In the next article we are going to take a look at XWiki. This is a Free and open source Wiki software that is written in Java. XWiki offers a generic platform to develop collaborative projects and applications using the wiki paradigm. Includes a comprehensive list of tools (version control, attached files, etc.) and has a database engine and programming language that allow you to create applications that work with databases. Runs in servlet containers like JBoss, Tomcat, etc. Use a database like MySQL or PostgreSQL to store your information.
In this article we will see how to install the XWiki software in Ubuntu 18.04, using its independent distribution, which is the fastest and easiest way because all the components that XWiki needs are installed automatically. This software provides an integrated XWiki, with a portable database (HSQLDB) and a lightweight Java container (Jetty).
General characteristics of Xwiki
XWiki will offer us many useful functions such as:
- It offers us a WYSIWYG editor very robust for page editing.
- A powerful wiki syntax.
- We can easily organize content.
- We will be able create our own applications.
- Control version.
- Advanced search and much more.
May see all features shown and all missing in detail from the project website.
Install XWiki
Before starting any installation, it is recommended to update the list of available software with an update. We will also install wget package and screen if you don't have them already installed. To do them, we open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install wget screen
Install java
As you may have read before, XWiki is an application based on Java, so it will be necessary install Java 8 or higher version to meet your software requirements. We will be able to install Java by adding the webupd8team PPA to your system. We will do this by writing in the same terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
After adding the PPA repository in Ubuntu 18.04, which is where I am doing this test, the update of the available packages is done automatically. At this point, we can install the required Java 8 by executing this command in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer -y
After the installation, we can check java version typing:
java -version
Download and install XWiki
First, we must start a new screen session for this XWiki installation.
screen -U -S xwiki
Now we have to download the generic installer that works on all platforms. It only requires Java to be installed on our system. We can download the generic Xwiki installation file with this command:
wget http://download.forge.ow2.org/xwiki/xwiki-enterprise-installer-generic-8.1-standard.jar
Once you have downloaded the installer, you can install the package using Java. The installer will take us to several interactive sections. It's pretty self-explanatory, so we just have to follow the instructions. To launch the installer, we write in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
java -jar xwiki-enterprise-installer-generic-8.1-standard.jar
After accepting the License Agreement, the installer will take us through various phases of the installation to configure the installation folder, desktop shortcuts, etc.
In this example, I continue with default path selected by installer. If you need, you can set custom routes.
Once the installation is finished, we must go to the folder where the application was installed and run the XWiki startup script as it's shown in the following:
cd ‘Xwiki Enterprise 8.1’/ bash start_xwiki.sh
The application will start automatically on port 8080. We have to wait a bit before launching the application. Once done, you can visit the XWiki interface through the url of the server on port 8080, which indicates the command to start the server.
Don't close the terminal window. Our XWiki server needs to be running. You can stop the XWiki server by closing the terminal in which it is running.
By default, the application uses port 8080. But if you want use a custom port, make sure nothing is running on port 8081, for example, and start XWiki with the following command:
bash start_xwiki.sh -p 8081
Launch the app
Once XWiki starts, we can access the web interface using the URL provided when starting the server through our web browser.
You can log in to the Admin Panel using as default user Admin , as a default password admin.
With this, we have already successfully installed our XWiki.
Uninstall Xwiki
To eliminate this program, we will only have to go to the folder "Uninstaller" that we will find inside the installation folder. There we will see a file named uninstaller.jar. We can launch the uninstallation by typing in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
java -jar uninstaller.jar
If someone wants to know more about this project, they just have to go to the official documentation that they offer us on their website.