This tutorial will walk you through setting up a wiki with ikiwiki.
-### 1. [[Download]] and [[install]] ikiwiki.
+[[!toc ]]
-### 2. Decide where your wiki's files will go.
+## [[Download]] and [[install]] ikiwiki.
+
+If you're using Debian or Ubuntu, ikiwiki is an `apt-get install ikiwiki` away.
+If you're not, see the [[download]] and [[install]] pages.
+
+## Quick start
+
+If you'd like to set up a wiki now, and learn more later, and you have
+ikiwiki 2.60 or better installed, just run this command and answer a couple
+of questions.
+
+ % ikiwiki -setup /etc/ikiwiki/auto.setup
+ What will the wiki be named? mywiki
+ What revision control system to use? git
+ What wiki user (or openid) will be wiki admin? joey
+
+Wait for it to tell you an url for your new wiki.. Done!
+
+(If the CGI doesn't seem to let you edit pages, you might need to
+[[configure_apache|tips/apache_cgi]] or [[configure_lighttpd|tips/lighttpd_cgi]].)
+
+## 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
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.
+## Create the beginnings of your wiki.
This will create a simple main page for the wiki.
$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="""
+[[!toggle id=page text="this one"]].
+[[!toggleable id=page text="""
Welcome to your new wiki.
All wikis are supposed to have a \[[SandBox]],
This wiki is powered by [ikiwiki](http://ikiwiki.info).
"""]]
-See [[HelpOnFormatting]] for details about the markup language.
+See [[ikiwiki/formatting]] 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.
+## 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. Add content to your wiki.
+## Add content to your wiki.
-Repeat steps 3 and 4 as desired, editing or adding pages and rebuilding the
-wiki.
+Continue 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
and `--rebuild` too. Get comfortable with its command line (see
[[usage]]).
-### 6. Add a setup file.
+## Add a setup file.
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.
+
+To generate a setup file, use `ikiwiki --dumpsetup`. You can pass
+all the options have you been including at the command line, and they
+will be stored in the setup file.
+
+ ikiwiki $SRCDIR $DESTDIR --url=http://example.org/~you/wiki/ --dumpsetup ikiwiki.setup
+
+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
When you're satisfied, run `ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup`, and it
will set everything up.
-### 7. Turn on additional features.
+## Turn on additional features.
-Now you have a basic wiki with a configuration file. Time to experiment
+Now you have a basic wiki with a setup 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
+settings 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
`ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup`. Be sure to browse through all the
[[plugins]]..
-### 8. Put your wiki in revision control.
+## Put your wiki in revision control.
At this point you might want to check your wiki in to a revision control
system so you can keep track of 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.
+Note that the .ikiwiki subdirectory is where ikiwiki keeps its state, and
+should be preserved, but not checked into revision control.
+
+The [[ikiwiki-makerepo]] command automates setting up a wiki in
+revision control.
-[[toggle id=subversion text="Subversion"]]
-[[toggleable id=subversion text="""
+[[!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"
+ ikiwiki-makerepo svn $SRCDIR $REPOSITORY
"""]]
-[[toggle id=git text="Git"]]
-[[toggleable id=git text="""
-When using Git, you probably want to set up two repositories, of which
-one should be bare (meaning that it does not have a working tree
-checked out). We call the bare repository the "repository" and the
-other will be the "srcdir" (which `ikiwiki` uses to compile the wiki).
-There are [other
-ways](http://blog.madduck.net/vcs/2007.07.11_publishing-git-repositories)
-to do the following, but this might be easiest:
-
+[[!toggle id=git text="Git"]]
+[[!toggleable id=git text="""
REPOSITORY=~/wiki.git
- GIT_DIR=$REPOSITORY git --bare init --shared
- cd $SRCDIR
- git init
- echo /.ikiwiki > .gitignore
- git add .
- git commit -m "initial commit"
- git remote add origin $REPOSITORY
- git config branch.master.merge refs/heads/master
- git push --all
-
-It is **paramount** that you **never** push to the Git repository in
-`$SRCDIR` ([this FAQ entry explains
-why](http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/GitFaq#head-b6a3d85f677763313159eb39f7dbf4579d4ee28b)).
