How to Install PmWiki on Linux Mint

PmWiki is an open-source wiki software that allows you to create and maintain a collaborative, user-friendly website. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps of installing PmWiki on Linux Mint.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, ensure that you have the following dependencies installed on your Linux Mint machine:

• Apache web server
• PHP
• MySQL or MariaDB

You can check if these dependencies are installed by opening a terminal and running these commands:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install apache2 php mysql-server

Step 1: Download PmWiki

The first step is to download the latest version of PmWiki from their official website. You can download the .tgz or .zip file.

To download it using the command line, open the terminal and run:

$ wget https://www.pmwiki.org/pub/pmwiki/pmwiki-latest.tgz

Step 2: Extract the PmWiki files

Extract the downloaded file by running the following command:

$ tar -xzvf pmwiki-latest.tgz

This will create a new directory called pmwiki-x.x.x (where x.x.x is the version number).

Step 3: Configure Apache

Next, we need to configure the Apache web server to serve the PmWiki files.

Create a new Apache virtual host configuration file for PmWiki by running:

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/pmwiki.conf

Add the following content into the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
  DocumentRoot /var/www/pmwiki-x.x.x
  <Directory /var/www/pmwiki-x.x.x/>
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
  </Directory>
  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Replace x.x.x with the version number of the PmWiki files.

Save and close the file by pressing CTRL+X, then Y, and then ENTER.

Enable the site by running:

$ sudo a2ensite pmwiki.conf

Finally, restart the Apache web server to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 4: Create a MySQL/MariaDB user and database

To store the PmWiki data, we need to create a new MySQL/MariaDB user and database.

Open MySQL/MariaDB client by running:

$ sudo mysql -u root -p

Enter the root password when prompted.

Create a new user by running:

CREATE USER 'pmwikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Replace password with a strong password of your choice.

Create a new database by running:

CREATE DATABASE pmwikidb;

Grant the user permissions to the database:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pmwikidb.* TO 'pmwikiuser'@'localhost';

Flush the privileges:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit MySQL/MariaDB client:

exit;

Step 5: Configure PmWiki

Copy the sample local/config.php file to the pmwiki-x.x.x directory:

sudo cp pmwiki-x.x.x/local/config.php.sample pmwiki-x.x.x/local/config.php

Edit the config.php file:

sudo nano pmwiki-x.x.x/local/config.php

Update the following lines with your MySQL/MariaDB credentials:

$DBAuth['server'] = 'localhost';
$DBAuth['user'] = 'pmwikiuser';
$DBAuth['password'] = 'password';
$DBAuth['database'] = 'pmwikidb';

Save and close the file by pressing CTRL+X, then Y, and then ENTER.

Step 6: Install PmWiki

Go to your web browser and navigate to your server's IP address or hostname followed by /pmwiki-x.x.x/pmwiki.php. For example, http://localhost/pmwiki-x.x.x/pmwiki.php.

Follow the PmWiki installation wizard to complete the installation.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed PmWiki on your Linux Mint machine. You can now start creating your collaborative website using PmWiki.

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