

They offer several compressed file formats I will use the .zip version in this tutorial.

Interestingly I noticed a subtle folder name change in uncompressed versions; for completeness I have included uncompressing versions Wikka-1.1.6.2.zip and Wikka-1.1.6.4.zip. Installation remains unchanged.

Always download and install the latest version especially if it contain security fixes.

Preperation

Un-Zip Wikka-1.1.6.2.zip

Download and un-zip. (Note: This is an older version shown only for completeness)

1	Create a folder named temp, download file Wikka-1.1.6.2.zip and save it to this folder.
2	In Windows XP double click on this file. Select Extract all files when the wizard starts click next and next again and finally finish.
3	The process creates a new folder Wikka-1.1.6.2 inside this you will find a folder named Wikka this contains the script folders and files.

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Copy to Uniform Server Root

Copy to correct location. (Note: This is an older version shown only for completeness)

1	Start Uniform Server. I assume you are using drive W (Substitute the letter you are using).
2	From the above step 3 copy the Wikka folder and all its contents into the Uniform Server root folder WWW.

Un-Zip Wikka-1.1.6.4.zip

Download and un-zip.

1	Create a folder named temp, download file Wikka-1.1.6.4.zip and save it to this folder.
2	In Windows XP double click on this file. Select Extract all files when the wizard starts click next and next again and finally finish.
3	The process creates a new folder Wikka-1.1.6.4 inside this you will find another one again named Wikka-1.1.6.4 its this folder that contains the script folders and files.

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Copy to Uniform Server Root

Copy to correct location.

1

Start Uniform Server. I assume you are using drive W (Substitute the letter you are using).

2

From the above step 3 copy the second Wikka-1.1.6.4 folder and all its contents to the Uniform Server root folder WWW.

Rename this copied folder to Wikka

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Create a database for Wikka

Uniform Server lets you create any number of databases we need to create one named wikka.

Note: If you have closed apanel re-start by typing http://localhost/apanel/ into your browser address bar.

From apanel click on phpMyAdmin (menu on left) this opens phpMyAdmin in a new browser window.

1	Type the name of your database wikka
2	Click Create.

That completes the preparation.

Note: During installation I will assume you are using Uniform Server defaults for the database, User Name = root and Password = root.

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Installing Wikka

Only two steps to go to complete installation:

Start the Wikka installer by typing http://localhost/wikka/ into your browser address bar.
Follow the instructions of the installer.

Do not be surprised when you see a message similar to this:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /wikka/ on this server.
Apache/2.0.55 (Win32) DAV/2 PHP/5.1.1 Server at localhost Port 80

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Open .htaccess

The forbidden error occurs because an additional two lines are required in Wikka .htaccess file.

Open file .htaccess located in folder W:\www\Wikka and add the lines shown highlighted in bold:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  Options +FollowSymLinks
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteBase /wikka/
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
  RewriteRule ^(.*/[^\./]*[^/])$ $1/
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ wikka.php?wakka=$1 [QSA,L]
</IfModule>

First line informs Apache to follow the newly created link names. Second line forces a base address (strictly not be required).

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Installation Single Page form

After making the above modification, refresh page or re-type http://localhost/wikka/ into your browser address bar.

Installation consists of filling in a single form reproduced here with comments. The values highlighted either need entering or changing all other values leave as default.

Field Name	Values	Comments
Database Configuration
MySQL host:	localhost
MySQL database:	wikka
MySQL user name	root
MySQL password:	root	Read this security check list before going live
Table prefix:	wikka_
Wikka Site Configuration
Your Wikka site's name:	Max International	You can use spaces
Home page:	HomePage	No spaces use capitals as shown (Wiki convention)
Your Wiki suffix:	@wikka
Meta Keywords:	test,suppot,pub	Used by search engines separate with commas
Meta Description:	My site is the best	Short description of your site
Syntax Highlighting
GeSHi path:	3rdparty/plugins/geshi
GeSHi language files path:	3rdparty/plugins/geshi/geshi
Code wrapper (div or pre):	div
Disable line numbers	1
Tab width:	4
Administrative Account Config
Admin name:	JohnSmith	No spaces use capitals (Wiki convention)
Enter password:	abc123	Use real password
Confirm password:	abc123
Email:	smith@fred.com	Use real email
Wikka URL Configuration
Base URL:	http://localhost/wikka/
Rewrite mode:	ticked [Enabled]

During installation a checklist is displayed make sure OK is assigned to each result. On success you will be presented with the following message:

 That's all! You can now return to your Wikka site. However, you are
 advised to remove write access to wikka.config.php again now that it's
 been written. Leaving the file writable can be a security risk!

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Running Wikka Wiki

Run Wikka Wiki by typing http://localhost/wikka/ or localhost/wikka/ into your browser address bar. Your site index page is displayed note the site title Max Internation.

Click the settings/Login link to login (Shown already logged in)
Note the Wiki naming convention no spaces use capitals to highlight word seperation. This covention is important used for page and link names
When logged in click on HomePage (Note this is your home page) to view its contents.
To edit a page click on the Edit page link this takes you into the Wiki edit screen.

Type your page content and any special codes into this area. I am going to create two links that take you to MyPage1 or MyPage2. Note Wiki naming convention for the links it is important.
When you have finished adding your content click on Preview (7) to view the page. To save the page click on Stote (6). Doing this performs a number of function:

The page is stored in MySQL database.
The links (MyPage1 and MyPage2) are created.
The pages MyPage1 and MyPage2 are created if they do not already exist.

Note: Once a page is created (or already exists) clicking on it's link name opens it, you can then view the page or edit it's content.

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Going Live

The above test installation allows you to test Wikka Wiki and become familiar with its operation. Putting it online from your home web server requires changing the base URL in the configuration file.

Suppose your web server URL is http://www.me.gotdns.com the Wikka base URL becomes http://www.me.gotdns.com/wikka/.

Open file wikka.config.php located in folder Wikka replace the highlighted line below with your own URL:

<?php // wikka.config.php written at 06/15/08 19:59:25
// do not change wikka_version manually!

$wakkaConfig = array(
  'mysql_host' => 'localhost',
  'mysql_database' => 'wikka',
  'mysql_user' => 'root',
  'table_prefix' => 'wikka_',
  'root_page' => 'HomePage',
  'wakka_name' => 'Max International',
  'base_url' => 'http://www.me.gotdns.com/wikka/',
  'rewrite_mode' => '1',
  'wiki_suffix' => '@wikka',
  'action_path' => 'actions',
......
......

Portability

Copy folder Uniform Server and all its content to a USB stick and your Wikka Wiki is ready to use.

Problems

Other than adding the two lines to .htaccess as explained above no other problem were encountered.

Conclusion

Nothing more to say other than enjoy.

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Ric