Migration from MediaWiki to BlueSpice

Before you start

It is important to check the compatibility of your current MediaWiki installation and the BlueSpice version to which you want to migrate:

  • BlueSpice Version 3.x is based on MediaWiki 1.31.x
  • BlueSpice version 4.x is based on MediaWiki 1.35.x

Backup

Create a full backup of your current installation. Commands may differ depending on your operating system.

  1. Create a directory to store the backup:
    mkdir -p /opt/mediawiki-migration-backup/{db,web}

  2. Create the database dump:
    mysqldump -u DB_USER_OR_ROOT -p MEDIAWIKI_DATABASE_NAME > /opt/mediawiki-migration-backup/db/database.sql

  3. Copy everything in the web root to the backup folder:
    cp -Rvf /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/* /opt/mediawiki-migration-backup/web/

We will use this backup later for the migration process as well.

Preparing the migration

You can create a separate user account and database for BlueSpice. This step is optional but recommended. The following steps are based on such a separately created user and database.

If you choose not to create a separate user account and database, replace the following commands accordingly.

  1. Create a MySQL/MariaDB user via MySQL CLI:
    CREATE USER 'bluespice'@'localhost' IDENFITIED BY 'PleaseChooseAComplexPassword';
    

  2. Create a database for BlueSpice via MySQL CLI:
    CREATE DATABASE bluespice;
    

  3. Grant the required privileges for the bluespice user to the bluespice database via MySQL CLI:
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON bluespice.* TO 'bluespice'@'localhost';
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    
    Now we have an empty SQL database and are ready to import.

Importing the data

  1. Import the SQL dump from the backup you created earlier:
    mysql -u bluespice -p bluespice < /opt/mediawiki-migration-backup/db/database.sql
    
    After this command, enter the password you chose for the bluespice database user.
  2. Next, clean up the old installation folder and create an empty one.
    rm -Rf /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/
    
    and
    mkdir -p /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/
    

  3. Next, extract the BlueSpice package and place it into the /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/
    cd /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/
    

  4. Copy the images folder from the backup to the /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/ :
    cp -Rf /opt/mediawiki-migration-backup/images .
    
  5. Set the correct permissions based on your operating system to the folder /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/ .

Configuration settings

  1. In /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/, create a new file named LocalSettings.php and copy the following content into the file:
    <?php
    # This file was automatically generated by the MediaWiki 1.35.3
    # installer. If you make manual changes, please keep track in case you
    # need to recreate them later.
    #
    # See includes/DefaultSettings.php for all configurable settings
    # and their default values, but don't forget to make changes in _this_
    # file, not there.
    #
    # Further documentation for configuration settings may be found at:
    # https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Configuration_settings
    
    # Protect against web entry
    if ( !defined( 'MEDIAWIKI' ) ) {
    	exit;
    }
    
    
    ## Uncomment this to disable output compression
    # $wgDisableOutputCompression = true;
    
    $wgSitename = "YOUR_WIKI_NAME";
    
    ## The URL base path to the directory containing the wiki;
    ## defaults for all runtime URL paths are based off of this.
    ## For more information on customizing the URLs
    ## (like /w/index.php/Page_title to /wiki/Page_title) please see:
    ## https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL
    $wgScriptPath = "/w"; # <--- PLEASE CHECK YOUR DOCUMENTROOT
    
    ## The protocol and server name to use in fully-qualified URLs
    $wgServer = "http(s)://your-domain.ltd";
    
    ## The URL path to static resources (images, scripts, etc.)
    $wgResourceBasePath = $wgScriptPath;
    
    ## The URL paths to the logo.  Make sure you change this from the default,
    ## or else you'll overwrite your logo when you upgrade!
    $wgLogos = [ '1x' => "$wgResourceBasePath/resources/assets/wiki.png" ];
    
    ## UPO means: this is also a user preference option
    
    $wgEnableEmail = true;
    $wgEnableUserEmail = true; # UPO
    
    $wgEmergencyContact = "nomail@localhost.localdomain";
    $wgPasswordSender = "nomail@localhost.localdomain";
    
    $wgEnotifUserTalk = false; # UPO
    $wgEnotifWatchlist = false; # UPO
    $wgEmailAuthentication = true;
    
    ## Database settings
    $wgDBtype = "mysql";
    $wgDBserver = "YOUR_DATABASE_SERVER";
    $wgDBname = "bluespice";
    $wgDBuser = "bluespice";
    $wgDBpassword = "PleaseChooseAComplexPassword";
    
