Installation

Installation
This page describes how to how install Semantic MediaWiki.
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Table of Contents

This help page explains how to install extension "Semantic MediaWiki"Allows to store and query data annotated to pages.

The recommended way for installing Semantic MediaWiki is by using Composer. If you for some reason cannot use Composer for installation and upgrading, you have the option to install the file release as described on this help page.

General notes

• Extension "Semantic MediaWiki"Allows to store and query data annotated to pages has dependencies that will be made available during the installation.
• Individual extensions to Semantic MediaWiki, e.g. extension "Semantic Result Formats"Provides additional formats for semantic queries may have different requirements.
• Individual extensions to Semantic MediaWiki may not be compatible with the "~4.2" release (yet). Please see those extensions' documentation pages, or contact the respective developers, for further information.
• To upgrade an older version of Semantic MediaWiki, be sure to read the relevant section before starting the upgrade.
• If you are forced to use MediaWiki < 1.38.x it is recommended to set configuration parameter $wgShellLocale (MediaWiki.org) to C.UTF-8. However, this setting is removed (now obsolete) for recent, supported versions, of MediaWiki >= 1.38.x 1

Environment

• Please always check the exact requirements and follow the instructions carefully. Make sure you understand the legal disclaimer in the file COPYING before proceeding.
• It is required that the PHP mbstring extension is enabled (provides PHP mb_*() multibyte functions such as mb_strpos in the php_mbstring.dll). This is standard but not enabled by default on some distributions of PHP.
• It is required that PCRE - Perl Compatible Regular Expressions is at version 8.38 or later.2

• When using a SPARQL backend, Semantic MediaWiki and onoi/http-request requires access to the cURL functions of PHP. These functions may have to be enabled/installed to be available.
• While not required (yet), it is suggested to have the PHP intl (ICU) extension enabled especially when Semantic MediaWiki is used in a UTF-8 (non-Latin) environment.
• For users that require symbolic links, some information can be found here.

Settings

• For installation and upgrade, Semantic MediaWiki needs the rights to create new tables (CREATE) and to alter tables (ALTER). You can remove both rights after Semantic MediaWiki is set up. The maintenance script "setupStore.php"Allows to set up the data backend/store can use the DB credentials from "LocalSettings.php" for this purpose, avoiding the need of extra rights for the wiki DB user. See also the help page on database privileges, when using SMWSQLStore3.
• When using the configuration parameter $smwgDefaultStoreSets the storage backend to be used for the semantic data set to a SQL data backend (default), Semantic MediaWiki creates and alters temporary tables for certain semantic queries. To do this, the wiki's database user account must have privileges for CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES and DROP. If you do not wish to allow such privileges, please read how to disable the use of temporary tables in "LocalSettings.php". See also the help page on database privileges, when using SMWSQLStore3.
• Some notes and related settings for a multi-database environment
• Webserver notes lists settings or limitations that are imposed by a specific webserver environment

Recommendations

• Extended list of recommendations and settings
• It is highly recommended to have the parser cache and Semantic MediaWiki specific cache enabled and set to appropriate values.
• Information about regular maintenance tasks and the job queue can be found here.

Requirements

Compatibility information and minimum requirements for Semantic MediaWiki are listed on the information page on compatibility. Please make sure that you meet them prior to installing Semantic MediaWiki.

Instructions

Please also consult our page on Troubleshooting in case you encounter issues during the process.

Installing

Please select the most appropriate installation instruction for your environment and for the latest available "~3.0" release.

• Quick installation guide for users with shell access using Composer (3 minute read)
• Extensive installation guide for users with shell access using Composer (20 minute read; with references, background and extra explanations, plus videos links)
• Creating an individual file release for users without shell access
• Some notes that covers the "Windows environment" (likely outdated)
• Some notes about "How to use git and Composer" (for developers)
• Notes and repositories for using Docker

Upgrading

Please see the upgrading help page for instructions and directions.

Testing

It is good practice that after a successful installation (together with all necessary maintenance tasks) it is tested by running automated tests in order to verify that a system works as intended but it is recommended that tests are not run on a production server.

The instruction on how to run automated tests can be found here.

Troubleshooting

If during or after the installation some unfamiliar messages occur, please have a look at the troubleshooting page otherwise don't hesitate to reach out via Help:Getting support or create an inquiry using the issue tracker.

See also

• Help page on upgrading Semantic MediaWiki
• Help page on de-installing Semantic MediaWiki