How to Setup a GitHub Style Wiki Using Gollum on Debian 10

Introduction

Gollum is the Git-based wiki software used as the backend of the GitHub Wiki. Deploying Gollum will allow you to host a GitHub-like Wiki system on your server. In this tutorial we will install Gollum on a Debian 10 Vultr instance.

Prerequisites

• A fresh Debian 10 Vultr instance with the latest updates.
• Make a sudo user named gollumuser. Follow the Vultr best practices guide. Use the gollumuser user for the remainder of this guide.

1. Install Gollum

Install Gollum's dependencies.

$ sudo apt install ruby ruby-dev cmake libssl-dev pkg-config build-essential zlib1g-dev libicu-dev git -y

Install Gollum with the Ruby package manager, gem.

$ sudo gem install gollum

2. Setup a Gollum Wiki

Switch to the gollumuser home directory.

$ cd ~

Make a directory for the new wiki.

$ mkdir my-wiki

Change to the wiki directory.

$ cd my-wiki

Create a git repository in the wiki directory.

$ git init

Start Gollum.

$ gollum

Note: You can exit Gollum with Ctrl + C.

3. Access Gollum from the Web

While Gollum is running, navigate with your web browser to your server's IP address at port 4567. For example:

http://192.0.2.123:4567

Create a wiki page. Feel free to create multiple wiki pages. The pages you create are saved in Markdown format as .md files in the ~/my-wiki git repo directory.

4. Create Wiki Pages from the CLI

You can also create or edit pages from the CLI by creating Markdown files and then committing them to the git repo.

Exit Gollum with Ctrl + C, then switch to the wiki directory:

$ cd ~/my-wiki

Create a new file, page1.md

$ nano page1.md

Enter some content.

Testing A B C D E F G

Save and exit the file, then configure git with your name and email.

$ git config --global user.email "admin@example.com"
$ git config --global user.name "admin"

Commit your changes.

$ git add page1.md
$ git commit -m "create page1"

Start Gollum.

$ gollum

Review your changes in a web browser. For example:

http://192.0.2.123:4567/golllum/latest_changes

Conclusion

To learn more about Gollum, use gollum --help or visit the official Gollum website.