DokuWiki package for Debian

DokuWiki is available in the official Debian repository and is installable through the usual Debian tools.

• package overview
• technical overview and news
• bug reports

Contrary to a standard installation, the Debian packages:

• is managed by the package manager (of course), which allows you to get upgrades and security updates along with the your system;
• has specific paths, basically:
  • DokuWiki root is /usr/share/dokuwiki,
  • wiki data is /var/lib/dokuwiki/data, instead of var/www/dokuwiki
  • configuration is /etc/dokuwiki;
• is initially configured by the package manager, not by the install web page;
• manages the configuration of your web server to give you access to your wiki too;
• uses packaged libraries instead of some embedded ones such as Geshi and SimplePie.

Some of these specificities come from the packaging system itself, some are to comply with the Debian policy. This has:

• some advantages, like a good operating system integration, easy initial configuration;
• some drawbacks, like unusual file paths and some specific bugs.

The full list of bugs filed against the Debian package can be found here. Here are the most important problems you may encounter:

• The RSS feature will not work with the Debian Squeeze version, because of a library incompatibility. If you need this feature you will have to use a more recent version from the backports or to install DokuWiki manually without using the Debian package.
• Some plugins may break because of the specific file layout.

Please report bugs in the package using the Debian bug tracking system. See also the current list of bugs.

The official Debian package of DokuWiki can be installed using apt as follows (please read on before actually doing it):

# apt-get install dokuwiki

Starting with Debian Squeeze and Lenny with backports, it asks you some questions for the initial configuration:

• the web servers to configure and whether or not to restart them to apply the configuration;
• the web path where your wiki is to be available, that is, /dokuwiki, /wiki or whatever;
• the access scope of your wiki: local host, LAN or Internet;
  • if you chose LAN, your LAN IP address range;
• whether or not to remove the wiki data when purging the package;
• whether or not to allow configuration and plugin administration from the web interface;
• the wiki title, license and ACL;
• wiki admin name, password, full name, email address and password.

All these questions do not have the same priority:

• low: those whose default values are relevant in most cases, for instance web path (default /dokuwiki);
• medium: those with a reasonable default value, for instance wiki admin name (default “admin”);
• high: those whith no reasonable default value, for instance wiki admin password (no default!).

The package will only ask you the questions which priority is higher than the one that you chose globally to be bothered with; you can set this parameter by reconfiguring the package debconf:

# dpkg-reconfigure debconf

Note: The offered configuration for apache2 does work out of the box, the one for lighttpd does not. With lighttpd please follow this simple procedure:

For instance, if you chose to be bothered with high priority questions only, you will not be asked for all the DokuWiki package questions. You can still reconfigure the package dokuwiki itself to get all the questions:

# dpkg-reconfigure dokuwiki

It is highly recommended that before you install dokuwiki you go through the installation questions with:

  dpkg-reconfigure dokuwiki

You may have to do this after the installation is completed. Then your Dokuwiki will be reconfigured to suit your requirements.

apt-get update
apt-get install lighttpd
apt-get install php5-cgi php5 dokuwiki

lighty-enable-mod fastcgi fastcgi-php dokuwiki
/etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload

Done.

Now if you want to use userewrite by the webserver, see lighttpd and lighttpd_config_example and rewrite. It won't help! Check http://redmine.lighttpd.net/wiki/lighttpd/DokuWiki instead.

does not work with dokuwiki

The package versions can be a bit outdated, specially if you are using an old Debian version such as Lenny (oldstable). Updated packages are available using the backports repository. For instance, for Lenny:

# echo "deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports lenny-backports main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
# apt-get update
# aptitude install dokuwiki/lenny-backports

For more information on installing and configuring Dokuwiki on Debian, see debian_ubuntu_extras. Among other things, this covers how to set up nice urls using the htaccess option.

After installation of the package, your dokuwiki install is available at http://127.0.0.1/dokuwiki/ (replace localhost (127.0.0.1) with the FQDN or IP address of your server if it is not your local computer).

Starting with Debian Squeeze and Lenny backports, your wiki is completely usable after installation, so start using it and skip the Lenny section that is not for you. With Lenny without backports, the initial configuration is limited though, so read the next section.

Please upgrade your system to Squeeze or use the package from the backports! If you really do not want to do that, read on.

For a full access from the lan or from internet, edit the /etc/apache/conf/dokuwiki.conf file and change 127.0.0.0 to All for Apache2: /etc/apache2/conf.d/dokuwiki.conf

You'll likely need to restart apache for this to take effect.

For a full config that includes login and adminstration from within the wiki you have to enable ACL and change some configs. You need root privileges to use the commands.

1. copy /etc/dokuwiki/local.php.dist to /etc/dokuwiki/local.php and edit according to your local needs. Make sure, the option useacl is enabled.
2. allow www-data to read and write the config files

   • chown -R www-data /etc/dokuwiki/

   • chown -R www-data /usr/share/dokuwiki/lib/

3. copy the disabled examples of authentification files to where dokuwiki expects them (or run the installer):

   • cp /etc/dokuwiki/acl.auth.php.dist /var/lib/dokuwiki/acl/acl.auth.php

   • cp /etc/dokuwiki/users.auth.php.dist /var/lib/dokuwiki/acl/users.auth.php

Feel free to ask questions here:

Where are data dirs?

Under /var/lib/dokuwiki to comply with the Debian Policy and match the general system layout.

Can you briefly list all steps necessary for multiple (separate) installations sharing the codebase?

Implementing the farming within the Debian package is a mid-term goal, not achieved yet. Stay tuned.

Can you install it on Ubuntu.

Yes, because every package in Debian ends up in Ubuntu too. It is not directly maintained though, so things may break.

How do I restore data from an older install on another machine?

Copy /var/lib/dokuwiki/data from the old installation to the new one. Install the needed plugins manually. (Don't forget to give write access to '/var/lib/dokuwiki/lib/plugins' for www-data user to allow plugin installation from the admin panel)

I installed using the Debian package, that would be the proper way to upgrade DokuWiki?

Upgrade your system (from Lenny to Squeeze for instance) or use a backport.

I installed using the Debian package, but now (for whatever reason, e.g. access to latest release early) I want to go use the DokuWiki download installation (which is not Debian policy compatible)

Get DokuWiki, install it following the regular instructions. Then restore your old content:

• Put your old /var/lib/dokuwiki/data content into the data directory of your new DokuWiki installation.
• You can also try to restore:
  • your configuration file, that are under /etc/dokuwiki;
  • your plugins, that are under /var/lib/dokuwiki/lib/plugins.