TWiki . TWiki . TWikiDocumentation

Documentation of the TWiki Implementation (version 01 Feb 2003)

(1) Login Username vs. Wiki Username
(2) Wiki Variables
(3) Notification of Changes by Email
(4) TWiki Category Table
(5) Implementation Notes
(6) Installation Notes

(1) Login Username vs. Wiki Username

TWiki manages internally two usernames: Login username and Wiki username.

Login username: When you login to the Intranet you use your login username, e.g. thoeny. TWiki uses this name internally to log who changed topics.

Wiki username: Is your name in WikiNotation, e.g. PeterThoeny. When you create your own home page topic, you should use your WikiName for the topic name. Like that, your name will be linked automatically where ever it is used. Please create your home page in TWiki.Main, not any other TWiki web.

Note: When you write a WikiName of a user (your own or somebody else's) be sure to specify the Main web in front of the Wiki user name, e.g. write it as Main.wikiUsername. This assures that the name will be linked automatically to the TWiki.Main web, even if the text is written in a different Wiki web.

TWiki can map the Intranet username to the Wiki username automatically, provided that the Login username and Wiki username pair has been entered in the TWikiUsers topic.

(2) Wiki Variables

TWiki Variables

Special text strings expand on the fly to display user data or system info

TWikiVariables are text strings - %VARIABLE% - that expand into content whenever a page is opened. When a topic is rendered for viewing, VARIABLES are replaced by data, either user-entered, or info automatically generated by TWiki (like the date, or the current username). There are predefined variables, and Preference variables that you configure. You can also define custom variables, with new names and values.

Predefined Variables

Most predefined variables return values that were either set in the lib/twiki.cfg file, when TWiki was installed, or taken from server info (like current username, or date and time). Many of the variables let you format the appearance of the display results.

Take the time to thoroughly read through ALL preference variables. If you actively configure your site, review variables periodically. They cover a wide range of functions, and it can be easy to miss the one perfect variable for something you have in mind. For example, see %INCLUDINGTOPIC%, %INCLUDE%, and the mighty %SEARCH%.

This version of TWiki - 01 Feb 2003 - expands the following variables (enclosed in % percent signs):

Variable: Expanded to:

%WIKIHOMEURL% The base script URL of TWiki, is the link of the Home icon in the upper left corner, is http://your.domain.com/twiki

%SCRIPTURL% The script URL of TWiki, is http://qtella.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin

%SCRIPTURLPATH% The path of the script URL of TWiki, is /cgi-bin

%SCRIPTSUFFIX% The script suffix, ex: .pl, .cgi is

%PUBURL% The public URL of TWiki, is http://qtella.sourceforge.net/twiki/pub
Example: You can refer to a file attached to another topic as %PUBURL%/%WEB%/OtherTopic/image.gif

%PUBURLPATH% The path of the public URL of TWiki, is /twiki/pub

%ATTACHURL% The attachment URL of the current topic, is http://qtella.sourceforge.net/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiVariables
Example: If you attach a file you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif

%ATTACHURLPATH% The path of the attachment URL of the current topic, is /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiVariables

%URLPARAM{"name"}% Returns the value of a URL parameter. Note that there is a low risk that this variable could be misused for cross-scripting. Ex: %URLPARAM{"skin"}% returns print for a .../view/TWiki/TWikiVariables?skin=print URL. Is print

%URLENCODE{"string"}% Encodes a string for use as a URL parameter. Ex: %URLENCODE{"spaced name"}% returns spaced%20name

%WIKITOOLNAME% The name of your TWiki site - TWiki

%WIKIVERSION% Your current TWiki version - 01 Feb 2003

%USERNAME% Your login username - guest

%WIKINAME% Your Wiki username. Same as %USERNAME% if not defined in the TWikiUsers topic. Is TWikiGuest

%WIKIUSERNAME% Your %WIKINAME% including the Main web name - always use full signatures - Main.TWikiGuest

%MAINWEB% The web containing TWikiUsers, OfficeLocations and TWikiGroups is Main

%TWIKIWEB% The web containing all documentation and site-wide preference settings for TWiki - TWiki

%WEB% The current web is TWiki

%BASEWEB% The web name where the includes started, e.g. the web of the first topic of nested includes. Same as %WEB% in case there is no include.

%INCLUDINGWEB% The web name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as %WEB% if there is no INCLUDE.

