MediaWiki

MediaWiki (hereinafter, the Software) is a free and open-source wiki software. The Software was originally developed for Wikipedia, but now the Software runs on many websites and has become the dominant software in its category. The Software is written in the PHP programming language and stores the contents into a set of databases.

The software is optimized to efficiently handle large projects, which can have terabytes of content and hundreds of thousands of hits per second. According to MediaWiki, achieving scalability through multiple layers of caching and database replication has been a major concern for developers. The software has more than 900 configuration settings and more than 1,900 extensions available for enabling various features to be added or changed.

On Wikipedia alone, more than 1000 automated and semi-automated bots and other tools have been developed to assist in editing. It has also been deployed by some companies as an internal knowledge management system, and some educators have assigned students to use the Software for collaborative group projects.

Permitted user roles

Permitted user roles are specific access and ability permissions that can be assigned to customizable user groups.

List of permissions

The following user rights are available in the version of MediaWiki that is used as CNM Wikiware.

Right	Description	User groups that have this right
192--> Reading
read	WhitelistRead>	*, user
193--> Editing
applychangetags	applychangetags	user
autocreateaccount	autocreateaccount - 210--> a more limited version of createaccount	—
createaccount	createaccount - register / registration	*
createpage	1>edit</> right	*, user
createtalk	1>edit</> right	*, user
edit	edit	*, user
editsemiprotected	editsemiprotected - 79--> without cascading protection	autoconfirmed
editprotected	editprotected - 78--> without cascading protection	sysop
move	1>edit</> right	user
move-categorypages	1>move</> right)	user
move-rootuserpages	1>move</> right	user
move-subpages	1>move</> right	user
movefile	1>move</> right and <tvar|AllowImageMoving>{{ll|Manual:$wgAllowImageMoving|$wgAllowImageMoving</> to be true	user
reupload	1>upload</> right	user
reupload-own	1>upload</> right (note that this is not needed if the group already has the <tvar|reupload>reupload</> right)	—
reupload-shared	1>upload</> right)	user
sendemail	sendemail	user
upload	1>edit</> right	user
upload_by_url	1>upload</> right
194--> Management
bigdelete	bigdelete	sysop
block	block - 92--> Block options include preventing editing and registering new accounts, and autoblocking other users on the same IP address	sysop
blockemail	blockemail - 93--> allows preventing use of the Special:Emailuser interface when blocking	sysop
browsearchive	browsearchive - 89--> through Special:Undelete	sysop
changetags	changetags - 104--> currently unused by extensions	user
delete	1>'undelete'</> right, see below	sysop
deletedhistory	deletedhistory	sysop
deletedtext	deletedtext	sysop
deletelogentry	deletelogentry - 121--> allows deleting/undeleting information (action text, summary, user who made the action) of specific log entries (not available by default)	—
deleterevision	deleterevision - 122--> allows deleting/undeleting information (revision text, edit summary, user who made the edit) of specific revisions 123--> Split into deleterevision and deletelogentry in 1.20 (not available by default)	—
editcontentmodel	editcontentmodel
editinterface	editinterface - 106--> contains [[<tvar|man>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Interface</>|interface messages]]	sysop, interface-admin
editmyoptions	editmyoptions	*
editmyprivateinfo	editmyprivateinfo	*
editmyusercss	editmyusercss	*
editmyuserjs	editmyuserjs	*
