Manual:Running MediaWiki on FreeBSD
This installation guide assumes you are installing on the local machine (localhost) and that you are logged in as the superuser (root).
Set up the requirements edit
Instructions tested on FreeBSD 10.1 with the newest[2014-12-18] packages for mediawiki124. mediawiki123 (LTS) was also tested.
Install the typical database server for MediaWiki
pkg install mysql56-server
Edit the config file of system environment (for booting next time) for MySQL
$EDITOR /etc/rc.conf
mysql_enable="YES"
Start MySQL as the database server
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server onestart
Secure the MySQL installation
/usr/local/bin/mysql_secure_installation
Install the typical web server Apache (2.4)
pkg install apache24
Edit the config file of system environment (for booting next time) for Apache (2.4)
$EDITOR /etc/rc.conf
apache24_enable="YES"
Edit the config file of the web server Apache (2.4) to find MediaWiki (for apache24 if you have *[authz_core:error] AH01630* at apache error_log, please remamber for APACHE24 use at conf - *Require all granted* instead lanes ORDER ALLOW, DENY ALLOW FROM ALL http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/upgrading.html)
$EDITOR /usr/local/etc/apache24/httpd.conf
#DocumentRoot "/usr/local/www/apache24/data" DocumentRoot "/usr/local/www/mediawiki"
<Directory "/usr/local/www/mediawiki"> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks DirectoryIndex index.php AllowOverride None Require all granted </Directory>
Install the module for the web server Apache (2.4) to handle PHP
pkg install mod_php56
By installing this package there will be a line added to the config file of the web server Apache (2.4).
- Check the entry for the module php5_module
cat /usr/local/etc/apache24/httpd.conf | grep php5_module
LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache24/libphp5.so
Edit the config file of the web server Apache (2.4) to handle PHP
$EDITOR /usr/local/etc/apache24/httpd.conf
<IfModule php5_module> DirectoryIndex index.php index.html AddType application/x-httpd-php .php AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps </IfModule>
Please check that you set up your hostname at the config file of system environment (for booting next time).
cat /etc/rc.conf | grep hostname
hostname="wiki.your-domain.tld"
- If it is not set you might add it to the config file of system environment (for booting next time).
$EDITOR /etc/rc.conf
Install MediaWiki edit
 Warning: | MediaWiki freebsd packages are not maintained by the MediaWiki community. Use them at your own risk, they may be broken |
Otherwise you can install MediaWiki with the packages provided by FreeBSD directly.
There are several versions of MediaWiki available at FreeBSD. Which are available at present, you can check via pkg.
pkg search mediawiki
Instructions tested on FreeBSD 10.3
pkg install mediawiki127
Install additional packages for full support of default MediaWiki edit
Install the version control system git
pkg install git
Install additional package to support languages for PHP
pkg install pecl-intl
Install additional package to handle displaying pictures for PHP
pkg install pecl-imagick
Install additional package to can caching for PHP
pkg install pecl-APC
You also need a cypher library for secure storage (mcrypt works too but is deprecated in PHP 7.1 and will be removed in PHP 7.2):
pkg install php56-openssl
Replace php56- by the PHP version you want, for example php70- or php71- (not yet available at writing time).
SVG support edit
Add the following lines to LocalSettings.php to allow SVG upload and to enable thumbnail and preview rendering with Inkscape:
$wgFileExtensions = array('png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'svg');
$wgSVGConverters = array(
'Inkscape' => '/usr/local/bin/inkscape -z -w $width -f $input -e $output',);
$wgSVGConverter = 'Inkscape';
Obviously, Inkscape must be installed for this to work (pkg_add -r inkscape). Wikipedia is still using rsvg for SVG rendering, which produces less accurate results than Inkscape but is faster.[1]