%HOMETOPIC% The home topic in each web - WebHome

%NOTIFYTOPIC% The notify topic in each web - WebNotify

%WIKIUSERSTOPIC% The index topic of all registered users - TWikiUsers

%WIKIPREFSTOPIC% The site-wide preferences topic - TWikiPreferences

%WEBPREFSTOPIC% The local web preferences topic in each web - WebPreferences

%STATISTICSTOPIC% The web statistics topic WebStatistics

%TOPIC% The current topic name - TWikiVariables

%BASETOPIC% The name of the topic where a single or nested INCLUDE started - same as %TOPIC% if there is no INCLUDE.

%INCLUDINGTOPIC% The name of the topic that includes the current topic. Same as %TOPIC% in case there is no include.

%SPACEDTOPIC% The current topic name with added spaces, for regular expression search of Ref-By, is TWiki%20*Variables

%TOPICLIST{"format"}%

Topic index of a web. The "format" defines the format of one topic item. It may include variables: The $name variable gets expanded to the topic name; the $web variable gets expanded to the name of the web. Parameters are format, separator and web:

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"format"`	Format of one line, may include `$name` and `$web` variables	`"$name"`
`format="format"`	(Alternative to above)	`"$name"`
`separator=", "`	line separator	`"\n"` (new line)
`web="Name"`	Name of web	Current web

Examples:
%TOPICLIST{" * $web.$name"}% creates a bullet list of all topics.
%TOPICLIST{separator=", "}% creates a comma separated list of all topics.
%TOPICLIST{" <option>$name</option>"}% creates an option list (for drop down menus).

%WEBLIST{"format"}%

Web index, ex: list of all webs. Hidden webs are excluded, e.g. webs with a NOSEARCHALL=on preference variable. The "format" defines the format of one web item. The $name variable gets expanded to the name of the web, $qname gets expanded to double quoted name, $marker to marker where web matches selection. Parameters are format, separator and web:

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"format"`	Format of one line, may include `$name` variable	`"$name"`
`format="format"`	(Alternative to above)	`"$name"`
`separator=", "`	line separator	`"\n"` (new line)
`webs="public"`	comma sep list of Web, public expands to all non-hidden	`"public"`
`marker="selected"`	Text for `$marker` where item matches `selection`, otherwise equals `""`	`"selected"`
`selection="%WEB%"`	Current value to be selected in list	`section="%WEB%"`

Examples:
%WEBLIST{" * [[$name.WebHome]]"}% creates a bullet list of all webs.
%WEBLIST{"<option $marker value=$qname>$name</option>" webs="Trash,public" selection="TWiki" separator=" "}% Dropdown of all public Webs + Trash Web, current Web highlighted.

%GMTIME% GM time, is Sun Feb 2 10:55:59 2025

%GMTIME{"format"}%

Formatted GM time based on time variables.

Variable:	Unit:	Example
$seconds	seconds	59
$minutes	minutes	59
$hours	hours	23
$day	day of month	31
$month	month in ISO format	Dec
$mo	2 digit month	12
$year	4 digit year	1999
$ye	2 digit year	99

Variables can be shortened to 3 characters. Example:
%GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}% is
02 Feb, 2025 - 10:55:59

%SERVERTIME% Server time, is Sun Feb 2 10:55:59 2025

%SERVERTIME{"format"}% Formatted server time.
Example: %SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}% is 10:55

%HTTP_HOST% HTTP_HOST environment variable, is qtella.sourceforge.net

%REMOTE_ADDR% REMOTE_ADDR environment variable, is 127.0.0.1

%REMOTE_PORT% REMOTE_PORT environment variable, is 56718

%REMOTE_USER% REMOTE_USER environment variable, is

%INCLUDE{"page" ...}%

Server side include to IncludeTopicsAndWebPages:

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"SomeTopic"`	The name of a topic located in the current web, i.e. `%INCLUDE{"WebNotify"}%`
`"Web.Topic"`	A topic in another web, i.e. `%INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%`
`"http://..."`	A full qualified URL, i.e. `%INCLUDE{"http://twiki.org/"}%`
`pattern="..."`	A RegularExpression pattern to include a subset of a topic or page	none
`rev="1.2"`	Include a previous topic revision; N/A for URLs	top revision

%STARTINCLUDE% If present in included topic, start to include text from this location up to the end, or up to the location of the %STOPINCLUDE% variable. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the %STARTINCLUDE% variable itself.

%STOPINCLUDE% If present in included topic, stop to include text at this location and ignore the remaining text. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the %STOPINCLUDE% variable itself.

%TOC% Table of Contents of current topic.

