Linux: Detailed Quick Installation

Download MoinMoin

Please read the MoinMoinDownload wiki page to find and download the latest MoinMoin release version.

Please remember the path where you saved that download and also its exact filename.

The filename will likely be something like moin-1.9.0.tar.gz (for moin version 1.9.0), but we will just talk of moin-x.x.x because the concrete version number changes often. You have to use the real version number in the commands you enter, not x.x.x, of course.

Working on the shell

For the next steps, we will work on a shell prompt (for sure you can also do all the steps using some GUI tool of your favourite desktop environment, but because of the diversity of those environments, you will have to find out the right tools yourself using these steps as a guideline).

If you use some graphical desktop environment or some X Window Manager, you will first have to find a terminal window (usually called "Terminal", "XTerm", "shell", "bash", "Command line window" or similar) and start it. If you see something showing a $ and a blinking cursor to the right of it, it worked. We shall also refer to this window as the "shell".

Note that you must not use a "root shell" for this type of installation. Just use a shell as the non-priviledged user you usually log in as. You can use the id command to display what user you are and it must not display "root".

For the next steps, we assume you have downloaded the moin archive into your home directory and that the current directory is your home directory (that's the default when you start a shell, usually indicated by a shell prompt showing ~$ - the tilde means you are in your home directory and the dollar means that you can enter a command to the right of it).

Verify the integrity of your downloaded file

Make sure the archive downloaded correctly by verifying the md5sum (a checksum) of the archive:

$ md5sum moin-x.x.x.tar.gz
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  moin-x.x.x.tar.gz

The value (XXX...) md5sum shown left of the filename must match the value published on the download page for the file you just downloaded!

If it does not match, your download is corrupted somehow. Remove the file and try downloading it again.

Alternatively, you can also use the sha256sum command and the sha256sum shown on the download page.

Even better is to use GnuPG to verify the authenticity of the file (you will need to additionally download the corresponding file with the .asc extension, which is the signature for the release file):

# first fetch the key (and subkeys) that were used to sign the release archive:
$ gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key FAF7B393
gpg: requesting key FAF7B393 from hkp server keys.gnupg.net
gpg: key FAF7B393: public key "Thomas Waldmann <tw@waldmann-edv.de>" imported
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)

# now check the signature:
$ gpg --verify moin-1.9.7.tar.gz.asc moin-1.9.7.tar.gz
gpg: Signature made Sat 16 Mar 2013 05:42:00 PM UTC using RSA key ID 31A6CB60
gpg: Good signature from "Thomas Waldmann <tw@waldmann-edv.de>"                 <--- check this!
gpg:                 aka "Thomas Waldmann <tw-public@gmx.de>"
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!               <--- Normal if TW is not part of your web-of-trust.
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 6D5B EF9A DD20 7580 5747  B70F 9F88 FB52 FAF7 B393
     Subkey fingerprint: 9FCB 53A2 E7DA 4C08 8568  C3FA 90A8 7636 31A6 CB60

Unpack MoinMoin

We use a gzipped tar archive for our release archives - you need to unpack it before using.

Unpack it using this command on the shell:

$ tar xvzf moin-x.x.x.tar.gz
(it will show a long list of all files it has unpacked)

This will create a directory moin-x.x.x in the current directory with all the MoinMoin release files in it.

Run MoinMoin

MoinMoin is written using the Python programming language so you need to start it using the python interpreter:

$ cd moin-x.x.x
$ python wikiserver.py
(you will see the log output of the running MoinMoin server here)

After MoinMoin has started, it will show some log output in your terminal window. Within that logging output, it will also announce on which IP address and port the server runs (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:8080).

Now just leave that terminal window as it is and the builtin web server of MoinMoin will work as long as you don't stop it.

You can stop the server by closing that terminal window or by pressing Ctrl-C to interrupt it.

Use MoinMoin

Just point your web browser at the address you got from the terminal window (e.g.: http://127.0.0.1:8080/ or http://localhost:8080/ ).

You should now see your fresh moin wiki in your browser. Maybe bookmark that address so you don't have to enter it manually each time you want to use your wiki.

Your wiki is now ready to use. Have fun!