web commit by JoshTriplett

[ikiwiki] / doc / setup.mdwn

This tutorial will walk you through setting up a wiki with ikiwiki.

1. [[Download]] and [[install]] ikiwiki.

2. Decide where your wiki's files will go.

   As a wiki compiler, ikiwiki builds a wiki from files in a source directory,
   and outputs the files to a destination directory.  If you keep your wiki in
   a version control system, the source directory will contain a working copy
   checked out from the version control system.

   For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll set shell variables
   for these locations, and use those variables in the commands that follow.

                        SRCDIR=~/wikiwc
                        DESTDIR=~/public_html/wiki/

   Note that ikiwiki owns the working copy directory; do not perform your own
   edits in ikiwiki's working copy.

3. Create the beginnings of your wiki.

   This will create a simple main page for the wiki.

                        mkdir $SRCDIR
                        cd $SRCDIR
                        $EDITOR index.mdwn

   In the editor, you could start by entering a simple page like 
   [[toggle id=page text="this one"]].
   
   [[toggleable id=page text="""
                        Welcome to your new wiki.
                        All wikis are supposed to have a [[SandBox]],
                        so this one does too.
                        ----
                        This wiki is powered by [ikiwiki](http://ikiwiki.info).
   """]]
   
   See [[HelpOnFormatting]] for details about the markup language.

   Note that several [[standard_wiki_pages|basewiki]] will be added to your
   wiki, from files in `/usr/share/ikiwiki/basewiki/`, so your wiki will
   automatically get a [[SandBox]], and some other useful pages.

4. Build your wiki for the first time.

                        ikiwiki --verbose $SRCDIR $DESTDIR --url=http://example.org/~you/wiki/

   Replace the url with the real url to your wiki. You should now
   be able to visit the url and see your wiki.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as desired, editing or adding pages and rebuilding
   the wiki. 
   
   To quickly get started on a common task like blogging with ikiwiki, you
   can copy in files from the [[examples]]. The examples are located in
   `doc/examples/` in the ikiwiki source package.

   You can play around with other ikiwiki parameters such as `--wikiname`
   and `--rebuild` too. Get comfortable with its command line (see
   [[usage]]).

6. By now you should be getting tired of typing in all the command line
   options each time you change something in your wiki's setup. Time to
   introduce setup files.
   
   A sample setup file is [[ikiwiki.setup]]. Download it (or copy it from
   `doc/ikiwiki.setup` in the ikiwiki sources), and edit it. Note that this
   file should *not* be put in your wiki's directory with the rest of the
   files. A good place to put it is in a ~/.ikiwiki/ subdirectory.
   
   Most of the options, like `wikiname` in the setup file are the same as
   ikiwiki's command line options (documented in [[usage]]. `srcdir` and
   `destdir` are the two directories you specify when running ikiwiki by
   hand. Make sure that these are pointing to the right directories, and
   read through and configure the rest of the file to your liking.

   When you're satisfied, run `ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup`, and it
   will set everything up.

7. Turn on additional features.

   Now you have a basic wiki with a configuration file. Time to experiment
   with ikiwiki's many features. 
   
   Let's first enable a key wiki feature and set up [[CGI]] to allow
   editing the wiki from the web. Just edit ikiwiki.setup, uncomment the
   block for the cgi wrapper, make sure the filename for the cgi wrapper
   is ok, run `ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup`, and you're done!

   There are lots of other configuration options in ikiwiki.setup that you
   can uncomment, configure, and enable by re-running
   `ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup`. Be sure to browse through all the
   [[plugins]]..

8. Put your wiki in revision control.

   At this point you might want to check your wiki in to a revision control
   system you can get history of past changes and revert edits. Depending
   on the revision control system you choose, the way this is done varies.
   
   There's little that's ikiwiki specific about these instructions; this is
   just how you put a directory under revision control using the various
   systems that ikiwiki supports. Note that the .ikiwiki subdirectory is
   where ikiwiki keeps its state, and should be preserved, but not checked
   into revision control.

   [[toggle id=subversion text="Subversion"]]
   [[toggleable id=subversion text="""
                        REPOSITORY=~/wikirepo
                        svnadmin create $REPOSITORY
                        svn mkdir file://$REPOSITORY/trunk -m "create trunk"
                        cd $SRCDIR
                        svn co file://$REPOSITORY/trunk .
                        svn add *
                        svn commit -m "initial import"
   """]]
   
   [[toggle id=git text="Git"]]
   [[toggleable id=git text="""
                        REPOSITORY=~/wikirepo
                        mkdir $REPOSITORY
                        cd $REPOSITORY
                        git init-db
                        cp -a $SRCDIR/* .
                        git add .
                        git commit -m "initial import" -a
                        mv $SRCDIR/.ikiwiki .
                        rm -rf $SRCDIR
                        git clone -l -s $REPOSITORY $SRCDIR
   """]]

   [[toggle id=tla text="TLA"]]
   [[toggleable id=tla text="""
                        REPOSITORY=~/wikirepo
                        tla make-archive me@localhost--wiki $REPOSITORY
                        tla my-id "<me@localhost>"
                        cd $SRCDIR
                        tla archive-setup me@localhost--wiki/wiki--0
                        tla init-tree me@localhost--wiki/wiki--0
                        # Edit {arch}/=tagging-method and change the precious
                        # line to add the .ikiwiki directory to the regexp.
                        tla add *
                        tla import
   """]]

   [[toggle id=mercurial text="Mercurial"]]
   [[toggleable id=mercurial text="""
                        REPOSITORY=$SRCDIR
                        hg init $REPOSITORY
                        cd $REPOSITORY
                        hg add *
                        hg commit -m "initial import"
   """]]

9. Configure ikiwiki to use revision control.

   Once your wiki is checked in to the revision control system,
   you should configure ikiwiki to use revision control. Edit your
   ikiwiki.setup, and uncomment the lines for the revision control system
   you chose to use. Be sure to set `svnrepo` to $REPOSITORY, if using
   subversion. Uncomment the block for the wrapper for your revision
   control system, and configure the wrapper path in that block
   appropriately. 
   
   Once it's all set up, run `ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup` once more.
   Now you should be able to edit files in $SRCDIR, and use your revision
   control system to commit them, and the wiki will automatically update.
   And in the web interface, RecentChanges should work, and files changed
   by web users will also be committed using revision control.

10. Enjoy your new wiki! Add yourself to [[IkiWikiUsers]].