%TOC{"SomeTopic" ...}%

Table of Contents. Shows a TOC that is generated automatically based on headings of a topic. Headings in WikiSyntax ("---++ text") and HTML ("<h2>text</h2>") are taken into account. Any heading text after "!!" is excluded from the TOC; for example, write "---+!! text" if you do not want to list a header in the TOC. Parameters are topic name, web and depth:

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"TopicName"`	topic name	Current topic
`web="Name"`	Name of web	Current web
`depth="2"`	Limit depth of headings shown in TOC	6

Examples: %TOC{depth="2"}%, %TOC{"TWikiDocumentation" web="TWiki"}%

%SEARCH{"text" ...}%

Inline search, shows a search result embedded in a topic. Parameters are the search term, web, scope, order and many more: [1]

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"text"`	Search term. Is a regular expression or literal, depending on the `regex` parameter. For regular expressions ";" is used to mean and e.g. "search;agrep" will find all topic containing search and agrep.	required
`search="text"`	(Alternative to above)	N/A
`web="Name"` `web="Main Know"` `web="all"`	Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or `all` webs. [2]	Current web
`scope="topic"` `scope="text"`	Search topic name (title) or in the text (body) of the topic	Topic text (body)
`order="topic"` `order="modified"` `order="editby"` `order= "formfield(name)"`	Sort the results of search by the topic names, last modified time, last editor, or named field of TWikiForms	Sort by topic name
`limit="all"` `limit="16"`	Limit the number of results returned	All results
`regex="on"`	RegularExpression search; also enables ";" as and	Literal search
`reverse="on"`	Reverse the direction of the search	Ascending search
`casesensitive="on"`	Case sensitive search	Ignore case
`nosummary="on"`	Show topic title only	Show topic summary
`bookview="on"`	BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text	Show topic summary
`nosearch="on"`	Suppress search string	Show search string
`noheader="on"`	Suppress search header Topics: Changed: By:	Show search header
`nototal="on"`	Do not show number of topics found	Show number
`header="..."` `format="..."`	Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage, variables & examples	Results in table

Regular example: %SEARCH{"wiki" web="Main" scope="topic"}%
Formatted example:

%SEARCH{"FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="| *Topic: * | *Summary: * |" format="| $topic | $summary |"%

(displays results in a table with header - details)

If the TWiki:Plugins.TablePlugin is installed, you may set a %TABLE{}% variable just before the %SEARCH{}% to alter the output of a search. Example: %TABLE{ tablewidth="90%" }%

%METASEARCH{...}%

Special search of meta data

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`type="topicmoved"`	What sort of search is required? `"topicmoved"` if search for a topic that may have been moved `"parent"` if searching for topics that have a specific parent i.e. its children	required
`web="%WEB%"`	Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or `all` webs.	required
`topic="%TOPIC%"`	The topic the search relates to	required
`title="Title"`	Text that is prepended to any search results	required

Example: %METASEARCH{type="topicmoved" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "}%, you may want to use this in WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate
%METASEARCH{type="parent" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="Children: "}%

%VAR{"NAME" web="Web"}% Get a preference value from a web other then the current one. Example: To get %WEBBGCOLOR% of the Main web write %VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR" web="Main"}%, is #FFFFC0

[1] Note: The search form uses identical names for input fields.
[2] Note: A web can be excluded from a web="all" search if you define a NOSEARCHALL=on variable in its WebPreferences.

Preferences Variables

Additional variables are defined in the preferences ( site-level ( SL ) in TWikiPreferences, web-level ( WL ) in WebPreferences of each web, and user level ( UL ) preferences in individual user topics):

