-2003-11-08
+2008-11-11
-MediaWiki
----------
+For system requirements, installation and upgrade details, see the files
+RELEASE-NOTES, INSTALL, and UPGRADE.
-MediaWiki is the software used for Wikipedia
-(http://www.wikipedia.org) and the other Wikimedia
-Foundation websites. Compared to other wikis, it has an
-excellent range of features and support for high-traffic
-websites. However, it is generally harder to install. Be
-sure to follow the INSTALL document closely. Installation on
-a Microsoft Windows system is not recommended, however it is
-possible. Documentation for installation on Windows may be
-found at:
+== MediaWiki ==
- http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_MediaWiki_on_Windows
+MediaWiki is the software used for Wikipedia [http://www.wikipedia.org/] and the
+other Wikimedia Foundation websites. Compared to other wikis, it has an
+excellent range of features and support for high-traffic websites using
+multiple servers (Wikimedia sites peak in the 60000+ requests per second range
+as of November 2008).
-The MediaWiki software was written by:
+While quite usable on smaller sites, you may find you have to "roll your own"
+local documentation, and some aspects of configuration may seem overcomplicated
+because MediaWiki is primarily targeted as an in-house tool.
+The MediaWiki software was written by:
* Lee Daniel Crocker
* Magnus Manske
* Jan Hidders
* Tomasz Wegrzanowski
* Erik Moeller
* Tim Starling
-* Several others
+* Gabriel Wicke
+* Ashar Voultoiz
+* Evan Prodromou
+* Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
+* Niklas Laxström
+* Domas Mituzas
+* Rob Church
+* Jens Frank
+* Yuri Astrakhan
+* Aryeh Gregor
+* Aaron Schulz
+* Several others (view CREDITS for a more complete list)
+
+The contributors hold the copyright to this work, and it is licensed under the
+terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later[1] (see
+http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html). Derivative works and later
+versions of the code must be free software licensed under the same or a
+compatible license. This includes "extensions" that use MediaWiki functions or
+variables; see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins for
+details.
+
+The Wikimedia Foundation currently has no legal rights to the software.
+
+[1] Sections of code written exclusively by Lee Crocker or Erik Moeller are also
+released into the public domain, which does not impair the obligations of users
+under the GPL for use of the whole code or other sections thereof.
+
+[2] MediaWiki makes use of the Sajax Toolkit by modernmethod,
+ http://www.modernmethod.com/sajax/
+ which has the following license:
+
+ 'This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
+ License. To view a copy of this license, visit
+ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ or send a letter
+ to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
+ Stanford, California 94305, USA.'
+
+Many thanks to the Wikimedia regulars for testing and suggestions.
-These developers hold the copyright to this work, and it is
-licensed the terms of the GNU General Public License, version
-2 (see http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html). Derivative
-works and later versions of the code will also be considered
-free software licensed under the same terms.
+The official website for MediaWiki is located at:
-The newly-founded Wikimedia Foundation currently has no
-legal rights to the software, although copyright may be
-assigned to it at a later date. Wikimedia has not funded
-any of the development work.
+ http://www.mediawiki.org/
-Sections of code written exclusively by Lee Crocker are also
-released into the public domain, wich does not impair the
-obligations of users under the GPL for use of the whole code
-or other sections thereof.
+The code is currently maintained in a Subversion repository at
+svn.wikimedia.org. See http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Subversion for details.
-Many thanks to the Wikipedia regulars for testing and
-suggestions.
+Please report bugs and make feature requests in our Bugzilla system:
-The code is currently maintained at Sourceforge under the
-project "wikipedia", module name "phase3". You can view the
-code in CVS, report bugs and make feature requests there:
+ https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/
- http://wikipedia.sourceforge.net
+Documentation and discussion on new features may be found at:
-Documentation and discussion on new features may be found
-at:
+ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ
+ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
+ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Development
- http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_development
+Extensions are listed at:
-If you are setting up your own wiki based on this software,
-it is highly recommended that you subscribe to mediawiki-l:
+ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Extensions
- http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
+If you are setting up your own wiki based on this software, it is highly
+recommended that you subscribe to mediawiki-announce:
-The mailing list is very low volume, and is intended primarily
-for announcements of new versions, bug fixes, and security
-issues.
+ https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
-PHP
+The mailing list is very low volume, and is intended primarily for announcements
+of new versions, bug fixes, and security issues.
-The code is written in PHP. Version 4.3.2 or higher is
-recommended. There are known issues with early 4.2.x
-releases.
+A higher volume support mailing list can be found at:
-MySQL
+ https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
-MediaWiki requires MySQL 3.23 or later, and PHP-MySQL.
-Version 4.0 or later is strongly recommended
+Developer discussion takes place at:
-Operating system
+ https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
-The code was written on and for Linux, and no attempt
-has been made to make it portable to other OSs. The
-math support in particular has run-time dependencies on
-things like TeTeX and GhostScript that are generally
-found in Linux but not other OSs. However, we have had
-reports of successful installation on Windows, albeit
-without TeX support.
+There is also a development and support channel #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net,
+and an unoffical support forum at www.mwusers.com.