TWiki System Requirements
Server and client requirements
Low client and server base requirements are core features that keep TWiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions. Many
Plugins![](/twiki_cstc/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif)
and
contrib modules![](/twiki_cstc/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif)
exist which enhance and expand TWiki's capabilities; they may have additional requirements.
Server Requirements
TWiki is written in Perl 5, uses a number of shell commands, and requires
RCS (Revision Control System)![](/twiki_cstc/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif)
, a GNU Free Software package. TWiki is developed in a basic Linux/Apache environment. It also works with Microsoft Windows, and should have no problem on any other platform that meets the requirements.
Resource |
Required Server Environment * |
Cron/scheduler |
• Unix: cron • Windows: cron equivalents |
Perl |
5.005_03 or higher (5.8.4 or higher is recommended) |
RCS |
5.7 or higher (including GNU diff ) Optional, TWiki includes a pure perl implementation of RCS that can be used instead (although it's slower) |
Web server |
Apache is well supported; see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#OtherWebServers for other servers |
Other external programs |
fgrep, egrep |
GNU diff |
GNU diff 2.7 or higher is required when not using the all-Perl RcsLite. Install on PATH if not included with RCS (check version with diff -v ) Must be the version used by RCS, to avoid problems with binary attachments - RCS may have hard-coded path to diff |
Required CPAN Modules
The following Perl modules are used by TWiki:
Module |
Preferred version |
Algorithm::Diff (included) |
|
CGI::Carp |
>=1.26 |
Config |
>=0 |
Cwd |
>=3.05 |
Data::Dumper |
>=2.121 |
Error (included) |
|
File::Copy |
>=2.06 |
File::Find |
>=1.05 |
File::Spec |
>=3.05 |
FileHandle |
>=2.01 |
IO::File |
>=1.10 |
Text::Diff (included) |
|
Time::Local |
>=1.11 |
Optional CPAN Modules
The following Perl modules may be used by TWiki:
Module |
Preferred version |
Description |
CGI::Cookie |
>=1.24 |
Used for session support |
CGI::Session |
>=3.95 |
Used for session support |
Digest::base |
|
|
Digest::SHA1 |
|
|
Jcode |
|
Used for I18N support with perl 5.6 |
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon |
>=0 |
Used for I18N support |
Net::SMTP |
>=2.29 |
Used for sending mail |
Unicode::Map |
|
Used for I18N support with perl 5.6 |
Unicode::Map8 |
|
Used for I18N support with perl 5.6 |
Unicode::MapUTF8 |
|
Used for I18N support with perl 5.6 |
Unicode::String |
|
Used for I18N support with perl 5.6 |
URI |
|
Used for configure |
Most of them will probably already be available in your installation. You can check version numbers with the
configure
script, or if you're still trying to get to that point, check from the command line like this:
perl -e 'use FileHandle; print $FileHandle::VERSION."\n"'
Client Requirements
The TWiki
standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:
- HTML 3.2 compliant
- Cookies, if persistent sessions are required
CSS and Javascript are used in most skins, although there is a low-fat skin (Classic skin) available that minimises these requirements. Some skins will require more recent releases of browsers. The default skin (Pattern) is tested on IE 6, Safari, and Mozilla 5.0 based browsers (such as Firefox).
You can easily select a balance of browser capability versus look and feel. Try the installed skins at
TWikiSkinBrowser and more at
TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackage![](/twiki_cstc/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif)
.
Important note about TWiki Plugins
- Plugins can require just about anything - browser-specific functions, stylesheets (CSS), Java applets, cookies, specific Perl modules,... - check the individual Plugin specs.
-
Note: Plugins included in the TWiki distribution do not add requirements, except for the CommentPlugin which requires Perl 5.6.1.
Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory