Dokuwiki

#lang-php #web #wiki 

DokuWiki is a simple to use and highly versatile Open Source wiki software that doesn’t require a database. It is loved by users for its clean and readable syntax. The ease of maintenance, backup and integration makes it an administrator’s favorite. Built in access controls and authentication connectors make DokuWiki especially useful in the enterprise context and the large number of plugins contributed by its vibrant community allow for a broad range of use cases beyond a traditional wiki.

Note

For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of

License

DokuWiki are released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

All relevant legal information can be found here

Prerequisites

We’re using PHP in the stable version 8.1:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools version show php
Using 'PHP' version: '8.1'
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Your blog domain needs to be setup:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web domain list
isabell.uber.space
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Installation

cd to your document root, then download and configure DokuWiki.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ wget https://download.dokuwiki.org/src/dokuwiki/dokuwiki-stable.tgz
[isabell@stardust html]$ tar -xzvf dokuwiki-stable.tgz --strip-components=1
[isabell@stardust html]$ rm dokuwiki-stable.tgz
[isabell@stardust html]$ cd ~
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Finishing installation

Now point your Browser to your installation URL https://isabell.uber.space/install.php. Complete the form and follow the installation instructions.

You will need to enter the following information:

  • your wiki name: The name of your wiki.

  • ACL: It´s recommended that ACL is enable.

  • Superuser: The login name of the admin user.

  • Real Name: Your name, nickname or something else (don´t use superuser name!)

  • E-Mail: The e-mail address of the admin user.

  • Password: The superduper secure password of the admin user.

  • Initial ACL policy: Choose the type of your wiki.

  • Allow users to register themselves: your decision

  • Choose under which license your content will be published

Finally you have to delete the install.php:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ rm install.php
[isabell@stardust html]$

Tuning

For plugins, themes and other stuff go to DokuWiki.

Nice URLs aka URL-Rewriting

To change default behaviour and rewrite https://isabell.uber.space/doku.php?id=dokuwiki-on-uberspace to https://isabell.uber.space/dokuwiki-on-uberspace you need to enable URL rewriting in /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/conf/local.php/ file by appending:

$conf['userewrite'] = 1;
$conf['useslash'] = 1;

This can also be done in Configuration Settings via Admin page.

Next step is to rename /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/.htaccess.dist to /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/.htaccess and edit that file. First uncomment:

#RewriteEngine On

by deleting the # character at the beginning of the line and insert:

RewriteBase /

between RewriteEngine On and first RewriteRule directive. Finally uncomment all of the following rewrite rules and save changes.

Before:

## Uncomment these rules if you want to have nice URLs using
## $conf['userewrite'] = 1 - not needed for rewrite mode 2
#RewriteEngine on
#
#RewriteRule ^_media/(.*)              lib/exe/fetch.php?media=$1  [QSA,L]
#RewriteRule ^_detail/(.*)             lib/exe/detail.php?media=$1  [QSA,L]
#RewriteRule ^_export/([^/]+)/(.*)     doku.php?do=export_$1&id=$2  [QSA,L]
#RewriteRule ^$                        doku.php  [L]
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}       !-f
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}       !-d
#RewriteRule (.*)                      doku.php?id=$1  [QSA,L]
#RewriteRule ^index.php$               doku.php
#

After:

## Uncomment these rules if you want to have nice URLs using
## $conf['userewrite'] = 1 - not needed for rewrite mode 2
RewriteEngine on
#
## Change RewriteBase to the directory your dokuwiki installation points to
RewriteBase /
#
RewriteRule ^_media/(.*)              lib/exe/fetch.php?media=$1  [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^_detail/(.*)             lib/exe/detail.php?media=$1  [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^_export/([^/]+)/(.*)     doku.php?do=export_$1&id=$2  [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^$                        doku.php  [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}       !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}       !-d
RewriteRule (.*)                      doku.php?id=$1  [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^index.php$               doku.php
#

If something goes wrong, you can set the two values to 0 and delete the .htaccess file.

Handling Special Characters

Special characters should be handled safe to avoid long or corrupt filenames. Edit /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/conf/local.php/ by appending:

$conf['fnencode'] = 'safe';

Updates

Note

Check the update feed regularly to stay informed about the newest version.

Your first plugin you have to install, is the upgrade plugin. With this plugin you can update directly from the admin interface.

Tested with DokuWiki 2022-07-31a “Igor”, Uberspace 7.13, PHP 8.1

Written by: Christian Kantelberg <uberlab@mailbox.org>