Introduction to Mediawiki

This guide aims to introduce you to the operation, configuration, and use of the MediaWiki service integrated into Tuleap. We will focus on the features offered by Tuleap to manage your documentation.

In Tuleap, the MediaWiki service integrates natively with project tracking tools. This integration allows you to centralize the knowledge and documentation of your projects within a tool directly linked to your work environment.

Warning
To use this service, you need to activate the “MediaWiki Standalone” service in your Tuleap instance administration and in your project administration.

Service Overview

What is MediaWiki?

MediaWiki is an open-source wiki engine, globally known as the technology that powers Wikipedia and thousands of other sites worldwide. Its fundamental principle is to allow multiple users to create, modify, and organize content simply and collaboratively.

Designed for knowledge management, MediaWiki is distinguished by several key features:

Open and easy editing: thanks to a simple syntax (wikitext) and often a visual editor, any authorized project member can correct an error, add information, or create a new page without advanced technical skills.
Complete change history: each page keeps a detailed history of all its versions. It is thus possible to see who changed what, compare versions, and revert to a previous version in case of an error.
Internal linking: it is extremely simple to create links between pages, which allows for building a structured and interconnected knowledge base where information is easy to find.
Content Organization: pages can be organized using categories, thus creating a thematic tree structure to navigate the documentation.

In the context of Tuleap, MediaWiki serves as a centralized knowledge base for your project. It is the ideal tool for collectively writing and maintaining technical documentation, meeting minutes, user guides, functional specifications, and any other form of shared knowledge by the team.

How does MediaWiki integrate with Tuleap?

The MediaWiki service in Tuleap is provided in a standalone form. This means it is a separate MediaWiki instance, but seamlessly integrated with Tuleap. Here are the key points of this integration:

Single Sign-On (SSO): users logged into Tuleap are automatically logged into MediaWiki. There is no need to manage separate accounts.
Centralized rights management: permissions (read/write) are inherited from the Tuleap project settings. Project administrators can define specific rights for certain user groups.
Unified interface: a Tuleap interface is applied to MediaWiki for a consistent user experience. The wiki is accessible directly from the “MediaWiki” tab in the project interface, and the main navigation as well as links to other project services remain accessible.
Simplified management: the maintenance of the MediaWiki instance (updates, etc.) is managed at the Tuleap platform level.

Exploring the MediaWiki Interface

The MediaWiki service interface is organized into several distinct areas to facilitate navigation and editing.

MediaWiki menu

The MediaWiki menu allows you to access key navigation elements:

Main page: the entry point to your wiki.
Recent changes: view the latest contributions across the entire wiki.
Random page: displays a random page, useful for proofreading or discovery.
Help about MediaWiki: opens a link to the official MediaWiki documentation for help on using the software.
Administration: provides access to wiki management tools, such as managing user permissions (this tab is only visible to administrators).

The search bar is a powerful tool that allows you to easily find information across all wiki pages.

MediaWiki account menu

Located in the upper right corner of the window, the “MediaWiki account” menu allows you to manage your personal settings:

Preferences: allows you to customize certain aspects of the MediaWiki interface (appearance, date format, etc.).
Contributions: displays the list of all the changes you have made on the wiki.
Log out: ends your MediaWiki session (you will remain logged in to Tuleap).

Contextual actions

At the top of each page, to the right of the title, there is a contextual action bar that allows you to interact with the content.

The main "Edit" button and its dropdown menu group the most common actions:

Edit: opens the editor to modify the content of the current page.
Discussion: access a dedicated discussion page to talk about the article's content without altering the article itself.
View history: displays the list of all previous versions of the page, with the ability to compare or restore them.

The rest of the "Edit" dropdown menu offers advanced management options:

Page information: provides details about the page, such as its creation date, number of edits, etc.
Permanent link: provides a unique URL to the current version of the page, which will not change even if the page is modified later.
What links here: lists all other pages in the wiki that link to the current page.
Protect: allows you to restrict modifications on the page to certain user groups.
Move: changes the page title while preserving its history and creating a redirect from the old name.
Delete: permanently erases the page.
PDF Export / Printable version: generates versions suitable for PDF export or printing.

Finally, the "Tools" button provides access to additional features:

Upload file: allows you to import images, documents, and other files for use in your wiki pages.
Related changes: displays recent changes to pages that are linked from the current page.

Contributing and navigating

Creating a new page

The most common and effective method for creating a new page in MediaWiki is to create a link to it from an existing page. This approach ensures that your new documentation is immediately integrated with the rest of the knowledge base.

There are two main ways to do this:

1. Via a "red link"

Create an internal link: on an existing page, click "Edit". In the editor, identify a word or phrase that should point to your new page. Surround this text with double square brackets. For example, to create a page named "Payment module specifications", you would write: [[Payment module specifications]].
Save the page: after adding the link, save your changes. The link you just created (called a “red link”) will appear in red, indicating that the destination page does not yet exist.
Click the red link: by clicking on this red link, you will be redirected to the new page's editor, pre-filled with the title you defined. All you have to do is write the content and save it.

2. Via the search bar

Type the exact title of the page you want to create into the search bar and start the search.
If the page does not exist, MediaWiki will display a message informing you that it was not found and will offer to create it via a “red link” in the results.

Viewing all pages

To get an overview of all your project's documentation, you can access the complete list of wiki pages.

The most direct method is to use the search bar:

Locate the “Search...” bar at the top right of the page.
Type “Special:AllPages” into the search field and confirm.

This page displays an alphabetical list of all pages created in the wiki, allowing you to easily browse and check existing content.

Tip
In addition to this documentation, we encourage you to consult the official MediaWiki documentation, an essential reference for any further questions about syntax and advanced features.