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TWiki Installation Guide |
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- To be able to edit the Perl scripts and
.tmpl files it is necessary to chown and chgrp -R twiki so all the files have the owner you want.
- NOTE: This Guide assumes user
nobody ownership for all files manipulated by the CGI scripts (executed by the Web server), and user twiki for all other files. You can:
- replace
nobody with another user if your server executes scripts under a different name (ex: default for Debian is www-data).
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- HINT: Run the
testenv script from your browser: http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/testenv. It will show you the user name of the CGI scripts, a table listing all CGI environment variables, and a test of your twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg configuration file (you'll configure that in a minute).
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- replace user
twiki with your own username
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- The CGI scripts execute as
nobody. Set the file permission of all Perl scripts in the twiki/bin directory as executable to -rwxr-xr-x (755).
- Test your settings by running the
testenv script from your browser: http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/testenv. You should get a table listing all CGI environment variables, and a test of your twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg configuration file (you'll configure that in a minute).
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- Set the file permission of all Perl scripts in the
twiki/bin directory as executable to -rwxr-xr-x (755).
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- Set the permission of all files below
twiki/data so that they are writable by user nobody. A simple way is to chmod them to -rw-rw-r-- (664) and to chown them to nobody.
- Set the permission of the
twiki/data directory and its subdirectories so that files in there are writable by user nobody. A simple way is to chmod them to drwxrwxr-x (775) and to chown them to nobody.
- Set the permission of the
twiki/pub directory and all its subdirectories so that files in there are writable by user nobody. A simple way is to chmod them to drwxrwxr-x (775) and to chown them to nobody.
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- NOTE: The
twiki/data/*/*.txt,v RCS repository files in the installation package are locked by user nobody. If your CGI scripts are not running as user nobody, it's not possible to check in files (you'll see that the revision number won't increase after saving a topic). In this case, you need to unlock all repository files (check the RCS man pages) and lock them with a different user, ex www-data, or delete them all - new files will be automatically created the first time each topic is edited. A simple way to change ownership is with a search-and-replace in all files; for example, using sed:
for f in *,v; do sed 's/nobody\:/www-data\:/' $f > x; mv x $f; done
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Step 3: Set the Main Configuration File
- Edit the file
twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg, setting the variables to your needs.
- Set the file extension in the
$scriptSuffix variable to cgi or pl if required.
- Make sure RCS is installed. Set
$rcsDir in twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg to mach the location of your RCS binaries.
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- NOTE: The
*,v RCS repository files in the installation package are locked by user nobody. If your CGI scripts are not running as user nobody, it's not possible to check in files (you'll see that the revision number won't increase after saving a topic). In this case, you need to unlock all repository files and lock them as user www-data (check the RCS man pages), or delete them all - new files will be automatically created the first time each topic is edited. A simple way to change ownership is with a search-and-replace in all files; for example, using sed:
for f in *,v; do sed 's/nobody\:/www-data\:/' $f > x; mv x $f; done
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- Security issue: Directories
twiki/data , twiki/templates and all its subdirectories should be set so that they are not visible as a URL. (Alternatively, move the directories to a place where they are not visible, and change the variables in twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg accordingly)
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- Test your settings by running the
testenv script from your browser: http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/testenv. Check if your twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg configuration file settings are correct.
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Step 4: Finish Up from Your Browser
- Point your Web browser at
http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/view and start TWiki-ing away!
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- Edit the TWikiAdminGroup topic to include users with system administrator status.
- Edit the TWikiPreferences topic in the TWiki:TWiki
 web to set the WIKIWEBMASTER email address, the WEBCOPYRIGHT message, access privileges, and other preferences.
- Edit the WebPreferences topic in each web, if necessary: set access priviliges, individual
WEBCOPYRIGHT messages, other preferences.
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- Edit the WebNotify topic in all webs and add the users you want to notify.
