README

   1 2008-11-11
   2
   3 For system requirements, installation and upgrade details, see the files
   4 RELEASE-NOTES, INSTALL, and UPGRADE.
   5
   6 == MediaWiki ==
   7
   8 MediaWiki is the software used for Wikipedia [http://www.wikipedia.org/] and the
   9 other Wikimedia Foundation websites. Compared to other wikis, it has an
  10 excellent range of features and support for high-traffic websites using
  11 multiple servers (Wikimedia sites peak in the 60000+ requests per second range
  12 as of November 2008).
  13
  14 While quite usable on smaller sites, you may find you have to "roll your own"
  15 local documentation, and some aspects of configuration may seem overcomplicated
  16 because MediaWiki is primarily targeted as an in-house tool.
  17
  18 The MediaWiki software was written by:
  19 * Lee Daniel Crocker
  20 * Magnus Manske
  21 * Jan Hidders
  22 * Brion Vibber
  23 * Axel Boldt
  24 * Geoffrey T. Dairiki
  25 * Tomasz Wegrzanowski
  26 * Erik Moeller
  27 * Tim Starling
  28 * Gabriel Wicke
  29 * Ashar Voultoiz
  30 * Evan Prodromou
  31 * Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
  32 * Niklas Laxström
  33 * Domas Mituzas
  34 * Rob Church
  35 * Jens Frank
  36 * Yuri Astrakhan
  37 * Aryeh Gregor
  38 * Aaron Schulz
  39 * Several others (view CREDITS for a more complete list)
  40
  41 The contributors hold the copyright to this work, and it is licensed under the
  42 terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later[1] (see
  43 http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html). Derivative works and later
  44 versions of the code must be free software licensed under the same or a
  45 compatible license. This includes "extensions" that use MediaWiki functions or
  46 variables; see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins for
  47 details.
  48
  49 The Wikimedia Foundation currently has no legal rights to the software.
  50
  51 [1] Sections of code written exclusively by Lee Crocker or Erik Moeller are also
  52 released into the public domain, which does not impair the obligations of users
  53 under the GPL for use of the whole code or other sections thereof.
  54
  55 [2] MediaWiki makes use of the Sajax Toolkit by modernmethod,
  56         http://www.modernmethod.com/sajax/
  57     which has the following license:
  58
  59        'This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
  60         License. To view a copy of this license, visit
  61         http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ or send a letter
  62         to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
  63         Stanford, California 94305, USA.'
  64
  65 Many thanks to the Wikimedia regulars for testing and suggestions.
  66
  67 The official website for MediaWiki is located at:
  68
  69   http://www.mediawiki.org/
  70
  71 The code is currently maintained in a Subversion repository at
  72 svn.wikimedia.org. See http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Subversion for details.
  73
  74 Please report bugs and make feature requests in our Bugzilla system:
  75
  76   https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/
  77
  78 Documentation and discussion on new features may be found at:
  79
  80   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ
  81   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
  82   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Development
  83
  84 Extensions are listed at:
  85
  86   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Extensions
  87
  88 If you are setting up your own wiki based on this software, it is highly
  89 recommended that you subscribe to mediawiki-announce:
  90
  91   https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
  92
  93 The mailing list is very low volume, and is intended primarily for announcements
  94 of new versions, bug fixes, and security issues.
  95
  96 A higher volume support mailing list can be found at:
  97
  98   https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
  99
 100 Developer discussion takes place at:
 101
 102   https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
 103
 104 There is also a development and support channel #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net,
 105 and an unoffical support forum at www.mwusers.com.