editmyuserjson	editmyuserjson	user
editmywatchlist	editmywatchlist	*
editsitecss	editsitecss	interface-admin
editsitejs	editsitejs	interface-admin
editsitejson	editsitejson	interface-admin	1.32+
editusercss	editusercss	interface-admin	1.16+
edituserjs	edituserjs	interface-admin	1.16+
edituserjson	edituserjson	interface-admin	1.31+
hideuser	hideuser - 94--> (not available by default) 212--> Only users with 1000 edits or less can be suppressed by default. 213--> Use <tvar|HideUserContribLimit>{{wg|HideUserContribLimit</> to disable.	—	1.10+
markbotedits	markbotedits - 101--> see [[<tvar|man>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Administrators#Rollback</>|Manual:Administrators#Rollback]]	sysop	1.12+
mergehistory	mergehistory	sysop	1.12+
pagelang	PageLanguageUseDB>{{ll|Manual:$wgPageLanguageUseDB|$wgPageLanguageUseDB</> must be true	—	1.24+
patrol	UseRCPatrol>{{ll|Manual:$wgUseRCPatrol|$wgUseRCPatrol</> must be true	sysop	1.5+
patrolmarks	patrolmarks	—	1.16+
protect	protect	sysop	1.5+
rollback	rollback	sysop	1.5+
suppressionlog	suppressionlog	—	1.6+
suppressrevision	suppressrevision - 119--> Prior to 1.13 this right was named hiderevision (not available by default)	—	1.6+
unblockself	unblockself - 96--> Without it, an administrator that has the capability to block cannot unblock themselves if blocked by another administrator	sysop	1.17+
undelete	undelete	sysop	1.12+
userrights	userrights - 97--> allows the assignment or removal of all* groups to any user. 98--> With <tvar|AddGroups>{{ll|Manual:$wgAddGroups|$wgAddGroups</> and <tvar|RemoveGroups>{{ll|Manual:$wgRemoveGroups|$wgRemoveGroups</> you can set the possibility to add/remove certain groups instead of all	bureaucrat	1.5+
userrights-interwiki	userrights-interwiki	—	1.12+
viewmyprivateinfo	viewmyprivateinfo	*	1.22+
viewmywatchlist	viewmywatchlist	*	1.22+
viewsuppressed	viewsuppressed - 120--> i.e. a more narrow alternative to "suppressrevision" (not available by default)	—	1.24+
195--> Administration
autopatrol	UseRCPatrol>{{ll|Manual:$wgUseRCPatrol|$wgUseRCPatrol</> must be true	bot, sysop	1.9+
import	import - 126--> “transwiki”	sysop	1.5+
importupload	importupload - 128--> This right was called 'importraw' in and before version 1.5	sysop	1.5+
managechangetags	managechangetags - 132--> currently unused by extensions	sysop	1.25+
siteadmin	siteadmin - 124--> which blocks all interactions with the web site except viewing. 125--> Disabled by default	—	1.5+
unwatchedpages	unwatchedpages - 131--> lists pages that no user has watchlisted	sysop	1.6+
196--> Technical
apihighlimits	apihighlimits	bot, sysop	1.12+
autoconfirmed	autoconfirmed - 145--> used for the 'autoconfirmed' group, see the other table below for more information	autoconfirmed, bot, sysop	1.6+
bot	bot - 134--> can optionally be viewed	bot	1.5+
ipblock-exempt	ipblock-exempt	sysop	1.9+
minoredit	minoredit	user	1.6+
nominornewtalk	nominornewtalk - 137--> requires minor edit right	bot	1.9+
noratelimit	noratelimit - 138--> not affected by [[<tvar|man>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:$wgRateLimits</>|rate limits]] (prior to the introduction of this right, the configuration variable <tvar|RateLimitsExcludedGroups>{{ll|Manual:$wgRateLimitsExcludedGroups|$wgRateLimitsExcludedGroups</> was used for this purpose)	sysop, bureaucrat	1.13+
purge	purge - 135--> [[<tvar|man>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:URL</>|URL parameter]] "&action=purge"	user	1.10+
suppressredirect	suppressredirect	bot, sysop	1.12+
writeapi	writeapi	*, user, bot

List of groups

The following groups are available in the latest version of MediaWiki.</translate> <translate> If you are using an older version then some of these may not be implemented. </translate>

