System Requirements

Low client and server base requirements are core features that keep Foswiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions. Many extensions exist which enhance and expand Foswiki's capabilities; they may have additional requirements.

Contents

Server Requirements

Foswiki is written in Perl 5, which is supported on Microsoft Windows as well as Unix and Unix-like systems (including Linux and OSX). On Unix-like systems, it uses a number of shell commands. It should be able to run out-of-the-box on any server platform that meets the following requirements.

Resource	Required Server Environment
Perl	5.8.8 or higher. A minimum of perl 5.12 is recommended.
External programs	GNU `diff` 2.7 or higher, `fgrep`, and `egrep` (not required on Windows)
Web server	Apache, Nginx and Lighttpd are all well supported; Apache sample configs are provided. For information on other servers, see Foswiki:Support.InstallingOnSpecificPlatforms.

Foswiki is designed to automatically detect the platform and generate a basic configuration the first time the configure script is run, but start from your expected default "view" URL, so that Foswiki can figure out your URL scheme.

Prior versions of Foswiki shipped with the important CPAN modules. Foswiki 2.0 does not, and you must ensure that the perl dependencies listed below are installed before attempting to use Foswiki. For a detailed report, PerlDependencyReport (admin access only!) or the shell script tools/dependencies.

If you are unable to install CPAN modules, see Foswiki:Extensions.CpanContrib. Install this extension into your Foswiki installation directory if you cannot install Perl modules otherwise.

You can check the dependencies before Foswiki is fully operational with the following command. It will list all potentially missing dependencies. Not all listed dependences are required on all installations, Refer to the usage message that accompanies each missing dependency in the report.

cd /path/to/foswiki
perl tools/dependencies

Specific distribution details

Find the closest match to your installed system. and click on the "Show ..." link to reveal the details.

Ubuntu and other Debian derived distributions

Show Debian / Ubuntu information

Minimum requirements

Install apache and rcs: apt-get install apache2 rcs

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
Algorithm::Diff	`libalgorithm-diff-perl`
Archive::Tar	`libarchive-tar-perl`
Authen::SASL	`libauthen-sasl-perl`
CGI	`libcgi-pm-perl`
CGI::Session	`libcgi-session-perl`
Crypt::PasswdMD5	`libcrypt-passwdmd5-perl`
Digest::SHA	`libdigest-sha-perl`	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Email::Address::XS	`libemail-address-xs-perl`
Email::MIME	`libemail-mime-perl`
Encode	`libencode-perl`
Error	`liberror-perl`
File::Copy::Recursive	`libfile-copy-recursive-perl`
HTML::Parser	`libhtml-parser-perl`
HTML::Tree	`libhtml-tree-perl`
IO::Socket::IP	`libio-socket-ip-perl`	First shipped perl 5.19.8
IO::Socket::SSL	`libio-socket-ssl-perl`
JSON	`libjson-perl`
Locale::Codes	`liblocale-codes-perl`
Locale::Maketext	`liblocale-maketext-perl`
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon	`liblocale-maketext-lexicon-perl`	Optional, needed for internationalization
Locale::Msgfmt	`liblocale-msgfmt-perl`	Optional, needed for internationalization
LWP	`libwww-perl`
LWP::Protocol::https	`liblwp-protocol-https-perl`
URI	`liburi-perl`
version	`libversion-perl`	Must be version 0.77 or newer, included with perl 5.10.1 and newer.

Note: to install all the above:

apt-get install libalgorithm-diff-perl libarchive-tar-perl libauthen-sasl-perl libcgi-pm-perl libcgi-session-perl libcrypt-passwdmd5-perl libdigest-sha-perl libemail-address-xs-perl libemail-mime-perl libencode-perl liberror-perl libfile-copy-recursive-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tree-perl libio-socket-ip-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libjson-perl liblocale-codes-perl liblocale-maketext-perl liblocale-maketext-lexicon-perl liblocale-msgfmt-perl libwww-perl liblwp-protocol-https-perl liburi-perl libversion-perl

Optional dependencies

Install as needed.

