Wikispooks:Site Backup

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Tools.png Page to Content of the 'Backups' directory is accurate. Revised instructions pending --Peter P (talk) 08:50, 6 January 2014 (GMT)

Even if you are a casual reader and not a contributor to this project, you are encouraged to download and keep a backup copy of the site database (~250 MB) and it's associated files and images (~2.2 GB) in case of technical or other problems.

Backups are published weekly to ensure that, should the site become unavailable for any reason, the information will not be lost - many people around the world will have a reasonably up to date version. The site is open licenced so you are free to copy the information and publish it elsewhere, either as an exact mirror or as part of another website.

Content of the 'Backups' directory

Publicly downloadable backup files are shown in the directory Index of/backups box above right. Backup dates are included in the filenames. Those in the form name-latest.zip are copies of the latest name-yyy-mm-dd.zip files.

  • files-xxxx.zip - files contain the site images and files.
  • sqldump-xxxx.zip - files contain the site database.
  • readme.txt - a text rendering of this page.
  • wikispooks-xxxx - files contain both site images/files and database and are being phased out.
  • ws.sql - an uncompressed version of the site database.

Running A Copy Of The Site

To host Wikispooks on your machine, you will need:

  • Some knowledge of running a webserver
  • Some knowledge of the Mediawiki software
  • A site-backup set - The necessary backup files are listed above and here.
  • A computer with at least 5 Gb of free disk space that runs a web server, including
    • PHP v 5.3.2 +
    • MySQL v 5.0.2 +

N.B. Either WampServer or Xampp provides the web-server software you need to run the Wikispooks site locally.

Basic Instructions

  • Unzip the wikispooks backup file to a web server root directory.
  • Create a new blank MySQL database
  • Locate the backups/ws.sql for restoring the Wikispooks MySQL database
  • Create a dedicated database user with full privilages; note this username and password.
  • Import the ws.sql database dump into the new database.
    • N.B. The file is too large for a default configuration of phpMyAdmin to handle. Try a MySQL command for this, e.g.
$ mysql -u username -p password -h localhost data-base-name < ws.sql

Modifying LocalSettings.php

If things don't go smoothly, adding the following lines to LocalSettings.php will give you some diagnostic output:

$wgShowExceptionDetails = true;
$wgShowSQLErrors = 1;

It's recommended to take these lines out once things are working OK.

You will have to edit the LocalSettings.php file since the LocalSettings.passwords.php file which it includes is omitted from the backup for security reasons. The simplest way to get your system working is to read the notes at the top of LocalSettings.php, and amend it with the access credentials above to fit your database.

Using the Default MediaWiki Setup

If you experience trouble with the above method, you can try the (slightly longer) standard Mediawiki setup procedure. To use this, rename LocalSettings.php LocalSettings.php.backup and then browse to the site and follow instructions. Mediawiki will create a blank database and a matching '.../w/LocalSettings.php' file to allow access. You will then need to modify:

  1. The database - import from the SQL dump at backups/ws.sql whicih will add the pages to the Wiki
  2. The basic LocalSettings.php file to include the required extensions and other site configuration. There are many Mediawiki extensions in use on the site (including 'Widgets', 'Semantic MediaWiki', 'Semantic Forms', 'News', 'DynamicPageList' & 'Category Tree') which are fundamental to the proper display and operation of the site. These are all included and correctly configured in the backup, but must be included from the LocalSettings.php file to be made operational.

Finishing Touches

The procedure as explained above is sufficient for the database and all the files. There will be a number of Apache config parameters that need setting in order for 'pretty URLs' to work properly, such as a .htaccess file. Full details can be found on the Mediawiki web site.

Running A Live Site Mirror

If you have interest and resources to set up a realtime site mirror on your server, you are encouraged to do so. We may also be able to provide you with some technical assistance if needed. Requests for help setting up realtime mirrors should be addressed to admin[at]wikispooks.org and encrypted with this key.

Notes

The following items are not included in the backup:

Known Issues

  • Many of the in-text links (especially on 'Category:IFrame' pages) will take you to the master Wikispooks site. This is because urls which ought to be coded as relative, have in fact been entered as absolute urls. It is easy to manually change any such url's in your browser address-bar at run time (simply replace 'https://wikispooks.com/' with 'localhost/your_root_dir_name/'. This issue will be addressed at source as and when.
  • Suggestions, Queries etc? - Either Email the admin (non-WikiSpooks members) or use this discussion page (WikiSpooks members)
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