NOTE: This is a DistributionDocument. Please help maintain high quality documentation: This is a wiki, please fix the documentation if you find errors or incomplete content. Put questions and suggestions concerning the documentation of this topic in the comments section below. Use the Support web for problems you are having using TWiki.

Administrator Skills Assumptions

: If you aren't already fairly well-skilled in Linux/Unix/Windows, Apache, and so on, consider using TWiki:Codev.TWikiVMDebianStable - this can be installed on Windows or Linux, and makes it possible to get a working TWiki system within 5 minutes (after a fairly big download), ready to use from your browser. This is ideal for personal use or evaluations - if you decide to go for production use then these AdminSkillsAssumptions apply to some degree, but you are starting from a working system.

If you need to install TWiki you'll need to either have or learn the following skills (even with TWiki:Codev.TWikiVMDebianStable, you'll need these for upgrades). For each of these, the requirement is either pre-existing knowledge/skill, or the willingness to spend significant time (i.e. from hours to days) learning them:

• Operating system administration: Ability to use Unix/Linux command line tools (or equivalent Windows tools), including ability to move/copy/delete files, change permissions, view web server log files, set environment variables, use a text editor, etc.
• Web server administration: Ability to do basic setup, e.g. ability to edit config files or use GUI configuration tools to enable CGI scripts on a directory.
• Program compilation: Where Revision Control System (RCS) is not pre-installed (that is most Unix systems), the ability to download and compile the RCS program from source, including use of configure, make, etc. This is often not necessary on Linux or Windows.
• Troubleshooting: Ability to perform tests, inspect error logs, talk to technical support (whether in an IT department or web hosting provider) and read documentation in order to help with diagnosing installation problems.

Installing TWiki is not recommended for people who only know HTML and web design, unless they are willing to learn the above, or team up with someone who can handle the installation.

Although the TWikiInstallationGuide is quite complete, there will, on occasion, be parts that don't work in your local environment (particularly with TWiki:Codev/TWikiOnWebHostingSites, which are sometimes challenging even for those with good OS and web server skills).

There are many excellent resources for learning how to administer your OS and web server, including books, web sites, web forums, IM, and e-mail lists. The TWiki:Support web must not be depended on as a resource for this purpose - in other words, it is not there to answer basic questions about operating system and web server administration. Asking and answering questions is time consuming for all concerned and is best used for specific TWiki related issues, rather than helping you learn the OS and web server.

To get started with Linux, visit LinuxBasics.org. LinuxBasics.org offers Linux tutorials, a mailing list and an IRC channel to answer questions, and links to sites with information to install and use Linux. : LinuxBasics.org now also offers a downloadable Linux 'virtual machine' (LBox) that runs on Windows - you can use this as a completely safe learning environment, and feel free to make mistakes without any chance of damaging your Windows setup.

A nice tool for people migrating from Windows is http://www.MidnightCommander.org/. It is already installed on Linux systems: try mc -ac and ESC 1 to get help.

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory

Comments & Questions about this Distribution Document Topic

Here's a first cut at the skills required to install TWiki - comments welcome!

-- RichardDonkin - 27 Apr 2002

This looks like a pretty good guideline to me. It probably would have worked in discouraging me from taking on installing TWiki on my hosted domain. Sure am glad it wasn't up when I got started Despite the steep learning curve, I've totally enjoyed my experience with TWiki AND learning about all these things I didn't know I needed to know...

Seriously, I think it would be useful to include this as a kind of disclaimer/warning at the beginning of the installation guide. It would probably save some people the heart-ache of launching into an installation only to get totally confounded the first time something goes wrong.

It might also be worthwhile to include a statement along the lines of your last paragraph into the TWiki.org Support web. I'm sure I've been guilty of the sins of which you speak .

Having said all this, I would also (somewhat timidly) suggest that TWiki is at a stage in its development where it could use feedback from non-technical users and even administrators. Perhaps there could be a space for folks to offer to mentor non-technical folks who really want to use this unique and incredibly promising tool.

-- LynnwoodBrown - 27 Apr 2002

Good start. I'll put here couple of good links later to help people who (as LynnwoodBrown) are willing to invest time and learn.

Mentoring is fine, but we need to distinguish TWiki-related mentoring, and "UNIX Admin Quick and Easy" related stuff. There are many sites full of it, why waste time here? Still fine if somebody volunteers...

-- PeterMasiar - 29 Apr 2002

I hope the above is not too harsh, but there was someone recently (not present on this page ) who seemed to think that TWiki should be installable by anyone who knew HTML and web design, and didn't seem to be willing to go away and learn about things, despite being given quite a few pointers...

We should probably put in some less grim words about 'TWiki as a learning adventure' - for those who want to learn, it's a great opportunity to find out a lot more about Unix/Linux and web servers such as Apache. I wouldn't recommend IIS for newbies though, as some people have had to switch to Apache to get TWiki and RCS working (spot the ease-of-use irony there )

The idea is, however, to put off people who think TWiki installation should be point and click, because it won't be, particularly on web hosts, and they'll end up being disappointed. However, those who go in expecting it to take hours to weeks, but to also learn a lot about the OS and web server, are more than welcome, and are less likely to end up failing to install TWiki.

