WikkaTroubleshooting:Wikka

Troubleshooting Wikka

See also

WikkaInstallation - for the normal install procedure

UpgradeNotes - for upgrading from older versions

ModRewrite - for how to set up URL rewriting for Wikka (see HtaccessConfigInfo for more details)

WikkaWorkarounds - a collection of solutions for unusual problems

How to install Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl (and lots of associated apps/uts) XAMPP (external link - opens in new window)

WikkaBugs - for reporting actual bugs

This pages lists some common problems (and their solutions) installing or running Wikka. For reporting bugs, please use WikkaBugs.

If you have a problem that you suspect is not actually a bug, you may add a section to this page.
To report a problem, please add a header and tell us about the following things:

your used versions of: Wikka, PHP, MySQL

error-messages

if you can provide a link which shows the error, please do so

Installation problems

Installer hangs

Problem:

After I've filled out the form in the installer, it tells me: "Testing Configuration" - and then nothing happens.

Solution:
This always indicates some problem with PHP trying to connect to or use the MySQL database; unfortunately, the actual error message which would give a clue is hidden. To get the error message, open ./setup/install.php in an editor and remove the @ from before the mysql statements (mysql_connect(...) etc.). Then run the installer again to see what error message you get. Possible causes are:

The PHP version you're using is not compiled with MySQL support

The MySQL module is not installed in PHP

The MySQL server is not running

You've accidently copied space characters into your MySQL server name or other setting in the installer

If the error message does not give enough information to find the cause, try creating a (PHP) document with just

<?php phpinfo();?>

in it, put it in the same directory as your wikka installation, and load it with the browser; look for the PHP configuration switches, and for the MySQL section.

Server Error on fresh Wikka install

Problem: Going to the URL for a freshly-installed Wikka to trigger the installation process, the server issues a 500 (Server error) error and Wikka setup does not start.

Solution: try ServerErrorWorkaround.

Array_merge

Problem: When trying to install Wikka 1.1.5.3 (or earlier) on a system with PHP 5, you will get the following error while trying to install wikka:
Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #2 is not an array in ["your Path"]\wikka.php on line 910"

Solution: Install version 1.1.6.0 or higher instead.

Problem: Upgrade to 1.1.6.2 to 1.1.6.4 fails with: Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #2 is not an array in ["path to your wiki"] /writeconfig.php on line 6 Writing configuration Writing configuration file wikka.config.php... OK

Solution: Check your config file, if it is blank except for the version info, copy and paste the rest of the config file from a clean install. You will likely need to copy the SQL info from your old config file, as well as any other info that differs from the copy/pasted info. (ie, admin's name, acl's etc...)

Known Problems running Wikka

Wikka and free Hosting

Problems:

I've installed Wikka on a free hosting service, and all I get is a blank page. Other (non-Wikka) pages do work, and show a banner of the hoster.

I have a Wikka site at a free host, but all pages are truncated: the comments block doesn't appear.

Solution: See BlankPageWorkaround for a solution to both of these problems.

Most of Wikka works fine, but some things don't

Problems:

Search doesn't work

Comments don't work

Users cannot log out

Solution: These symptions will happen all together (you may not have seen all of them yet); watch the URL for each of these functions - do you see two question marks in there? This indicates a configuration problem with URL rewriting. See ModRewrite for the solution.

Extreme slowness for unregistered users

Problem: For unregistered visitors the Wikka site is very slow while registered (logged-in) visitors don't have any problem.

Solution: At the moment not, will follow on ExtremeSlownessWorkaround.

Only letter salad in the browser

Problem: After installation, when accessing the Wikka main URL (or any page for that matter) only results in garbage characters ("letter salad") in the browser window (looks like viewing a binary file).

Solution: LetterSaladOutputWorkaround.

Charset not supported warnings

Problem: On any page with code blocks, PHP displays a series for GeSHi highlighting code, like these (path shortened):

Warning: htmlentities(): charset `ANSI_X3.4-1968' not supported, assuming iso-8859-1 in [wikihome]/3rdparty/plugins/geshi/geshi.php on line 1608

Solution: CharsetNotSupportedWorkaround.

Truncated pages

Problem: Every page is truncated: the bottom of the page does not appear: the "small print" and maybe some elements above that like comments are not displayed in the browser.

If you look at the HTML source code in the browser, the page stops abruptly and the ending tags </body> and </html> are not there.

Solution: TruncatedPageWorkaround.

Failed to initialize session module

Problem: After succesfully configuring the wiki Wikka (database connects just fine, and all else seems to run fine) you can click on a link to 'your newly created site'.
But you get: Fatal error: Failed to initialize session module in /[your_path]/wikka/wikka.php on line 1150

Solution: InitializeSessionWorkaround.

Only blank pages

Problem: In a newly-installed system (or one previously installed but migrated to a new host) accessing any page (including the home page and other pages that are known to exist) results in nothing but a blank page in the browser.

Solution: BlankPageWorkaround.

Home Page gives 404?

Problem: Installation was successful, but when viewing the HomePage I get a 404 - page cannot be found message. The address bar shows the URL with /HomePage correctly listed so the config file is being read that far but not sure why it's not getting any further.
Using PHP 4.4, mySQL 4.06 but on secured access site so no link.
UPDATE: Apologies, I failed to mention that I'm running an IIS Server (so the ModRewrite page isn't helpful to my scenario). I've had a look through this Wiki and can't find any specific instructions based on that server, yet the Requirements for Wikka don't state that I MUST use Apache, any pointers here would be helpful.

Solution: This is very probably a problem with URL rewriting. See ModRewrite

Garbled output (reported via `#wikka`)

Problem: On first view of the default homepage all we get is garbled characters - it's totally garbage e.g. ??b?0x11h.C?n0x12?}? P?!0x12??B!N L|and so on

Solution: The problem was double gzip encoding. We use apache's mod_deflate to do all the compression but I just discovered we had zlib.output_compression turned "On" in php.ini. Perhaps adding "ini_set("zlib.output_compression","Off");" to the top of wikka.php (just before the call to ob_start() ) might resolve the issue. (Or, disable zlib.output_compression in php.ini. (Ed.))

Related issue ticket: #733

CategoryTroubleshooting

Wikka : WikkaTroubleshooting