Voodoo is not for newbies!

This page gives some nice but advanced tricks for a moin Apache setup. The directives on this page assume that you have knowledge about Apache configuration, newbies should stick to the basic setup.

1. Apache Root Wiki

This requires the Apache module "mod_rewrite" (which should be standard)

An Apache root wiki is easy, but it has limitations. Since moin needs to access certain static files (images, css, etc.), it intercepts a part of the possible WikiName namespace.

1. Install moin as normal.

2. Add the following lines to your VirtualHost config:

   •   RewriteEngine On
       RewriteLogLevel 0
       
       # Point to moin shared static files - DEPENDS ON MOIN VERSION!
       RewriteRule ^/moin_static160/(.*)$ /prefix/share/moin/htdocs/$1 [last]
       
       # Map everything else to moin cgi script
       RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /path/to/moin.cgi$1 [type=application/x-httpd-cgi]
       
       # Setting for FastCGI
       ##RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /path/to/moin.fcg$1 [type=application/x-httpd-fcgi]

The RewriteRule for FastCGI here does not work for me:

[Wed Jan 05 01:43:41 2005] [error] [client 10.0.0.1] File does not exist: /home/apache/moin/wiki/share/moin/pw/moin.fcg/RecentChanges, referer: http://moin.dahoam/StartSeite
duplo:/home/danielt# ls /home/apache/moin/wiki/share/moin/pw/moin.fcg
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  www  1088 Jan  4 23:35 /home/apache/moin/wiki/share/moin/pw/moin.fcg*

As a workaround I use this:

  RewriteRule ^/?(.*) /_Wikiscript_/moin.fcg/$1
  RewriteRule ^/_Wikiscript_/(.*) /home/apache/moin/wiki/share/moin/pw/$1 [last]

2. Root wiki on Mac OSX

This configuration intercepts all userfolder URLs like http://127.0.0.1/~yourname/ and offers a blank wiki page instead, so these instructions are offered as an exercise only. There may be a way around this problem but I don't know what it is.

Using the previous information on the moin OS X installation, you end up with a virtual host block like this:

<VirtualHost *>
   ServerName Gnarlodious
   Alias /moin_static160/ /usr/local/share/moin/htdocs/
   ScriptAlias /mywiki /usr/local/share/moin/mywiki/moin.cgi
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteRule ^/moin_static160/(.*)$ /usr/local/share/moin/htdocs/$1 [last]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /usr/local/share/moin/mywiki/moin.cgi$1 [type=application/x-httpd-cgi]
</VirtualHost> 

Remove the following <IfModule mod_alias.c> directives added on this page, as they are now redundant:

    Alias /moin_static160/ "/moinwiki/share/moin/htdocs/"
    ScriptAlias /mywiki "/moinwiki/share/moin/mywiki/moin.cgi"

Now restart Apache. You should be able to open a URL like http://127.0.0.1/HelpOnInstalling/ApacheOnMacOsx

3. Root wiki with mod python recipe

Using the above example, I got this working like this:

1. Install moin as usual and create instance
2. Use this config in httpd.conf

   • NameVirtualHost 192.115.134.51:80
     <VirtualHost 192.115.134.51:80>
         ServerName wiki.nirs.dyndns.org
         ServerAlias wiki
         
         # Rewrite urls
         RewriteEngine On
         RewriteLogLevel 0
         # map static files to htdocs
         RewriteRule ^/moin_static160/(.*)$ /usr/share/moin/htdocs/$1 [last]
         # map everything else to server script
         RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /usr/share/moin/mywiki/moinmodpy.py$1
     
         <Directory "/usr/share/moin/mywiki">
             # These are copied from the default cgi-bin directory
             AllowOverride None
             Options None
             Order allow,deny
             Allow from all
     
             # Modpy stuff
             AddHandler python-program .py
             # Add the path to the wiki directory, where moinmodpy.py and 
             # wikiconfig.py are located.
             PythonPath "['/usr/share/moin/mywiki'] + sys.path"
             PythonHandler moinmodpy
             PythonDebug On 
         </Directory>
     </VirtualHost>

It seems to be impossible to get a root modpy wiki without using the moinmodpy wrapper script.