    # MySQL specific settings
    $wgDBprefix = "";
    
    # MySQL table options to use during installation or update
    $wgDBTableOptions = "ENGINE=InnoDB, DEFAULT CHARSET=binary";
    
    # Shared database table
    # This has no effect unless $wgSharedDB is also set.
    $wgSharedTables[] = "actor";
    
    ## Shared memory settings
    $wgMainCacheType = CACHE_NONE;
    $wgMemCachedServers = [];
    
    ## To enable image uploads, make sure the 'images' directory
    ## is writable, then set this to true:
    $wgEnableUploads = false;
    $wgUseImageMagick = true;
    $wgImageMagickConvertCommand = "/usr/bin/convert";
    
    # InstantCommons allows wiki to use images from https://commons.wikimedia.org
    $wgUseInstantCommons = false;
    
    # Periodically send a pingback to https://www.mediawiki.org/ with basic data
    # about this MediaWiki instance. The Wikimedia Foundation shares this data
    # with MediaWiki developers to help guide future development efforts.
    $wgPingback = false;
    
    ## If you use ImageMagick (or any other shell command) on a
    ## Linux server, this will need to be set to the name of an
    ## available UTF-8 locale. This should ideally be set to an English
    ## language locale so that the behaviour of C library functions will
    ## be consistent with typical installations. Use $wgLanguageCode to
    ## localise the wiki.
    $wgShellLocale = "C.UTF-8";
    
    ## Set $wgCacheDirectory to a writable directory on the web server
    ## to make your wiki go slightly faster. The directory should not
    ## be publicly accessible from the web.
    #$wgCacheDirectory = "$IP/cache";
    
    # Site language code, should be one of the list in ./languages/data/Names.php
    $wgLanguageCode = "en";
    
    $wgSecretKey = "68a265061a4101d0d3dee2a06eeb734abaa6710a7dbe103838f2a26a50fc7835";
    
    # Changing this will log out all existing sessions.
    $wgAuthenticationTokenVersion = "1";
    
    # Site upgrade key. Must be set to a string (default provided) to turn on the
    # web installer while LocalSettings.php is in place
    $wgUpgradeKey = "8775d57b99d672b8";
    
    ## For attaching licensing metadata to pages, and displaying an
    ## appropriate copyright notice / icon. GNU Free Documentation
    ## License and Creative Commons licenses are supported so far.
    $wgRightsPage = ""; # Set to the title of a wiki page that describes your license/copyright
    $wgRightsUrl = "";
    $wgRightsText = "";
    $wgRightsIcon = "";
    
    # Path to the GNU diff3 utility. Used for conflict resolution.
    $wgDiff3 = "/usr/bin/diff3";
    
    ## Default skin: you can change the default skin. Use the internal symbolic
    ## names, ie 'vector', 'monobook':
    $wgDefaultSkin = "bluespicediscovery";
    
    # End of automatically generated settings.
    # Add more configuration options below.
    
    
    # This is the main settings file for all BlueSpice extensions and settings
    # It will include all files in "$IP/settings.d/" directory
    require_once "$IP/LocalSettings.BlueSpice.php";
    
    
    $wgUserMergeProtectedGroups = array();
    $wgUserMergeUnmergeable = array();
    $wgMetaNamespace = 'Project';
    $bsgGroupRoles['*']['reader'] = false;
    
    # Convenience for debugging
    # $wgShowSQLErrors = true;
    # $wgDebugDumpSql  = true;
    # $wgShowExceptionDetails = true;
    # $wgShowDBErrorBacktrace = true;
    
  2. Edit this LocalSettings.php and set the correct values to fit your installation. This current LocalSettings.php might look like different from your MediaWiki installation, because BlueSpice comes with a separate folder for custom settings (settings.d).

Migrating the system

The system is ready to migrate.

  1. Run the following script to start the migration:
    php /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/maintenance/update.php --quick
    
    Now BlueSpice should be reachable.
  2. Execute the following additional scripts:
    php /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/maintenance/rebuildall.php 
    #Finally for the search index (ElasticSearch 6.x and ingest-attachment plugins must be installed) php /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/extensions/BlueSpiceExtendedSearch/maintenance/initBackends.php --quick
    php /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/extensions/BlueSpiceExtendedSearch/maintenance/rebuildIndex.php --quick
    php /PATH/TO/MEDIAWIKI/FOLDER/maintenance/runJobs.php --memory-limit=max
    

Your migration is complete and your BlueSpice is ready to use!

You can use your old credentials to login.


Questions? Visit the BlueSpice help forum on sourceforge.net.





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