Dear Maintainer, Just accessing any web page results in this error: ... TypeError: dokuwiki\Parsing\ModeRegistry::__construct(): Argument #1 ($syntax) must be of type string, null given, called in /usr/share/dokuwiki/inc/parserutils.php on line 239 ---- The whole wiki is not accessible (I believe) A quick google resulted in a suggestion : "...This error happens because the $conf['syntax'] configuration parameter is missing or empty in your DokuWiki setup. This frequently occurs after upgrading to the "Mort" (Summer 2026) release, which introduces a new core configuration setting for alternative markup engines. If the updater or container layout fails to supply a default string value, the engine receives null and crashes. ..." It suggested add missing config: $conf['syntax'] = 'dw'; to local.php which did fix it for me It also referred me to a few pages such as : https://forum.dokuwiki.org/d/26097-mort-docker-missing-confsyntax-parameter- triggers-a-typeerror Hope that helps. Andrew
retitle 1144041 type error after upgrade ($conf['syntax'] missing) severity 1144041 important tag 1144041 + moreinfo thanks Hi, thank you for your report. I can't reproduce this after an upgrade, because When trying to reproduce this error after an upgrade, because there is: $conf['syntax'] = 'dw'; //syntax flavor: 'dw', 'md', 'dw+md', 'md+dw' in /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php. Can you check if you're missing this? Regards, Daniel
retitle 1144041 type error after upgrade ($conf['syntax'] missing) severity 1144041 important tag 1144041 + moreinfo thanks Hi, thank you for your report. I can't reproduce this after an upgrade, because When trying to reproduce this error after an upgrade, because there is: $conf['syntax'] = 'dw'; //syntax flavor: 'dw', 'md', 'dw+md', 'md+dw' in /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php. Can you check if you're missing this? Regards, Daniel
Yep I'm missing the syntax conf variable - e.g. a grep for syntax only matches on a comment: % grep syntax /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php * This is a piece of PHP code so PHP syntax applies!
Yep I'm missing the syntax conf variable - e.g. a grep for syntax only matches on a comment: % grep syntax /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php * This is a piece of PHP code so PHP syntax applies!
Yep I'm missing the syntax conf variable - e.g. a grep for syntax only matches on a comment: % grep syntax /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php * This is a piece of PHP code so PHP syntax applies!
great, so we know the problem. :)
now, how let's find out how this file got not updated and what we can do
about it to improve/fix that.
/etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php is a "conffile" (that is a specially defined
status within dpkg), that means, on upgrade if local modifications are
detected, dpkg will ask the user to a) discard the modifications, b)
keep the modifications, or c) show the differences.
I presume you selected 'keep modifications', which means the file
wasn't updated and instead, you should see a
/etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php.dpkg-new or something like that.
Normally, we could just mark dokuwiki.php not being a conffile (all
files in /etc automatically have the status of a conffile, unless dpkg
is told otherwise; any other file outside of /etc is not a conffile by
default). However, that would mean, that any local modifications are
automatically discarded on upgrade, i.e. users loose their settings.
Of course, it's a bad idea to change dokuwiki.php in the first place,
all changes should go to local.php. However, users sometimes don't do that.
Now, I suggest to do the following:
* keep dokuwiki.php a conffile for now
* add a check in postinst so that after the package is installed
(i.e. after the user has chosen to keep the old dokuwiki.php)
we show a debconf warning message if the syntax option is missing
and that that needs to be added, and advise the user to use
local.php for modifications instead of dokuwiki.php.
and/or we could simply add the syntax option if it's missing.
what do you think?
Regards,
Daniel
Yep I selected to keep local modifications as I worried about what local mods would be lost... I also do have a /etc/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.php.dpkg-dist and it does have the syntax entry: $conf['syntax'] = 'dw'; //syntax flavor: 'dw', 'md', 'dw+md', 'md+dw' I am not the expert here - but I would prefer that it checks if it is missing and adds it in with a warning that without a syntax entry it will cause failure. Thanks Andrew
I concur, a classic user error. I think that would be a policy violation and also a bad example. How strong is the wording pointing people to local.php inside dokuwiki.php? Maybe that could be improved. Yes. Please don't. That's going to explode in the face of all package maintainers wo will spend weeks of their lifetime writing manual checks for each and every incompatible change in packages during upgrades. A package cannot ever touch a dpkg conffile in maintainer scripts. Greetings Marc
Hi Marc, as I said later on, there's no point in making it a non-conffile, however, jftr being policy compliant is not a problem here. the usual way to do this is to move it to /usr/share and symlink it to /etc/. it's discouraged, but most howtos on the internet don't mention local.php and tell users to modify dokuwiki.php, so, this is a long shot anyway. I beg to differ. first, this is the first time in almost two decades where dokuwiki needs a certain option to be in dokuwiki.php and fails otherwise. second, a simple *single* check for that is fine (and I would drop it right after forky anyway). third, I think this is a nice service to dokuwiki users, who often are not so admin-proficiant and, I think, will appreciate the helpful pointer. what has *one* check in *one* package (= dokuwiki) got to do with any other package or maintainer? again, not applicable here, however jftr, there are multiple policy-compliant ways to do that, e.g. ucf just to name one. Regards, Daniel
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
dokuwiki, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.
A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.
Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed. If you
have further comments please address them to 1144041@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.
Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org> (supplier of updated dokuwiki package)
(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Sat, 03 Oct 2026 17:17:28 +0200
Source: dokuwiki
Architecture: source
Version: 2026-07-14.c+dfsg-3
Distribution: sid
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org>
Changed-By: Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org>
Closes: 1144041
Changes:
dokuwiki (2026-07-14.c+dfsg-3) sid; urgency=medium
.
* Adding news file to document mandatory 'syntax' option in dokuwiki.php
for version 2026-07-14 and newer (Closes: #1144041).
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