-Instead, if you want to work on the wiki from a remote machine, clone
-`$REPOSITORY`, using either the `git` transport (if available), or
-`ssh`.
-
-If at any point you commit changes in `$SRCDIR`, make sure to `git
-push` them to the `$REPOSITORY`. ikiwiki will do this automatically
-for any changes made via the web.
-
-Finally, see [[Git_pitfalls]] if you experience problems.
+ ikiwiki-makerepo git $SRCDIR $REPOSITORY
+
+Please see [[rcs/git]] for detailed documentation about how
+ikiwiki uses git repositories, and some important caveats
+about using the git repositories.
+"""]]
+
+[[!toggle id=mercurial text="Mercurial"]]
+[[!toggleable id=mercurial text="""
+ REPOSITORY=$SRCDIR
+ ikiwiki-makerepo mercurial $SRCDIR
"""]]
-[[toggle id=tla text="TLA"]]
-[[toggleable id=tla text="""
+[[!toggle id=bazaar text="Bazaar"]]
+[[!toggleable id=bazaar text="""
+ REPOSITORY=$SRCDIR
+ ikiwiki-makerepo bzr $SRCDIR
+"""]]
+
+[[!toggle id=tla text="TLA"]]
+[[!toggleable id=tla text="""
REPOSITORY=~/wikirepo
tla make-archive me@localhost--wiki $REPOSITORY
tla my-id "<me@localhost>"
tla import
"""]]
-[[toggle id=mercurial text="Mercurial"]]
-[[toggleable id=mercurial text="""
- REPOSITORY=$SRCDIR
- hg init $REPOSITORY
- cd $REPOSITORY
- hg add *
- hg commit -m "initial import"
-"""]]
-
-[[toggle id=monotone text="Monotone"]]
-[[toggleable id=monotone text="""
- # These instructions are standard instructions to import a directory into monotone
- # and set it up so that you don't need any passwords to use it
- REPOSITORY=~/.ikiwiki/mtn.db
- BRANCH=com.company.wikiname
- # remember the password you use in the next step and
- # substitute it for 'wikiKeyPass' in the get_passphrase() hook below
- # note the you should never generate two monotone keys with the same name
- mtn genkey web@machine.company.com
- mtn db init --db=$REPOSITORY
- mv $SRCDIR $SRCDIR-old
- cd $SRCDIR-old
- echo ".ikiwiki" > $SRCDIR-old/.mtn-ignore
- mtn --db=$REPOSITORY --branch=$BRANCH import . -m "initial import"
- cd ..
- mtn --db=$REPOSITORY --branch=$BRANCH checkout $SRCDIR
- mv $SRCDIR-old/.ikiwiki $SRCDIR
- cat << EOF > $SRCDIR/_MTN/monotonerc
- function get_passphrase (branchname)
- return "wikiKeyPass"
- end
- EOF
- rm -r $SRCDIR-old
+[[!toggle id=monotone text="Monotone"]]
+[[!toggleable id=monotone text="""
+ # This assumes that you have already used "mtn genkey you@hostname".
+ REPOSITORY=~/wiki.monotone
+ ikiwiki-makerepo monotone $SRCDIR $REPOSITORY
"""]]
-### 9. Configure ikiwiki to use revision control.
+## 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 $REPOSITORY, if using
-subversion. Uncomment the block for the wrapper for your revision
-control system, and configure the wrapper path in that block
-appropriately (for Git, it should be `$REPOSITORY/hooks/post-update`).
+Once your wiki is checked in to the revision control system, you should
+configure ikiwiki to use revision control. Edit your ikiwiki.setup, set
+`rcs` to the the revision control system you chose to use. Be sure to set
+`svnrepo` to the directory for your repository, if using subversion.
+Uncomment the configuration for the wrapper for your revision control
+system, and configure the wrapper path appropriately (for Git, it should be
+the path to `hooks/post-update` inside the bare git repository).
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
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!
+## Enjoy your new wiki!
Add yourself to [[IkiWikiUsers]]. And check out
the [[tips]] to find out how to get more out of ikiwiki.