View source for M204wiki:Database download

The content of {{SITENAME}} is available for download, provided only that no copyright notices may be removed or altered.  The download format is a zip archive that contains both an XML dump of the wiki pages suitable for loading into your own installation of Mediawiki (or one of the many personal wiki implementations) and a tar file with all of the uploaded images and other objects such as PDF files.

==How to download a copy of {{SITENAME}}==
Use one of the following URLs to download a copy of the {{SITENAME}} contents:
<p class="code">http://M204wiki.rocketsoftware.com/images/M204wiki_full.zip or 
http://M204wiki.rocketsoftware.com/images/M204wiki_current.zip
</p>

'''M204wiki_full.zip''' contains the full {{SITENAME}} content (minus user records, security groups and "talk" pages), including all past versions of each page.  As of February 2014, this file is approximately 65 megabytes of data, and expected to constantly increase in size.

'''M204wiki_current.zip''' contains only the latest version of each {{SITENAME}} page (minus user records, security groups and "talk" pages).  This copy provides the latest version of all material but ''without'' the page history.  As of February 2014, this file is approximately 20 megabytes in size, and it is expected to increase in size but to always remain smaller than the "full" version.  '''This is probably the copy you want.'''

Both of the above files are refreshed every night, just after midnight Boston time.

===Updating local copies of {{SITENAME}}===
If you make changes to a downloaded copy of the {{SITENAME}} content, then of course those changes will be lost if you refresh the downloaded copy; The download and import process is a full refresh, and no incremental option is currently offered.

If you'd like to contribute to {{SITENAME}}, you will need to [[M204wiki:Get M204wiki User ID|obtain a M204wiki User ID]].

==What to do with your copy of {{SITENAME}}==
Most likely you are downloading a copy of {{SITENAME}} because your <var class="product">Model&nbsp;204</var> site does not allow internet access.  Maintaining a local copy of {{SITENAME}} provides access in a format that can be kept as up-to-date as you like.

If you want to present {{SITENAME}} totally faithful to its original format, you'll want to install a local copy of Mediawiki, the software currently hosting {{SITENAME}}:

<p class="code">http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki</p>

There are a variety of methods for importing a {{SITENAME}} XML dump and related binary uploads, all explained at the Mediawiki site:

<p class="code">http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Importing_XML_dumps</p>

Once you have a copy of Mediawiki installed, the simplest way to load the SirWiki content in a single step is via the script in <code>maintenance/importDump.php</code> (documentation provided in "Using importDump.php, if you have shell access" at the above link). For example, issue a command like the following:
<p class="code">php \www\mediawiki\maintenance\importDump.php c:\users\dave\downloads\sirWiki_current.xml
</p>
The above command can be run in Windows, if the MoWeS portable reader was installed in the root directory containing <code>\www</code> and the current SirWiki was saved in the above <code>downloads</code> directory.

Alternately, you can forgo the local installation of Mediawiki and use one of the aftermarket readers designed to import and display the Mediawiki XML dump.  The most popular one is Wikitaxi (Windows only; no Linux or OS/X version is provided):

<p class="code">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download#WikiTaxi</p>

A number of other viewing options are explained at the above page.

==See also==
<ul>
<li>The Sirius Homepage: http://sirius-software.com
<li>Mediawiki: http://www.mediawiki.org<
<li>Wikitaxi: http://www.wikitaxi.org
<li>Wikimedia XML dump importing: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Importing_XML_dumps
<li>Mediawiki XML dump format: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Export
<li>Wikipedia's information page on using XML database dumps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download
</ul>