FAQ

Why use Canasta instead of some other MediaWiki distribution?

There are indeed various other MediaWiki distributions, some of which also use Docker, and some of which are also geared for "enterprise"/non-Wikimedia use. What sets Canasta apart are its user-friendliness (including an extensive command-line interface), depth of functionality (including GitOps, and observability of log data) and flexibility, including the ability to run an entire wiki farm.

Can [some extension or skin] be added to Canasta?

If the extension is open source, well-maintained, and provides important functionality, then quite possibly! If you want an extension added to Canasta, please create an issue for it in the Canasta repository. Or look among the existing issues — most of which are Canasta-related — to see if that extension has already been requested or proposed by someone. If so, it would be helpful for you to add a note to that issue, indicating your support; often, just a handful of "votes" will make the difference.

For skins, the approval process is even simpler: any well-maintained MediaWiki skin will most likely be accepted.

Why not create the Canasta image myself?

Installing Canasta will download the pre-built Docker image for Canasta, which itself includes the CanastaBase Docker image. You could instead download the source code for these images in order to build them locally, but there is no benefit to doing that — unless you are planning to do development on that code.

Why does Canasta use Apache instead of Nginx?

Canasta (really, CanastaBase) uses Apache because the Wikimedia Foundation uses Apache to run Wikipedia and its other projects. Sticking as close to the Wikimedia Foundation's technology stack as possible gives the best chance of running MediaWiki without bugs, now and in the future.

Does Canasta have a version that uses Nginx instead of Apache?

At the moment, the CanastaBase image does not offer an Nginx flavor. However, anyone is welcome to make a derivative image of Canasta (instructions to do this are on another page) and replace Apache with Nginx as desired.