Variable:	Level:	What:
`%WIKIWEBMASTER%`	SL	Webmaster email address (sender of email notifications) , is webmaster@your.company
`%WIKIWEBLIST%`	SL	List of TWiki webs (in upper right corner of topics)
`%WEBTOPICLIST%`	WL	Common links of web (second line of topics)
`%WEBCOPYRIGHT%`	SL , WL	Copyright notice (bottom right corner of topics)
`%WEBBGCOLOR%`	WL	Background color of web
`%NOSEARCHALL%`	WL	Exclude web from a `web="all"` search (set variable to `on` for hidden webs)
`%NEWTOPICBGCOLOR%`	SL , UL	Background color of non existing topic. ( UL needs authentication for topic views )
`%NEWTOPICFONTCOLOR%`	SL , UL	Font color of non existing topic. ( UL needs authentication for topic views )
`%EDITBOXWIDTH%`	SL , UL	Horizontal size of edit box, is `70`
`%EDITBOXHEIGHT%`	SL , UL	Vertical size of edit box, is `17`
`%RELEASEEDITLOCKCHECKBOX%`	SL , UL	Default state of the "Release edit lock" (UnlockTopic) check box in preview. Checkbox is initially checked if `Set RELEASEEDITLOCKCHECKBOX = checked="checked"`, or unchecked if empty. If checked, make sure to click on Edit to do more changes; do not go back in your browser to the edit page, or you risk that someone else will edit the topic at the same time! Value is:
`%DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX%`	SL , UL	Default state of the "Minor Changes, Don't Notify" (DontNotify) check box in preview. Check box is initially checked if `Set DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX = checked="checked"`, or unchecked if empty. Value is:
`%ATTACHLINKBOX%`	SL , UL	Default state of the link check box in the attach file page. Check box is initially checked if value is set to `CHECKED` , unchecked if empty. If checked, a link is created to the attached file at the end of the topic. Value is:
`%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW%`	SL	http-equiv meta tags for view, rdiff, attach, search* scripts.
`%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_EDIT%`	SL , UL	http-equiv meta tags for edit script.
`%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_PREVIEW%`	SL , UL	http-equiv meta tags for preview script.
`%DENYWEBCHANGE%`	WL	List of users and groups who are not allowed to change topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%ALLOWWEBCHANGE%`	WL	List of users and groups who are allowed to change topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%DENYTOPICCHANGE%`	*(any topic)*	List of users and groups who are not allowed to change the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%ALLOWTOPICCHANGE%`	*(any topic)*	List of users and groups who are allowed to change the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%DENYWEBRENAME%`	WL	List of users and groups who are not allowed to rename topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%ALLOWWEBRENAME%`	WL	List of users and groups who are allowed to rename topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%DENYTOPICRENAME%`	*(any topic)*	List of users and groups who are not allowed to rename the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%ALLOWTOPICRENAME%`	*(any topic)*	List of users and groups who are allowed to rename the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
`%FINALPREFERENCES%`	SL , WL	List of preferences that are not allowed to be overridden by next level preferences

Note: There are some more useful variables defined in the TWikiPreferences like %BR% for line break, colors like %RED% for colored text and small icons like %H% for a Help icon.

Setting Preferences

The syntax for Preferences Variables is the same anywhere in TWiki (on its own TWiki bullet line, including nested bullets):
[multiple of 3 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [value]
Examples:
Set VARIABLENAME = value
- Set VARIABLENAME = value

Creating Custom Variables

You can add your own Preference Variables for us across an entire site or a single web, using the standard Preferences syntax. Whatever you include in your Variable will be expanded on display, exactly as if it had been entered directly. You can place formatted text, page links, image paths.

Example: Create a custom logo variable the TWiki web

To place a logo anywhere in a web by typing %MYLOGO%, define the Variable on the web's WebPreferences page, and upload a logo file, ex: mylogo.gif. You can upload by attaching the file to WebPreferences, or, to avoid clutter, to any other topic in the same web, ex: LogoTopic:

Set MYLOGO = %PUBURL%/TWiki/LogoTopic/mylogo.gif

-- PeterThoeny - 19 Jan 2003
-- MikeMannix - 12 May 2002

(3) Notification of Changes by Email

Each TWiki web does an automatic email notification of recent changes. Users can subscribe / unsubscribe themselves in WebNotify of each TWiki web. The Perl script mailnotify is called by a deamon once every 60 minutes. For each Twiki web mailnotify is sending an automated email to subscribed users in case some topics changed within these 60 minutes.

Implementation note: Edit the cron table so that mailnotify is called every 60 minutes. Please consult man crontab of how to modify the table that schedules program execution at certain intervals. Example:

% crontab -e
15,45 * * * * (cd ~twiki/public_html/bin; ./mailnotify)

The above line will call mailnotify at 15 minutes and 45 minutes passed every hour.

(4) TWiki Category Table

It is possible to add a category table to a TWiki web. This permits storing and searching for more structured information. Editing a topic shows a HTML form with the usual text area and a table with selectors, checkboxes, radio buttons and text fields. The category table is shown at the end of a topic. The format of the category table can be defined per TWiki web.

If you want to use a Category Table in a TWiki web you need to have the following three files in the twiki/templates/{Yourweb} directory:

twikicatitems.tmpl : Defines the items in the table
twikicatedit.tmpl : Defines the look of the table when editing a topic
twikicatview.tmpl : Defines the look of the table when viewing a topic

Format of category definition template twikicatitems.tmpl

Valid lines:

select|{name}|{selSize}|{val1}|{val2}|{val3}...
checkbox|{name}|{checkFlag}|{itemsPerLine}|{val1}|{val2}|{val3}...
radio|{name}|{itemsPerLine}|{val1}|{val2}|{val3}...
text|{name}|{charSize}
# comments start with a # character

Explanation:

  {name}             name of tag
  {selSize}          vertical size of SELECT tag
  {val1}|{val2}...   values
  {checkFlag}        set to true for [Set] [Clear] buttons, else set to false
  {itemsPerLine}     input items per line before wrap around, 0 if no wrap around
  {charSize}         number of characters for text fields

Remark: Line radio|UseCategory|0|Yes|No has a special meaning. If present, it is possible to choose in "edit" if the category table is included in the topic or not

Example file:

radio|UseCategory|0|Yes|No, delete this category table
select|TopicClassification|1|Select one...|NoDisclosure|PublicSupported|PublicFAQ
checkbox|OperatingSystem|true|5|OsSolaris|OsSunOS|OsHPUX|OsWin
text|OsVersion|16

Format of twikicatedit.tmpl and twikicatview.tmpl

Use the example below and customize if needed. twikicatedit.tmpl and twikicatview.tmpl can be identical, but they do not have to be.

Attention:  is needed at the beginning and end as markers. Do not delete them!

Example:

<!--TWikiCat--> <h4> TWikiCategory </h4>
<table border="2" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1">
%REPEAT%<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right"> %CATNAME%:  <br>%CATMODIFIER%</td><td>  %CATVALUE% </td>
</tr>%REPEAT%
</table><!--TWikiCat-->

Above template files will result in the following category table when viewing a topic:

TWikiCategory

TopicClassification:	PublicFAQ
OperatingSystem:	OsSolaris
OsVersion:	2.5

Above template files will result in the following table when editing a topic:

Note: It is possible to force the values of a category table when creating a new topic. This is useful to create new topics using a form for the topic name. The default values of the category table can be specified as hidden fields if needed, i.e. <input type="hidden" name="someCategory" value="someValue">

Example (edit this page to see the source) :

New PublicFAQ topic:

(5) Implementation Notes

Platform

TWiki is written in PERL 5, but it uses also many shell command. The current implementation runs only on a Unix machine. RCS for revision control must be installed on the system.

Directories

Directory:	Used for:
twiki/bin	TWiki PERL scripts
twiki/pub	Public files (FileAttachments, images)
twiki/data	source text
twiki/templates	HTML templates, used by TWiki scripts

Files in twiki/bin

File:	Used for:
.htaccess.txt	Authentication. Rename to .htaccess and customize if used
attach	Script that shows the attach file page (FileAttachment)
changes	Script that shows recent changes
delete	(not used yet)
edit	Script to edit a topic
geturl	Script to fetch URL data
mailnotify	Script called by cron job to notify users of changes
oops	Script that shows a OK or oops dialog
preview	Script to preview topic after edit
rdiff	Script to see differences of topics
register	Script to register new users
save	Script that saves a topic, called by preview
search	Script that displays search results
statistics	Script to create statistics topic
testenv	Script to test CGI environment variables
upload	Script that does file upload (FileAttachment)
view	Script to view a topic ( the script )
viewfile	Script to view an file attachment
wiki.pm	main TWiki library
wikicfg.pm	for initialization and configuration, used by wiki.pm
wikisearch.pm	search engine, used by wiki.pm

(6) Installation Notes

These installation steps use Apache web server on Linux as an example. TWiki should run on other web servers and Unix systems as well.

Note: These installation notes assume user nobody for all files manupulated by the cgi scripts (executed by the web server), and user twiki for all other files. You need to replace user nobody with an other user in case the web server executes the script with a different user ( default for Debian is www-data ). Also, you can substitute user twiki with your own user name.

