docker-SemanticMediaWiki

A Docker-based MediaWiki setup with Semantic MediaWiki and the Chameleon skin.

Component	Version
MediaWiki	1.43.x
Semantic MediaWiki	6.0.1
Chameleon skin	5.0.3
PHP	8.4
MariaDB	10.11

Architecture

The image is a stateless build — no database connection is needed at build time. docker-entrypoint.sh handles all runtime state:

• First boot: waits for the DB, runs maintenance/install.php, writes LocalSettings.php to a persistent config volume, appends include_once lines for the layered config files.
• Every boot: runs maintenance/update.php --quick (schema migrations on upgrade), then a one-time SMW rebuildData.php (guarded by a marker file; delete config/.smw-rebuilt to force a re-run).

Configuration is layered via bind-mounted PHP files:

File	Purpose
LocalSettings.local.php	Core extensions, Chameleon skin, enableSemantics()
LocalSettings.redis.php	Object cache / session store

Prerequisites

• Docker Engine 24+ with the Compose plugin (docker compose version)
• (Production) a pre-created Docker network matching NETWORK in .env

Quick start (development)

git clone <repo>
cd docker-SemanticMediaWiki.mw-1.43-smw-6.0

cp example.env .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD, MYSQL_PASSWORD, MW_PASSWORD

docker compose up --build

The wiki will be available at http://localhost:10081/wiki/Main_Page once the healthcheck passes (adjust the port if you changed PORT in .env). First boot takes a minute while the entrypoint installs MediaWiki.

Configuration

All tuneable variables live in .env (copy from example.env):

Variable	Default	Description
MEDIAWIKI_VERSION	1.43	MW minor version (build arg)
MEDIAWIKI_FULL_VERSION	1.43.8	MW patch version (build arg)
DOMAIN_NAME	localhost	Public hostname, no scheme
NETWORK	smwnet	Docker network name
MARIADB_TAG	10.11	MariaDB image tag
REDIS_TAG	8	Valkey image tag
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD	—	Set this
MYSQL_DATABASE	mediawiki	DB name
MYSQL_USER	mediawiki	DB user
MYSQL_PASSWORD	—	Set this
MYSQL_PREFIX	mw_	Table prefix
MW_PASSWORD	—	Set this (admin password)
MW_SCRIPTPATH	/w	MediaWiki script path
MW_WIKINAME	MyWiki	Wiki name
MW_WIKIUSER	WikiSysop	Admin username
MW_EMAIL	admin@example.com	Admin e-mail
MW_WIKILANG	en	Wiki language
PORT	10081	Host port

Production deployment

Add the bind-mount paths to .env:

DB_DATA_DIR=/srv/smw/db
MW_IMAGES_DIR=/srv/smw/images

Create the external network if it does not exist:

docker network create smwnet

Then deploy with both compose files:

docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.prod.yaml up --build -d

compose.prod.yaml overrides the named volumes with host bind mounts and marks the network as external so compose does not try to manage it.

Useful commands

# Rebuild the wiki image only
docker compose build wiki

# Follow entrypoint logs on first boot
docker compose logs -f wiki

# Run a maintenance script
docker compose exec wiki php maintenance/runJobs.php

# Force SMW data rebuild on next boot
docker compose exec wiki rm config/.smw-rebuilt
docker compose restart wiki

# Stop and remove containers (keep volumes)
docker compose down

# Stop and remove containers AND volumes (destructive — wipes DB and wiki data)
docker compose down -v

Upgrading MediaWiki or SMW

1. Update MEDIAWIKI_FULL_VERSION (and mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki in composer.local.json) in your .env / source files.
2. Rebuild: docker compose build wiki
3. Restart: docker compose up -d wiki

The entrypoint runs maintenance/update.php --quick on every boot, so schema migrations apply automatically.

Composer lock file

Commit composer.lock for reproducible builds. If it is absent the image falls back to composer update and logs a warning. To regenerate it:

docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/work" -w /work composer:2 \
    composer update --no-dev --no-interaction --prefer-dist