I've made a few updates to the skills bullets above.

-- RichardDonkin - 30 Apr 2002

Most packages simply have a README or INSTALL with a bunch of steps. Installing lots of full-blown content management/weblog/Web portal systems is no more than loading tables and data into, typically, MySQL? , untarring/de-zipping the whole package, and setting a few paths in a config file. So the only skills necessary to installing and having GUI admin/config access to some very Big Applications (as far as what they can do), especially when you have your hands on the well-publicized, often preinstalled phpMyAdmin MySQL? manager that lets you suck up .sql files from the browser (no command line action, no shell access required), is knowing paths on your (often ISP) server. And the couple of other Perl Wikis I've tried have been dead simple to install, just permissions, no db. And the line between skills necessary to install TWiki, and to configure it, are blurry here. The Windows issue skews it as well: for Web scripts - Perl, PHP - the "default" has been Unix/Apache, so it depends where you're coming from, but subtract Win, and installation of scripts - thousands, as in http://hotscripts.com - is simple. All this for the most part and increasingly, on a Linux/Apache ISP-hosted virtual account, no root server access, and even with single shared database compatibility (table prefixes).

On the other hand, printing out the brief installation instructions for RCS would probably raise the barrier sufficiently without getting directly involved.

-- MikeMannix - 15 May 2002

Haven't been here in a while. No replies here since 2002?

I recently reinstalled TWiki with mySQL access and ftp only on a unix webserver, so it can be done. I am totally inexperienced when it comes to "root access." It took about three or four days the first time, second time, and third time lol. This most recent, about a month ago went reasonable well. (Edit) I just found TWiki:Codev/TWikiOnWebHostingSites so came back and added it. It may need clarification on getting admin permissions, as that was a major, major hassle for me.

-- BruceRProchnau - 17 Nov 2004

I replaced http://basiclinux.net/ with http://linuxbasics.org/ since the former one no longer offers the free distance-learning course.

-- PeterThoeny - 09 May 2005

I installed TWiki on my system, in which there is no login system, i.e. i can browse by different users via TWikiUsers, so I want to ask for the password and username before giving access to the Twiki, Also I want to know how the Twiki session key is generated? As I want to pass those parameters to the CAS server so that it will authenticate users on behalf of Twiki, I am quite inexperienced in this case so please help me on this. my email id dandgelb@rediffmailPLEASENOSPAM.com

-- LalitDandge - 03 Apr 2006

This section is about the documentation. Please ask support questions in the Support web.

-- PeterThoeny - 03 Apr 2006

RichardDonkin, could you please make the changes also in SVN's MAIN and Patch04x01 branch?

-- PeterThoeny - 08 Mar 2007

Reverted spoiled revision due to WYSIWYG editor bugs, and re-added contribution done by PeterBlaise.

-- PeterThoeny - 19 Apr 2007

There are some highly automated installation methods now, which change these skills assumptions quite significantly. Two examples are TWikiOnUbuntu and TWikiOnDebian, in which a functioning TWiki with all dependencies takes only a single command line to install, and even covers upgrades, since TWiki is upgraded when the underlying Ubuntu or Debian distribution is upgraded (which is itself highly automated.)

Other examples are TWikiInstaller and TWikiVMDebianStable, although the latter has not been upgraded for a long time, partly because it was done before TWikiOnDebian had a recent version of TWiki. However, once TWiki is installed there will still be some need for these admin skills, particularly for troubleshooting - and in some ways the more automated installers mean that fewer people will gain these skills through a painful installation process. Although the positive side is that far more people will be able to install and use TWiki, which is the main goal.

-- RichardDonkin - 21 Oct 2007

What about helping the less experienced admins and first time installers a little bit by telling them where to go to find help? E.g. explictly guiding them to some helpfull ressources. We have just a single link like this: "To get started with Linux, visit http://LinuxBasics.org" .

What I'm thinking of is something like this:

• Operating system administration: Ability to use Unix/Linux command line tools (or equivalent Windows tools), including ability to move/copy/delete files, change permissions, view web server log files, set environment variables, use a text editor, etc.
  • If you need help on this one, please visit http://UsefullWebsite1.com, http://UsefullWebsite2.com and http://UsefullWebsite3.com
• Web server administration: Ability to do basic setup, e.g. ability to edit config files or use GUI configuration tools to enable CGI scripts on a directory.
  • If you need help on this one, please visit http://WebServerInfoSite1.com, http://WebServerInfoSite2.com

If we want to spread TWiki we should help those people who are no hard core techies but nevertheless interested in using and installing twiki (like me).

Is this topic generated from subversion or can we simply add some links here on this topic?

-- CarloSchulz - 08 Nov 2007

Yes, that makes sense Carlo. This is a DistributionDocument, ideally maintained in SVN. I will sync changes done here to SVN (for those without SVN access.)

-- PeterThoeny - 12 Nov 2007