Request the TWiki distribution (in Unix ZIP format) from http://TWiki.SourceForge.net/download.html .
Create directory /home/httpd/twiki and unzip the TWiki distribution to this directory.
The twiki/bin directory of TWiki must be set as a cgi-bin directory. Add /home/httpd/twiki/bin to /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf with only ExecCGI option.
The twiki/pub directory of TWiki must be set so that it is visible as a URL. Add /home/httpd/twiki/pub to /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf with normal access options (copy from /home/httpd/html).
Now add Alias for /twiki/pub and ScriptAlias for /twiki/bin to /etc/httpd/conf/srm-conf .
Restart Apache by /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S85httpd restart .
Test if the twiki/bin directory is cgi-enabled:
- Enter the URL of that directory into your browser ( http://your.domain.com/twiki/bin ). It is not set correctly as cgi-bin in case you get something like "Index of /twiki/bin" . It is OK if you get a message like "Forbidden. You don't have permission to access /twiki/bin/ on this server."
- Execute the testenv script from your browser ( http://your.domain.com/twiki/bin/testenv ). It should show a table of all CGI environment variables.
Make sure PERL and the PERL CGI library is installed on your system. Default location of PERL executable is /usr/bin/perl . In case PERL is installed in a different location, the first line of all perl scripts in the twiki/bin directory need to be changed (alternatively you can create a symbolic link from /usr/bin/perl ).
To be able to edit the perl scripts and .tmpl files it is necessary to chown and chgrp -R twiki so all the files have the owner you want.
The scripts execute as nobody . Set the file permission of all Perl scripts in the twiki/bin directory as executable to -rw-r-xr-x .
Set the file permission of all files below twiki/data to 666 ( -rw-rw-rw- ).
Set the file permission of the twiki/data directory and all its subdirectories to 777 ( drwxrwxrwx ).
Set the file permission of the twiki/pub directory to 777 ( drwxrwxrwx ).
Edit the file twiki/bin/wikicfg.pm and set the variables at the beginning of the file to your needs.
Make sure RCS is installed. In case RCS is not in the path environment variable, add it to path . Alternatively, add the full path name to the rcs, ci, co, rlog, rcsdiff commands in the variables of twiki/bin/wikicfg.pm .
Point your browser at http://your.domain.com/twiki/bin/view and start wiki-ing away!
Note in case cgi user is not nobody : The *,v RCS repository files delivered with the installation package are locked by user nobody . In case the user is different (e.g. www-data ), it is not possible to check in files, this has the effect that the topic version number does not increase when saving a topic. In this case you need to unlock all repository files and lock them as user www-data (check the rcs man pages), or simply delete all the repository files.
Security issue: Directories twiki/data , twiki/templates and all its subdirectories should be set so that they are not visible as a URL. (Alternatively, move the directries to a place where they are not visible, and change the variables in twiki/bin/wikicfg.pm accordingly)
Enable email notification of topic changes, (3) has more.

Optional: You can add new rendering rules or new %variables%. To insure an easy upgrade of TWiki it is recommended to do this customization in twiki/bin/wikicfg.pm , not twiki/bin/wiki.pm .

Optional: If you are on a public server and you would like to authenticate users you need to rename file .htaccess.txt in the twiki/bin directory to .htaccess and change it to your needs. For details consult the HTTP server documentation (for Apache server: [1], [2], [3]). Note: In case .htaccess does not have any effect you need to enable it: Add "AllowOverride All" to the Directory section of access.conf for your twiki/bin directory.

Optional: You can automatically generate usage statistics for all webs. To enable this:
- Make sure variable $doLogTopicView, $doLogTopicSave and $doLogTopicUpload in wikicfg.pm are set. This will generate log entries in file twiki/data/log<date>.txt .
- Topic WebStatistics must be present in all webs where you want to have statistics. You can use the topic in the Main web as a template.
- Call the twiki/bin/statistics script from a cron job, once a day is recommended. This will update the WebStatistics topics in all webs.
- Attention: The script must run as the same user as the CGI scripts are running, which is user nobody on most systems. Example crontab entry:
  0 0 * * * (cd /path/to/TWiki/bin; ./statistics >/dev/null 2>&1)
- There is a workaround in case you can't run the script as user nobody : Run the utility twiki/bin/geturl in your cron job and specify the URL of the twiki/bin/statistics script as a parameter. Example:
  0 0 * * * (cd /path/to/TWiki/bin; ./geturl mydomain.com /urlpath/to/TWiki/bin/statistics >/dev/null 2>&1)
- The twiki/bin/statistics script can also be executed as a CGI script, just enter the URL in your browser. Examples:
  - Update current month for all webs:
    http://mydomain.com/twiki/bin/statistics
  - Update current month for Main web only:
    http://mydomain.com/twiki/bin/statistics/Main
  - Update January 2000 for Main web:
    http://mydomain.com/twiki/bin/statistics/Main?logdate=200001

