This page covers the common migration scenarios for MediaWiki: importing content from other platforms, switching database backends, moving a wiki to a new server, and migrating the file repository layout.
MediaWiki uses an XML-based dump format as its canonical interchange format for wiki content. Dumps contain page revisions, metadata, and optionally log entries and file upload information.
Schema files are located in docs/export-*.xsd. The current format is defined in docs/export-0.11.xsd.
Creating an XML Dump
Use dumpBackup.php to export your wiki content:
# Export all current page revisions
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --current > wiki-dump.xml
# Export full history of all pages
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --full > wiki-dump-full.xml
# Export specific namespaces (0=main, 4=project, 10=template, 14=category)
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --current --namespaces 0,4,10,14 > partial-dump.xml
# Export from a list of pages
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --current --pagelist pages.txt > selected.xml
# Export log events
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --logs > logs.xml
# Compress the output directly
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --full | gzip > wiki-dump-full.xml.gz
Two-Pass Dumps (Large Wikis)
For very large wikis, use the two-pass dump method to reduce database load:
# Pass 1: dump stubs (page/revision metadata without text)
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --full --stub > stub.xml
# Pass 2: fetch text content and merge
php maintenance/run.php dumpTextPass --stub=stub.xml --output=wiki-dump-full.xml
Importing an XML Dump
importDump.php
Imports pages from an XML dump file into the current wiki.
# Basic import
php maintenance/run.php importDump dump.xml
# Import a compressed dump
php maintenance/run.php importDump dump.xml.gz
# Dry run — parse without importing
php maintenance/run.php importDump --dry-run dump.xml
# Import only specific namespaces
php maintenance/run.php importDump --namespaces 0,10 dump.xml
# Import pages as subpages of a root page
php maintenance/run.php importDump --rootpage "Imported" dump.xml
# Include uploaded file data (requires --image-base-path)
php maintenance/run.php importDump --uploads --image-base-path /path/to/images dump.xml
# Prefix usernames from the source wiki (avoids collisions)
php maintenance/run.php importDump --username-prefix "OldWiki" dump.xml
# Skip the first N pages (useful for resuming a failed import)
php maintenance/run.php importDump --skip-to 1000 dump.xml
# Show progress every N pages
php maintenance/run.php importDump --report 500 dump.xml
| Option | Description |
|---|
--dry-run | Parse the dump without writing to the database |
--namespaces <list> | Import only pages in these namespace numbers |
--rootpage <title> | Import pages as subpages of this title |
--uploads | Process file upload records in the dump |
--image-base-path <path> | Load actual files from this directory |
--username-prefix <prefix> | Prefix all usernames with this string |
--no-local-users | Do not associate edits with local accounts |
--skip-to <n> | Skip the first N pages (for resuming) |
--report <n> | Print a progress report every N pages |
Importing a dump does not import user account data (passwords, preferences, watchlists). Only the edit history and attribution are preserved. Users must create new accounts on the destination wiki.