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
mod_perl2	`libapache2-mod-perl2`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
Apache2::Request	`libapache2-request-perl`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
DBI	`libdbi-perl`	Used for the Foswiki Page cache
DBD::mysql	`libdbd-mysql-perl`	Used for MySQL based Page Cache
DBD::Pg	`libdbd-pg-perl`	Used for PostgreSQL based Page Cache
DBD::SQLite	`libdbd-sqlite3-perl`	Used for SQLite based Page Cache
FCGI	`libfcgi-perl`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi apache modules
FCGI::ProcManager	`libfcgi-procmanager-perl`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi process management on nginx
Crypt::SMIME	`libcrypt-smime-perl`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Crypt::X509	`libcrypt-x509-perl`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Convert::PEM	`libconvert-pem-perl`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing

After expanding the Foswiki archive, change the ownership of the files:

Debian, Ubuntu, Kubunto: chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/foswiki

Apache user should issue the following commands:

a2enmod rewrite: Enables mod_rewrite
a2enmod cgi OR a2enmod cgid: Enables CGI. May need cgid if using a threaded mpm.
a2enmod access_compat: Apache 2.4: Enables compatibility with foswiki example apache configurations.

RedHat, SuSE, CentOS and other RPM based distributions

Show RedHat, SuSE and other RPM details

Minimum requirements

Install apache2, rcs, and perl-CPAN

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
Algorithm::Diff	`perl-Algorithm-Diff`
Archive::Tar	`perl-Archive-Tar`	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Authen::SASL	`perl-Authen-SASL`
CGI	`perl-CGI`
CGI::Session	`perl-CGI-Session`
Crypt::PasswdMD5	`perl-Crypt-PasswdMD5`
Digest::SHA	`perl-Digest-SHA`	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Email::Address::XS	`perl-Email-Address-XS`
Email::MIME	`perl-Email-MIME`
Encode	`perl-Encode`
Error	`perl-Error`
File::Copy::Recursive	`perl-File-Copy-Recursive`
HTML::Parser	`perl-HTML-Parser`
HTML::Tree	`perl-HTML-Tree`
IO::Socket::IP	`perl-IO-Socket-IP`	First shipped perl 5.19.8
IO::Socket::SSL	`perl-IO-Socket-SSL`
JSON	`perl-JSON`
Locale::Language	`perl-Locale-Codes`
Locale::Maketext	`perl-Locale-Maketext`
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon	`perl-Locale-Maketext-Lexicon`	Optional, needed for internationalization **
Locale::Msgfmt	`perl-Locale-Msgfmt`	Optional, needed for internationalization **
LWP	`perl-libwww-perl`
LWP::Protocol::https	`perl-LWP-Protocol-https`
URI	`perl-URI`
version	`perl-version`	Must be version 0.77 or newer, included with perl 5.10.1 and newer.

To install the above packages on CentOS

Note, Locale::Maketext::Lexicon and Locale::Msgfmt are not available on Centos. Install using CPAN if Internationalization is required.

First add the appropriate perl module repository, and then install the packages.

yum install -y epel-release
yum install perl-Algorithm-Diff perl-Archive-Tar perl-Authen-SASL perl-CGI perl-CGI-Session perl-Crypt-PasswdMD5 perl-Digest-SHA perl-Email-Address-XS perl-Email-MIME perl-Encode perl-Error perl-File-Copy-Recursive perl-HTML-Parser perl-HTML-Tree perl-IO-Socket-IP perl-IO-Socket-SSL perl-JSON perl-Locale-Codes perl-Locale-Maketext perl-Locale-Maketext-Lexicon perl-Locale-Msgfmt perl-libwww-perl perl-LWP-Protocol-https perl-URI perl-version

To install the above packages on SuSE

First add the appropriate SuSE perl-modules repository, and then install the packages. Note: Not all listed packages will install on SuSE, but all dependences are resolved.

zypper ar -f -n perl-modules http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/perl/openSUSE_13.1 perl-modules
zypper install perl-Algorithm-Diff perl-Archive-Tar perl-Authen-SASL perl-CGI perl-CGI-Session perl-Crypt-PasswdMD5 perl-Digest-SHA perl-Email-Address-XS perl-Email-MIME perl-Encode perl-Error perl-File-Copy-Recursive perl-HTML-Parser perl-HTML-Tree perl-IO-Socket-IP perl-IO-Socket-SSL perl-JSON perl-Locale-Codes perl-Locale-Maketext perl-Locale-Maketext-Lexicon perl-Locale-Msgfmt perl-libwww-perl perl-LWP-Protocol-https perl-URI perl-version

Optional dependencies

Install as needed.