To create a new web:
- Use a name for the web consisting of characters A..Z , a..z but not in WikiNotation.
- Create a new template directory under twiki/templates .
- Create a new data directory under twiki/data and check the file permission of the directory.
- Copy the files WebHome.txt , WebPreferences.txt , WebNotify.txt , WebSearch.txt and WebStatistics.txt from the twiki/data/Main directory to the new data directory, preserving the original files' owner, group and permissions ( on Unix use cp -p ). The data files must be writable by the owner the CGI scripts are running on ( usually nobody ). Hint: You can set permissions of .txt and .txt,v files to -rw-rw-rw- and then edit the topic using your browser, RCS will restore the file permission correctly when saving the topic.
- Add the new web to the web list (on top of each topic) by editing the site-level preferences TWikiPreferences?:
  - Add the new web to the WIKIWEBLIST variable.
- Add the new web to the web table (at the bottom of each WebHome topic) by editing the TWikiWebsTable? topic.
- Change the web preferences by editing the WebPreferences topic of the new web:
  - Set the WEBBGCOLOR variable to a color of your taste. The number represents the unique color for the web (consult an HTML book for colors.)
  - Customize the WEBTOPICLIST variable to contain the web specific links you prefer.
  - Optional: Set the WEBCOPYRIGHT variable to have a web-specific copyright text (at the bottom of each topic).
- If needed, create customized templates in the new templates directory. (Non existing templates are inherited from twiki/templates )
- If you want to use a category table, copy the three files twikicatitems.tmpl , twikicatedit.tmpl and twikicatview.tmpl from the twiki/templates/Know directory to the new templates directory, and customize it. The TWiki Category Table section has more.
- In case you want usage statistics for this web: Copy file WebStatistics.txt from the twiki/data/Main directory to the new data directory. Edit topic WebStatistics in the new web and delete old usage entries.

Here are contents of directories with file permissions. Please note that this is for debugging reasons only and does not exactly reflect the distribution:

directory twiki/bin :

drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 18 18:31 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:20 ..
-rw-rw-r--   1 twiki   twiki        770 Feb 10 12:10 .htaccess
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       3968 Feb 18 00:26 attach
-rwxr-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       3033 Feb 17 23:57 changes
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       1377 Feb  8 18:18 delete
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       8785 Feb 17 23:58 edit
-rwxr--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1811 Feb  4 14:31 geturl
-rwxr-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       5047 Feb  8 20:33 mailnotify
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       1825 Feb  8 18:29 oops
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       6932 Feb 11 02:06 preview
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       7804 Feb 17 23:59 rdiff
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       7010 Feb 18 00:03 register
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       2501 Jan 25 19:39 save
-rwxr-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       1778 Feb 18 00:04 search
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       9810 Feb  8 18:43 statistics
-rwxr-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki        509 Feb  7 18:55 testenv
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       6856 Feb 18 00:11 upload
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       4922 Feb 17 23:54 view
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       1606 May 21  1999 viewfile
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki      27794 Feb 26 06:03 wiki.pm
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki      10143 Feb 27 04:03 wikicfg.pm
-rw-r-xr-x   1 twiki   twiki       5440 Feb  7 04:36 wikisearch.pm

directory twiki/templates/ :

drwxr-xr-x   7 twiki   twiki       1024 Jan 16 19:39 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:20 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Jun  8  1999 Know
drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Dec  9  1998 Main
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       2286 Feb 24 21:50 attach.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1272 Feb  8 16:07 attachtable.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1884 Feb 24 21:54 changes.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       2242 Feb 24 21:33 edit.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        965 Feb  8 16:07 mailnotify.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki         30 Jan 14  1999 notedited.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        934 Feb  8 16:07 notext.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        899 Feb  8 16:07 notwiki.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        299 Feb 24 21:58 noweb.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        957 Feb 24 22:17 oops.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        871 Feb 24 22:17 oopsdel.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1330 Feb 24 22:17 oopslocked.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 24 22:17 oopsregexist.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        912 Feb 24 22:17 oopsregpasswd.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        923 Feb 24 22:17 oopsregrequ.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1125 Feb 24 22:17 oopsregthanks.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        942 Feb 24 22:17 oopsregwiki.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1564 Feb 24 22:17 oopsrev.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        906 Feb 24 22:17 oopsupload.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1535 Feb 24 22:02 preview.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1661 Feb 24 22:04 rdiff.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        263 Aug  3  1999 register.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        936 Feb  8 16:08 registernotify.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1779 Feb 24 22:06 search.tmpl
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1533 Feb 24 21:43 view.tmpl

directory twiki/templates/Main :

drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Dec  9  1998 .
drwxr-xr-x   7 twiki   twiki       1024 Jan 16 19:39 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       2732 Feb 24 21:34 edit.tmpl

directory twiki/templates/Know (has a TWiki Category Table) :

drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Jun  8  1999 .
drwxr-xr-x   7 twiki   twiki       1024 Jan 16 19:39 ..
-rw-rw-r--   1 twiki   twiki        446 Jun  8  1999 notedited.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--   1 twiki   twiki        206 Jun  8  1999 twikicatedit.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--   1 twiki   twiki       1060 Jul 16  1999 twikicatitems.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--   1 twiki   twiki        231 Jun  8  1999 twikicatview.tmpl

directory twiki/data/ :