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That's it for the standard virgin installation of TWiki. Read on for server-level customization options. |
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With your new TWiki installation up and running, you can manage most aspects of your site from the browser interface. Only a few functions require access to the server file system, via Telnet or FTP. You can make these server-level changes during installation, and at any time afterwards. |
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> | Enabling Authentication of Users
- If TWiki is installed on a non-authenticated server - not using SSL - and you'd like to authenticate users:
- Rename file
.htaccess.txt in the twiki/bin directory to .htaccess and change it to your needs. For details, consult the HTTP server documentation (for Apache server: [1], [2]). In particular, the following red part needs to be configured correctly:
Redirect /urlpath/to/TWiki/index.html http://your.domain.com/urlpath/to/TWiki/bin/view
AuthUserFile /filepath/to/TWiki/data/.htpasswd
ErrorDocument 401 /urlpath/to/TWiki/bin/oops/TWiki/TWikiRegistration?template=oopsauth
- NOTE: In case you renamed the CGI script files to have a file extension you need to reflect that in the
edit, view, preview, etc entries in .htaccess.
- NOTE: The browser should ask for login name and password when you click on the Edit link. In case
.htaccess does not have the desired effect you need to enable it: Add "AllowOverride All" to the Directory section of access.conf for your twiki/bin directory.
- Copy the TWikiRegistrationPub topic to TWikiRegistration. Do that by either editing the topics in theTWiki web, or by renaming the
.txt and .txt,v files in the twiki/data/TWiki directory.
- HINT: You can customize the registration form by deleting or adding input tags. The
name="" parameter of the input tags must start with: "Twk0..." (if this is an optional entry), or "Twk1..." (if this is a required entry). This ensures that the fields are processed correctly.
- Register yourself in the TWikiRegistration topic.
- NOTE: When a user registers, a new line with the username and encrypted password is added to the
data/.htpasswd file. The .htpasswd file that comes with the TWiki installation includes user accounts for TWiki core team members that are used for testing on TWiki.org. You can edit the file and delete those lines.
- Create a new topic to check if authentication works.
- Edit the TWikiAdminGroup topic in the TWiki:Main web to include users with system administrator status.
- Edit the TWikiPreferences topic in the TWiki:TWiki web to set access privileges.
- Edit the WebPreferences topic in each web, if necessary: set access priviliges.
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Adding a New Web |
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NOTE: User home topics are located in the TWiki.Main web - don't try to move them or create them in other webs. From any other web, user signatures have to point to TWiki.Main web, using a Main.UserName or %MAINWEB%.UserName format. (The %MAINWEB% variable is an advantage if you ever change the Main web name, but the standard Main.UserName is easier for users to enter, which is the bottom line! |
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< | Enabling Basic Authentication (.htaccess)
- If TWiki is installed on a non-authenticated server - not using SSL - and you'd like to authenticate users:
- Rename file
.htaccess.txt in the twiki/bin directory to .htaccess and change it to your needs. For details, consult the HTTP server documentation (for Apache server: [1], [2]). In particular, the following red part needs to be configured correctly:
Redirect /urlpath/to/TWiki/index.html http://your.domain.com/urlpath/to/TWiki/bin/view
AuthUserFile /filepath/to/TWiki/data/.htpasswd
ErrorDocument 401 /urlpath/to/TWiki/bin/oops/TWiki/TWikiRegistration?template=oopsauth
- NOTE: In case you renamed the CGI script files to have a file extension you need to reflect that in the
edit, view, preview, etc entries in .htaccess.
- NOTE: The browser should ask for login name and password when you click on the Edit link. In case
.htaccess does not have the desired effect you need to enable it: Add "AllowOverride All" to the Directory section of access.conf for your twiki/bin directory.
- Copy the TWikiRegistrationPub topic to TWikiRegistration. Do that by either editing the topics in theTWiki web, or by renaming the
.txt and .txt,v files in the twiki/data/TWiki directory.
- You can customize the registration form by deleting or adding input tags. The
name="" parameter of the input tags must start with: "Twk0..." (if this is an optional entry), or "Twk1..." (if this is a required entry). This ensures that the fields are processed correctly.
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- NOTE: When a user registers, a new line with the username and encrypted password is added to the
data/.htpasswd file. The .htpasswd file that comes with the TWiki installation includes user accounts for TWiki core team members that are used for testing on TWiki.org. You can edit the file and delete those lines.
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| | TWiki File System Info
See Appendix A: TWiki File System for an installed system snapshot and descriptions of all files in the TWiki 01-Sep-2001 distribution. |
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