mediawiki copy and synch to laptops

We have a TKL linux mediawiki server on a mixed windows/Linux LAN.

The wiki on the mediawiki server is so useful that we want portable versions of it for staff in the field, running on Windows laptops. Laptop Internet access to the LAN server is not an option as this stage. Each laptop wiki "copy" needs to be edited in the field, and on return to base, any changes incorporated into the LAN server.

Essentially mobile computing style operation !

My question is whether this is feasible or not and how would I set it up and manage the synching of each laptop <-> the main LAN mediawiki server?

If the scheme is not possible what would you suggest ?

Replies (2)

Thank you for the

Reply 1 2014-01-12

Thank you for the suggestions. I must do testing in a virtual box environment, as you suggested. Based on my very limited understanding of mediawiki it seems to me:

option 1. for initial setup on laptops. option 3. or custom script for maintenance and sync. I think the synch alternatives will inevitably require admin intervention to harmonise the db's . Now to set up the virtualbox environment. I have got a good box to do it on. Intel i7 CPU; 12GB RAM; great Graphics. Will report back with progress. many thanks John Burry

Not sure on best approach...

Reply 2 2014-01-12

If you wish to simply copy the wiki (let's call your main wiki 'local') to one other source (let's assume it's running in VirtualBox or similar and we'll call that 'remote-offline') and then transfer it back later that is pretty easy...

You can use TKLBAM for that. Run a backup of your local server and restore it to your remote-offline (while it is connected to the net) then later when you want to go back the other way, run a backup of remote-offline (while it is online) and then restore it to your local server. However this solution is not ideal, as it won't support multiple remote instances, nor will it support syncing if updates are made to both local remote-offline (the TKLBAM migration will overwrite any changes made to local).

A quick google found this script which may be useful (although it hasn't been updated in about 2 years)? Also this MediaWiki extension looks something like what you want, but it seems incompatible with current versions and development seems to have been abandoned... This extension seems to be supported, but isn't quite what you are after I don't think...

The only other option I can think of is a custom script that dumps the MySQL DB (where all the MediaWiki content is stored) of both servers and does a comparison (merging all the differences) which you could then reimport. Might take a little effort but should be doable with a little coding...