Easiest Installable Wiki Contest

Broken down into categories:

  1. Personal Wiki without Web Server
    1. PC/Windows
    2. Apple/Mac
    3. requires handheld computer
    4. EnCrytedWiki? ??
    5. Only requires a browser
  2. Personal Wiki with StandaloneWebserver?
    1. Windows
    2. Unix/Linux
    3. Both Windows and Linux together
  3. Hosted Web Server (see EasiestInstallableWebServer)
    1. Windows
      • FpWiki (Instruction: install on an IIS Server with Frontpage extensions, use Frontpage to copy Fpwiki.asp and Wiki.mdb, name the DB "Wiki" when Frontpage ask for a name)
      • WikiAsp - The ultimate 1-file install and works with most public hosts like brinkster, etc. It even uses a default icon. Great extra features like RSS feed. Easily adds customized wikis on the same site using the same engine.
      • Noodle for IIS (on page AdamVandenberg, I could set up a version that doesn't require editing the config file.)
    2. Unix/Linux
    3. Works on Windows and Unix
      • WikWiki - written in PHP, nothing is required. Just run the code.
      • PikiPiki requires no changes to httpd.conf files (you can get it working in CGI-mode with .htaccess alone, if even that; most places will recognize cgi-bin right away), and only 3 lines of source code need to be customized for your particular domain. Getting it working can be done literally in less than 2 minutes.
      • MoinMoin requires a small change to the apache httpd.conf file and the proper version of Python. Additional configuration is necessary only if you want to change the default wiki behavior.
      • AwkiAwki (Has anyone actually got this working on Windows? It uses commands such as ls and grep which aren't available on Windows)
      • ErfurtWiki - in PHP, runs out of the box: unzip and point browser to it, no chmoding required (the trick being that the quick test installation uses /tmp directory for storage)
      • PmWiki - PHP. No MySQL or any other Database knowledge required. No server (Apache, IIS, etc.) knowledge required. Unzip, upload to server, chmod directory 2777, open main page in browser, chmod the directory to 755, and you're done.
      • ZzoWiki - unzip files into directory (uses PHP on Apache Server), and make a file calld w__
      • http://p220.free.fr/wiki => Php Mysql script. Ultra-easy to install
      • XoYnKi - Install Java, execute the jar file.
        • For me, that first step disqualifies this from being an easily installable wiki.
    4. Requires Java app server (like ApacheTomcat)
Any others?

WindowsWiki! Automatic self installer (inno). USes a server called tinyweb which comes with it, written in ppython, not that THAT matters in this context.

How do "prerequisites" or "necessary infrastructure" figure into the measure of "easiest to install"? I would guess that an ASP.NET-based wiki would be trivial to install, assuming that the server already has IIS, the .NET Framework, and SQL Server or MSDE installed. Similarly, something installable via RPM or APT in the Linux world would probably be easy, but there is significant infrastructure underlying that simplicity.

I would think that most wikis should be pretty easy to install, assuming the following:

I've installed TwikiClone on several systems (personal and shared hosting), and the only issues I ran into were related to server-specific security setup and directory paths. TWiki setup is pretty easy, and I'm sure most wikis are even easier.

-- KrisJohnson

Egad that is a lot of assuming !!! I just downloaded EddiesWiki, unZIPped, started and ran. Period. No previous web server, no nothing from that list. As far as I'm concerned, that is the definition of EasiestInstallableWiki?, and anything else can't possibly be easier (ties are accepted, though). -- UltraLazyReallyRatherStupidUser?

Seconded. I downloaded EddiesWiki, unZIPped, started and ran. How can you possibly say anything is easier? -- UltraComputingIgnorantUser?

BTW, the server exe file of EddiesWiki will happily run on its own, keeping all pages in memory, so no unzipping is strictly necessary! -- vk

A very unique approach (though not revolutionary) in providing eased installation is the WebInstaller? for ErfurtWiki at http://ewiki.berlios.de/installer/. It completely skips the downloading step in that it installs the Wiki directly via FTP where you told it. You obviously still need a Web server, and the process is complicated because it integrates a couple of setup questions ("choose a layout") - but for the subject of this page, it provides the most hassle-free installation method of all existing (WWW based) WikiEngines.

I suppose TWiki is fairly easy to setup if you're used to doing that kind of configuration already. Both my wiki (KwikWiki), Frank Carver's Friki (FrikiServlet) and GarethCronin's VeryQuickWiki are very easy to set up if you already have a java app-server on your machine. Gareth's wiki engine and Friki in particular only require you to deploy the .war file and you can get going.

Different people will find different wikis easy to use depending on their previous experience and what they already have on their machines. It's probably best for people to seek out the most appropriate wiki for them rather than the easiest to install for some unnamed segment of society. -- AdewaleOshineye

How about instead of making it a contest (which is based on subjectivity), we list the easily (sp?) installable wikis and identify what makes them easy to install. In retrospect, I would have appreciated a list like that before I installed and hacked on PhpWiki, UseModWiki, TWiki, SqueakWiki, and MoinMoin (finally settling on MoinMoin). -- SeanOleary

Coming from a non technical person wanting to set up and starting working with a wiki if it had not been for this page I would have never found installable wikis. Afte spending nearly a day with no success, I found this page. Soon I had installed and started using TiddlyWiki, QwikiWiki and PMWiki. Sure there are others with different feature sets, but if the installation is too complicated a potential wiki community member may forever be lost. At least I almost was until I discovered this page. --John Morris

Uuugh! OK, whoever decided to use tabs on this page needs to be shot with a clue-gun. --SamuelFalvo?

CategoryWiki CategoryWikiEngineReview

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