`moin run` results in `Wiki index not found error`

[ernstki]

Hi all, hope you're well.

Surprisingly there didn't seem to be any existing search results for this one, in several different search engines, nor a mention of it in the issue tracker. Fixing that!

Excerpt of error log running moin create-instance --full

⋮
Item loaded: video.mp4
Success: help namespace help-common loaded successfully with 7 items
2025-04-10 03:13:55,330 INFO moin.cli.maint.modify_item:338 Load welcome page started
2025-04-10 03:13:55,545 INFO moin.cli.maint.modify_item:347 Load welcome finished
2025-04-10 03:13:55,545 ERROR moin.cli.maint.index:122 Error: Wiki index does not exist.


# echo $?
1

Log after running moin run

# moin run
    2025-04-10 03:14:13,406 ERROR moin.app:179 Error: Wiki index not found. Try 'moin help' or 'moin --help' to get further information.

Workaround

moin index-create
moin index-build
moin run

If you're trying to do this inside a Docker container, the following RUN statement

RUN . <path-to-venv>/bin/activate && moin create-instance --full || true

…will prevent the build from stopping on error at that statement.

Environment details

• fresh debian:stable-slim Docker container (Debian 12 Bookworm)
• …having followed the other instructions at https://moinmo.in/MoinMoin2/InstallDebian § Moin installation using pip for users

[ernstki]

Does this seem like a thing that ought to be fixed in code, or in documentation, i.e. on the MoinMoin2/InstallDebian page on the wiki?

[roland-ruedenauer]

The invocation of moin create-instance --full should not have run into errors. Can you provide your Dockerfile + full logs?

[roland-ruedenauer]

In addition, newer moin2 documentation can be found here: Installation

[UlrichB22]

I can reproduce the error and will check it.

[UlrichB22]

The error is related to #1818 and the wiki data directory is incorrectly created in the venv directory structure,
e.g. in moin-venv-python3/lib/python3.12/site-packages/moin/config/wiki/

The command “create-instance” starts without wikiconfig.py only with default values and copies a wikiconfig.py into the new instance directory. The next moin command would take the configuration from this file. Is there any idea how to re-run create_app_ext to apply a changed configuration during a single CLI call without using subprocess?

[ernstki]

Thanks to you both for having a look.

In addition, newer moin2 documentation can be found here: Installation

Aha, so I think there is a minor update necessary to the "old" documentation, because it doesn't mention moin index-create being a necessary step.

[ernstki]

The invocation of moin create-instance --full should not have run into errors. Can you provide your Dockerfile + full logs?

Yes, I can reestablish those initial conditions, repeat, and attach full logs.

[UlrichB22]

@ernstki, IMO the docs are correct. The issue is a bug and running index-create is a workaround.

Yes, I can reestablish those initial conditions, repeat, and attach full logs.

You do not need to attach any more logs as the problem is easily reproducible.
If you run moin create-instance --full in an empty directory, this will always result in the above error.
The point of the “--full” option, however, is to have a single command to create a valid wiki.

[roland-ruedenauer]

Is there any idea how to re-run create_app_ext to apply a changed configuration during a single CLI call without using subprocess?

@UlrichB22 This might do what you aim for: create-wiki-test

[UlrichB22]

This might do what you aim for: create-wiki-test

@roland-ruedenauer, Looks great, do you want to create the PR?

[roland-ruedenauer]

Created a PR but did not test this thoroughly.

[UlrichB22]

@roland-ruedenauer, thanks for fixing this issue.

@ernstki, the problem is fixed in the latest Github version. If you want to continue using the pipy version, you can use one of the following workarounds:

• patch src/moin/cli/maint/create_instance.py after pip install or
• run moin create-instance before moin create-instance --full

[ernstki]

Thanks for your attention to this, everyone, it's appreciated.