Editing Mediawiki installation, customization and operation (section)

==Operation==
===Backups===
Backups should cover the wiki installation (SQL backups must be made by proper script, not by simply copying a file!), as well as a static copy of a wiki to be used in case the database is corrupted during file transfer.
===Defending against spammers and vandals===

The best method is QuestyCaptcha.

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
require_once "$IP/extensions/ConfirmEdit/QuestyCaptcha.php";
$wgCaptchaClass = 'QuestyCaptcha';
</syntaxhighlight>

====Allowing only registered users to edit the wiki====
This is a measure that was deemed necessary after two years of daily undo-and-block warfare against spammers.
To set it, use in <tt>LocalSettings.php</tt>:
<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createpage'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createtalk'] = false;
</syntaxhighlight>

====Disabling registration of new users====
This is a temporary measure, to be used as a stopgap against large attacks, until a permanent effective measure has been found.
====Disallowing users to create new pages====
Again, a temporary measure. For attacks which are not so heavy as to warrant disabling registration of new users, and in which spammers are weeded out manually. Several hours may pass between verifications of edits, in which a spammer can create many new pages. Works for attacks centered on new page creation. To set this, use 
<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['createpage'] = false;
</syntaxhighlight>
in <tt>LocalSettings.php</tt> .

====Disabling media uploads====
To disable uploads via the web interface, set
<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
$wgEnableUploads = false;
</syntaxhighlight>
in <tt>LocalSettings.php</tt> .
To upload images from the command line, without using the web interface, use
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
php wiki/maintenance/importImages.php /path/to/dir/with/images extensions
</syntaxhighlight>
If file permission problems are encountered, then
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
chmod -R g+w wiki/images
</syntaxhighlight>