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
mod_perl2	`mod_perl`	Required if using Apache2 and mod_perl
Apache2::Request	`perl-libapreq2`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
DBI	`perl-DBI`	Used for the Foswiki Page cache
DBD::mysql	`perl-DBD-mysql`	Used for MySQL based Page Cache
DBD::Pg	`perl-DBD-Pg`	Used for PostgreSQL based Page Cache
DBD::SQLite	`perl-DBD-SQLite`	Used for SQLite based Page Cache
FCGI	`perl-FCGI`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi apache modules
FCGI::ProcManager	`perl-FCGI-ProcManager`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi process management on nginx
Crypt::SMIME	`perl-Crypt-SMIME`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing (Not available in default repositories)
Crypt::X509	`perl-Crypt-X509`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Convert::PEM	`perl-Convert-PEM`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing

After expanding the Foswiki archive, change the ownership of the files:

RedHat, Fedora, CentOS Mandriva: chown -R apache:apache /path/to/foswiki=
Suse: chown -R wwwrun:www /path/to/foswiki

Gentoo (ebuild) based distributions

Show Gentoo details

Minimum requirements

Install www-servers/apache, dev-vcs/rcs, and dev-lang/perl

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
Algorithm::Diff	`dev-perl/Algorithm-Diff`
Archive::Tar	`perl-Archive-Tar`	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Authen::SASL	`dev-perl/Authen-SASL`	Optional, needed for authenticated SMTP
CGI	`dev-perl/CGI`
CGI::Session	`dev-perl/CGI-Session`
Crypt::PasswdMD5	`dev-perl/Crypt-PasswdMD5`
Digest::SHA		Included with perl
Email::Address::XS	`dev-perl/Email-Address-XS`
Email::MIME	`dev-perl/Email-MIME`
Error	`dev-perl/Error`
Encode		Included with perl
File::Copy::Recursive	`dev-perl/File-Copy-Recursive`
HTML::Parser	`dev-perl/HTML-Parser`
HTML::Tree	`dev-perl/HTML-Tree`
IO::Socket::IP		Ebuild not avaiable. Install with g-cpan if IPv6 is needed.
IO::Socket::SSL	`dev-perl/IO-Socket-SSL`	Optional, support encrypted email connection: STARTTLS or SSL
JSON	`dev-perl/JSON`
Locale::Maketext		Included with perl
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon	`dev-perl/Locale-Maketext-Lexicon`	Optional, needed for internationalization
Locale::Msgfmt	`dev-perl/Locale-Msgfmt`	Optional, needed for internationalization
LWP	`dev-perl/libwww-perl`
LWP::Protocol::https	`dev-perl/LWP-Protocol-https`
URI	`dev-perl/URI`
version		Must be version 0.77 or newer, included with perl 5.10.1 and newer.

To install the above packages on Gentoo

emerge dev-perl/Algorithm-Diff perl-Archive-Tar dev-perl/Authen-SASL dev-perl/CGI dev-perl/CGI-Session dev-perl/Crypt-PasswdMD5 dev-perl/Email-Address-XS dev-perl/Email-MIME dev-perl/Error dev-perl/File-Copy-Recursive dev-perl/HTML-Parser dev-perl/HTML-Tree dev-perl/IO-Socket-SSL dev-perl/JSON dev-perl/Locale-Maketext-Lexicon dev-perl/Locale-Msgfmt dev-perl/libwww-perl dev-perl/LWP-Protocol-https dev-perl/URI

Optional dependencies

Install as needed.