Template:Hl2 | <translate> Group</translate>	Template:Hl2 | <translate> Description</translate>	Template:Hl2 | <translate> Default rights</translate>	Template:Hl2 | <translate> Versions</translate>
*	<translate> all users (including anonymous).</translate>	createaccount, createpage, createtalk, edit, editmyoptions, editmyprivateinfo, editmyusercss, editmyuserjs, editmywatchlist, read, viewmyprivateinfo, viewmywatchlist, writeapi	1.5+
user	<translate> registered accounts.</translate>	applychangetags, changetags, createpage, createtalk, edit, minoredit, move, move-categorypages, move-rootuserpages, move-subpages, movefile, purge, read, reupload, reupload-shared, sendemail, upload, writeapi
autoconfirmed	AutoConfirmAge>Template:Ll</> and having at least as many edits as <tvar|AutoConfirmCount>Template:Ll</>.</translate>	autoconfirmed, editsemiprotected	1.6+
bot	<translate> accounts with the bot right (intended for automated scripts).</translate>	autoconfirmed, autopatrol, apihighlimits, bot, editsemiprotected, nominornewtalk, suppressredirect, writeapi	1.5+
sysop	<translate> users who by default can delete and restore pages, block and unblock users, et cetera.</translate>	apihighlimits, autoconfirmed, autopatrol, bigdelete, block, blockemail, browsearchive, createaccount, delete, deletedhistory, deletedtext, editinterface, editprotected, editsemiprotected, editusercss, edituserjs, import, importupload, ipblock-exempt, managechangetags, markbotedits, mergehistory, move, move-categorypages, move-rootuserpages, move-subpages, movefile, noratelimit, patrol, protect, proxyunbannable, reupload, reupload-shared, rollback, suppressredirect, unblockself, undelete, unwatchedpages, upload, upload_by_url	1.5+
bureaucrat	<translate> users who by default can change other users' rights.</translate>	noratelimit, userrights	1.5+

<translate> From MW 1.12, you can create your own groups into which users are automatically promoted (as with autoconfirmed and emailconfirmed) using <tvar|AutoPromote>Template:Ll</>.</translate> <translate> You can even create any custom group by just assigning rights to them.

Default rights

The default rights are defined in <tvar|DefaultSettings>Template:Ll</>.</translate> <translate>

• Default values in HEAD version:</translate> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/MW/browse/master/includes/DefaultSettings.php

<translate>

• The default values in the latest stable MediaWiki release, version Template:MW stable branch number, are available here:</translate> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/MW/browse/{{#invoke:Version%7Cget%7Cstable%7Cgit}}/includes/DefaultSettings.php

<translate>

• Additional rights: you should be able to list all the permissions available on your wiki by running <tvar|getAllRights>User::getAllRights()</>.

</translate>

Template:Anchor <translate>

Adding new rights

</translate> <translate> Information for coders only follows.</translate>

<translate> If you're adding a new right in core, for instance to [[<tvar|man>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Special pages</>|control a new special page]], you are required to add it to the list of available rights in <tvar|User>Template:Ll</>, $mCoreRights ([<tvar|url>https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/135312/73/includes/User.php</> example]).</translate> <translate> If you're {{<tvar|man>ll|Manual:Developing extensions</>|doing so in an extension}}, you instead need to use <tvar|AvailableRights>Template:Ll</>.

You probably also want to assign it to some user group by editing <tvar|GroupPermissions>Template:Ll</> described above.

If you want this right to be accessible to external applications by <tvar|OAuth>Template:Ll</> or by [[<tvar|botpasswords>Manual:Bot passwords</>|bot passwords]], then you will need to add it to a grant by editing <tvar|GrantPermissions>Template:Ll</>.</translate>

<source lang="php"> // create ninja-powers right $wgAvailableRights[] = 'ninja-powers';

//add ninja-powers to the ninja-group $wgGroupPermissions['ninja']['ninja-powers'] = true;

//add ninja-powers to the 'basic' grant so we can use our ninja powers over an API request $wgGrantPermissions['basic']['ninja-powers'] = true; </source>

Security

As any open-source software, the Wiki is vulnerable to external attacks:

• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Security
• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Security_for_developers

Getting started

• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list
• Localise MediaWiki for your language
• Learn how to combat spam on your wiki