To migrate content from another wiki platform (Confluence, DokuWiki, TWiki, etc.) to MediaWiki:
Convert content to MediaWiki XML format
Use a platform-specific converter to produce an XML dump compatible with MediaWiki’s import format. Tools include: Install and configure MediaWiki
Set up a fresh MediaWiki installation:php maintenance/run.php install \
--dbtype mysql --dbserver localhost \
--dbname new_wiki --dbuser wikiuser --dbpass secret \
--pass adminpass "New Wiki" Admin
Import the converted XML dump
php maintenance/run.php importDump --username-prefix "Imported" converted-dump.xml
Rebuild link tables
After a large import, rebuild the link tables to reflect the imported content:php maintenance/run.php refreshLinks
Import files (if applicable)
# Import images from a directory
php maintenance/run.php importImages /path/to/images --user Admin
Moving a Wiki to a New Server
Put the wiki in read-only mode
// LocalSettings.php
$wgReadOnly = 'Wiki is being moved to a new server.';
Back up the database
# MySQL / MariaDB
mysqldump --single-transaction -u wikiuser -p my_wiki > wiki-migration.sql
# PostgreSQL
pg_dump -U wikiuser my_wiki > wiki-migration.sql
Copy files to the new server
rsync -avz /var/www/wiki/ newserver:/var/www/wiki/
Restore the database on the new server
# MySQL
mysql -u wikiuser -p new_wiki < wiki-migration.sql
# PostgreSQL
psql -U wikiuser new_wiki < wiki-migration.sql
Update LocalSettings.php
Update $wgServer, $wgDBserver, and any absolute file paths in LocalSettings.php to reflect the new server.$wgServer = 'https://wiki.newdomain.example.com';
$wgDBserver = 'new-db-host.example.com';
Run update.php
Even for a same-version migration, run update.php to ensure all tables are consistent:php maintenance/run.php update --quick
Rebuild caches and remove read-only mode
php maintenance/run.php rebuildLocalisationCache
$wgReadOnly from LocalSettings.php and test the migration.
Migrating Database Backends
MySQL to PostgreSQL (or vice versa)
MediaWiki does not provide a direct database-backend conversion script. The recommended approach is:
- Export content as an XML dump from the source wiki
- Install a fresh MediaWiki with the new database backend
- Import the XML dump into the new installation
# Step 1: Full dump from MySQL-backed wiki
php maintenance/run.php dumpBackup --full > full-history.xml
# Step 2: Install MediaWiki with PostgreSQL
php maintenance/run.php install \
--dbtype postgres --dbserver localhost \
--dbname my_wiki --dbuser wikiuser \
"My Wiki" Admin --pass adminpass
# Step 3: Import the dump
php maintenance/run.php importDump full-history.xml
User account data (passwords, preferences, email addresses, watchlists) is not stored in XML dumps. You will need to either use the user table dump from MySQL directly (with schema translation) or require users to re-register. Migrating the raw user table data across database backends is complex and not officially supported.
File Repository Migration
Migrating File Layout
MediaWiki supports two file repository layouts:
name — files stored flat by name (legacy)sha1 — files stored in a directory tree based on SHA-1 hash (recommended)
Use migrateFileRepoLayout.php to migrate between layouts:
# Migrate from flat name layout to SHA-1-based layout
php maintenance/run.php migrateFileRepoLayout \
--oldlayout name \
--newlayout sha1
# Migrate only files uploaded after a specific timestamp
php maintenance/run.php migrateFileRepoLayout \
--oldlayout name \
--newlayout sha1 \
--since 20240101000000
Copying Between File Backends
Use copyFileBackend.php to copy files between different file backend configurations (e.g., local filesystem to Swift object storage):
php maintenance/run.php copyFileBackend \
--src local-backend \
--dst swift-backend
Importing Images
Bulk-import files from a directory into the wiki’s file repository:
# Import all files from a directory
php maintenance/run.php importImages /path/to/images --user Admin
# Import with a specific comment
php maintenance/run.php importImages /path/to/images \
--user Admin \
--comment "Imported from legacy system"
# Overwrite existing files
php maintenance/run.php importImages /path/to/images \
--user Admin \
--overwrite
User Migration
Merging User Accounts
If users exist in both source and destination wikis, use the UserMerge extension to merge duplicate accounts after import.
When importing dumps with --username-prefix, users from the source wiki are created with a prefix (e.g., OldWiki>Username). After the import you can:
- Have users create new accounts on the destination wiki
- Use UserMerge to merge the prefixed historical account into the new account
- Or use
migrateUserGroup.php to reassign group memberships
# Migrate users from one group to another
php maintenance/run.php migrateUserGroup --from OldGroup --to NewGroup
Renaming Users at Import Time
When importing from another wiki, --username-prefix prefixes all editor names to avoid conflicts:
php maintenance/run.php importDump --username-prefix "OldWiki" dump.xml
# Results in usernames like "OldWiki>JohnDoe" in revision history