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
mod_perl2	`www-apache/mod_perl`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
Apache2::Request	`libapache2-request-perl`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
DBI	`dev-perl/DBI`	Optional - Used for the Foswiki Page cache
DBD::mysql	`dev-perl/DBD-mysql`	Optional - Used for MySQL based Page Cache
DBD::Pg	`dev-perl/DBD-Pg`	Optional - Used for PostgreSQL based Page Cache
DBD::SQLite	`dev-perl/DBD-SQLite`	Optional - Used for SQLite based Page Cache
FCGI	`dev-perl/FCGI`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi apache modules
FCGI::ProcManager	`dev-perl/FCGI-ProcManager`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi process management on nginx
Crypt::SMIME	`dev-perl/Crypt-SMIME`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Crypt::X509	`dev-perl/Crypt-X509`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Convert::PEM	`dev-perl/convert-pem`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing

After expanding the Foswiki archive, change the ownership of the files:

chown -R apache:apache /var/www/path-to-foswiki

FreeBSD (pkg) based distributions

Show FreeBSD details

Minimum requirements

Install apache24, rcs, and perl5

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
Algorithm::Diff	`p5-Algorithm-Diff`
Archive::Tar	`p5-Archive-Tar`
Authen::SASL	`p5-Authen-SASL`
CGI	`p5-CGI`
CGI::Session	`p5-CGI-Session`
Crypt::PasswdMD5	`p5-Crypt-PasswdMD5`
Digest::SHA	`p5-Digest-SHA`	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Email::Address::XS	`p5-Email-Address-XS`
Email::MIME	`p5-Email-MIME`
Encode	`p5-Encode`
Error	`p5-Error`
File::Copy::Recursive	`p5-File-Copy-Recursive`
HTML::Parser	`p5-HTML-Parser`
HTML::Tree	`p5-HTML-Tree`
IO::Socket::IP	`p5-IO-Socket-IP`	First shipped perl 5.19.8
IO::Socket::SSL	`p5-IO-Socket-SSL`
JSON	`p5-JSON`
Locale::Maketext	`p5-Locale-Maketext`
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon	`p5-Locale-Maketext-Lexicon`	Optional, needed for internationalization
Locale::Msgfmt	`p5-Locale-Msgfmt`	Optional, needed for internationalization
LWP	`p5-libwww`
LWP::Protocol::https	`p5-LWP-Protocol-https`
URI	`p5-URI`
version	`p5-version`	Must be version 0.77 or newer, included with perl 5.10.1 and newer.

To install the above packages on FreeBSD

pkg install p5-Algorithm-Diff p5-Archive-Tar p5-Authen-SASL p5-CGI p5-CGI-Session p5-Crypt-PasswdMD5 p5-Digest-SHA p5-Email-Address-XS p5-Email-MIME p5-Encode p5-Error p5-File-Copy-Recursive p5-HTML-Parser p5-HTML-Tree p5-IO-Socket-IP p5-IO-Socket-SSL p5-JSON p5-Locale-Maketext p5-Locale-Maketext-Lexicon p5-Locale-Msgfmt p5-libwww p5-LWP-Protocol-https p5-URI p5-version

After expanding the Foswiki archive, change the ownership of the files:

chown -R www:wwwadmin /var/www/path-to-foswiki

Optional dependencies

Install as needed.

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
mod_perl2	`ap24-mod_perl2`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
Apache2::Request	`libapreq2`	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
BSD-Resource	`p5-BSD-Resource`	Optional - used for FCGI process handler resource limits
DBI	`p5-DBI`	Optional - Used for the Foswiki Page cache
DBD::mysql	`p5-DBD-mysql`	Optional - Used for MySQL based Page Cache
DBD::Pg	`p5-DBD-Pg`	Optional - Used for PostgreSQL based Page Cache
DBD::SQLite	`p5-DBD-SQLite`	Optional - Used for SQLite based Page Cache
FCGI	`p5-FCGI`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi apache modules
FCGI::ProcManager	`p5-FCGI-ProcManager`	Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi process management on nginx
Crypt::SMIME	`p5-Crypt-SMIME`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Crypt::X509	`p5-Crypt-X509`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Convert::PEM	`p5-Convert-PEM`	Optional, used for S/MIME email signing

Installation with CPAN

Show CPAN details

Perl dependencies can also be installed on most systems using cpanm, aka App::cpanminus. On most unix* systems, cpanminus can bootstrap itself using curl or wget. If run as root, the modules will be installed in the System perl. Otherwise they are installed into the users local environment.