drwxrwxrwx   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:17 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:20 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      2241 Feb 25 20:18 .htpasswd
drwxrwxrwx   2 twiki   twiki       3072 Feb 27 01:15 Know
drwxrwxrwx   2 twiki   twiki       9216 Feb 27 18:16 Main
-rw-rw-rw-   1 twiki   twiki          1 Feb 26 06:01 debug.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody   1263064 Jan 31 23:13 log200001.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody   1063398 Feb 27 18:33 log200002.txt

part of directory twiki/data/Main :

drwxrwxrwx   2 twiki   twiki       9216 Feb 27 18:16 .
drwxrwxrwx   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:17 ..
-rw-rw-rw-   1 twiki   twiki       5722 Feb 27 18:13 .changes
-rw-rw-rw-   1 twiki   twiki          9 Feb 27 18:15 .mailnotify
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     26163 Feb 24 12:22 TWikiDocumentation.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     44133 Feb 24 12:22 TWikiDocumentation.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     11661 Feb 27 18:13 TWikiHistory.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     18877 Feb 27 18:13 TWikiHistory.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      3029 Feb 26 04:46 TWikiPreferences.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      3219 Feb 26 04:46 TWikiPreferences.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      7188 Feb 11 21:39 TWikiRegistration.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      7375 Feb 11 21:39 TWikiRegistration.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      3180 Feb 25 20:19 TWikiUsers.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     16537 Feb 25 20:19 TWikiUsers.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      2613 Feb  7 04:47 TWikiVariables.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      3125 Feb  7 04:47 TWikiVariables.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      2068 Feb 10 11:34 TWikiWeb.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      3610 Feb 10 11:34 TWikiWeb.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      1677 Feb 26 05:11 TWikiWebsTable.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      1866 Feb 26 05:11 TWikiWebsTable.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      2294 Feb 27 17:54 WebHome.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      5282 Feb 27 17:54 WebHome.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody       586 Jan 17 01:05 WebNotify.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      1629 Jan 17 01:05 WebNotify.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      1834 Feb 25 14:13 WebPreferences.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      2023 Feb 25 14:13 WebPreferences.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      4407 Feb 11 21:08 WebSearch.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     10822 Feb 11 21:08 WebSearch.txt,v
-rw-r--r--   1 nobody  nobody      4416 Feb 27 00:00 WebStatistics.txt
-r--r--r--   1 nobody  nobody     27759 Feb 27 00:00 WebStatistics.txt,v

directory twiki/pub/ :

drwxrwxrwx  11 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb  8 18:10 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb 26 04:20 ..
drwxrwxrwx   4 nobody  nobody      1024 Aug 28  1999 Know
drwxrwxrwx  19 nobody  nobody      1024 Feb 27 09:56 Main
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       1078 Jan 14 20:24 favicon.ico
drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Mar 27  1999 icn
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       3016 Sep 10 04:27 twikilogo.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       5320 Sep 10 04:27 twikilogo1.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       6125 Sep 10 04:27 twikilogo2.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       7218 Sep 10 04:27 twikilogo3.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       6710 Sep 11 02:21 twikilogo4.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki       2877 Jun 15  1999 wikiHome.gif

directory twiki/pub/icn/ :

drwxr-xr-x   2 twiki   twiki       1024 Mar 27  1999 .
drwxrwxrwx  11 twiki   twiki       1024 Feb  8 18:10 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        801 Mar 27  1999 _filetypes.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        143 Mar 27  1999 bat.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        926 Mar 27  1999 bmp.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        141 Mar 27  1999 c.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        144 Mar 27  1999 dll.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        152 Mar 27  1999 doc.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        130 Mar 27  1999 else.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        876 Mar 27  1999 exe.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        147 Mar 27  1999 fon.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        142 Mar 27  1999 h.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        156 Mar 27  1999 hlp.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        186 Mar 27  1999 html.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        144 Mar 27  1999 java.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        148 Mar 27  1999 mov.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        150 Mar 27  1999 pdf.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        146 Mar 27  1999 pl.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        150 Mar 27  1999 ppt.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        148 Mar 27  1999 ps.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        148 Mar 27  1999 py.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        130 Mar 27  1999 ram.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        154 Mar 27  1999 reg.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        147 Mar 27  1999 sh.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        155 Mar 27  1999 sniff.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        149 Mar 27  1999 ttf.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        134 Mar 27  1999 txt.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        154 Mar 27  1999 wav.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        152 Mar 27  1999 wri.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        152 Mar 27  1999 xls.gif
-rw-r--r--   1 twiki   twiki        144 Mar 27  1999 zip.gif

-- PeterThoeny - 05 Apr 2000

----- Revision r1.11 - 28 Feb 2000 - 00:06 GMT - PeterThoeny