Perl Module	Notes
Algorithm::Diff
Archive::Tar	*First shipped in perl 5.9.3
Authen::SASL	Optional, needed for authenticated SMTP
CGI
CGI::Session
Crypt::PasswdMD5
Digest::SHA	Included with perl
Error
Email::Address::XS
Email::MIME
Encode
File::Copy::Recursive
HTML::Parser
HTML::Tree
IO::Socket::IP
IO::Socket::SSL	Optional, support encrypted email connection: STARTTLS or SSL
JSON
Locale::Maketext
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon	Optional, needed for internationalization
Locale::Msgfmt	Optional, needed for internationalization
LWP
LWP::Protocol::https
URI
version	Must be version 0.77 or newer, included with perl 5.10.1 and newer.

To install the above packages with `cpanm`

Note: We do not recommend installing CPAN modules with cpanminus as root. See below for information on using a private module library with cpanminus.

curl -L http://cpanmin.us | perl - App::cpanminus (optional - install cpanminus if not available )
cpanm Algorithm::Diff Archive::Tar Authen::SASL CGI CGI::Session Crypt::PasswdMD5 Digest::SHA Error Email::Address::XS Email::MIME Encode File::Copy::Recursive HTML::Parser HTML::Tree IO::Socket::IP IO::Socket::SSL JSON Locale::Maketext Locale::Maketext::Lexicon Locale::Msgfmt LWP LWP::Protocol::https URI version

Optional dependencies

Install as needed.

Perl Module	Package to install	Notes
Apache2::Request	Required if using Apache 2 and mod_perl
DBI		Optional - Used for the Foswiki Page cache
DBD::mysql		Optional - Used for MySQL based Page Cache
DBD::Pg		Optional - Used for PostgreSQL based Page Cache
DBD::SQLite		Optional - Used for SQLite based Page Cache
FCGI		Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi apache modules
FCGI::ProcManager		Optional, needed for fastcgi / fcgi process management on nginx
Crypt::SMIME		Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Crypt::X509		Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Convert::PEM		Optional, used for S/MIME email signing
Locale::Language	Optional, `Locale::Language` will be removed from the Perl core distribution in 5.28.

Installation using `cpanminus`

See Foswiki:Support.HowToInstallCpanModules for more information.

If you want to install the dependendencies into a specified location, add the "-l" option to cpanm, and add the lib path to bin/LocalLib.cfg. The dependencies will be installed under the specified location, in the lib/perl5 subdirectory. Example: User "foswiki" logs in and installs the libraries locally under the foswikideps directory:

cpanm -l foswikideps Algorithm::Diff Archive::Tar ...   (install libraries into =/home/foswiki/foswikideps=)

/path/to/foswiki/bin/LocalLib.txt is then edited, and the commented line is modified:

# @localPerlLibPath = ( '/path/to/dir', '/path/to/another/dir', );
@localPerlLibPath = ( '/home/foswiki/foswikideps/lib/perl5', );

Foswiki will now run using the libraries installed by cpanm.

Client Requirements

The standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:

XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant
Cookies, if persistent sessions are required
Javascript, is required for configure, edit save and upload functionality. Foswiki is viewable without javascript.

CSS and Javascript are used in most skins. Some skins will require more recent releases of browsers. The default (Pattern) skin is tested on IE 6+, Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

You can easily select a balance of browser capability versus look and feel. Try the installed skins at SkinBrowser and more at Foswiki:Extensions.SkinPackage.

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory

This topic: System > Category > AdminDocumentationCategory > SystemRequirements
Topic revision: 06 Aug 2023, UnknownUser

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System Requirements

Server Requirements

Specific distribution details

Ubuntu and other Debian derived distributions

Minimum requirements

Optional dependencies

RedHat, SuSE, CentOS and other RPM based distributions

Minimum requirements

To install the above packages on CentOS

To install the above packages on SuSE

Optional dependencies

Gentoo (ebuild) based distributions

Minimum requirements

To install the above packages on Gentoo

Optional dependencies

FreeBSD (pkg) based distributions

Minimum requirements

To install the above packages on FreeBSD

Optional dependencies

Installation with CPAN

To install the above packages with cpanm

Optional dependencies

Installation using cpanminus

Client Requirements

To install the above packages with `cpanm`

Installation using `cpanminus`