I need to change a number of system messages. I'm running dozens of
wikis that all need the same changes, so I'm hoping to avoid changing
the messages through the system messages web interface.
I found instructions for doing this at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_localization but neither method
is working.
Here's a rundown of what I've done, which might help others diagnose my
problem:
I edited language.php to display different messages.
I uploaded language.php to overwrite the old language.php in the
languages folder.
I added $wgUseDatabaseMessages = false; to localsettings.php.
Nothing changed. I refreshed, tried logging out and in and changing my
skin in preferences, trying to fix it if it were a cache problem. I'm
not yet running cache software (memcache, etc.).
So I removed the $wgUseDatabaseMessages = false; from localsettings.php.
I ran the rebuildMessages.php script from the command line, and it
displayed a message saying it was rebuilding the namespace.
Nothing changed even after refresh. Again I tried changing my skin in
preferences in case it was a cache problem. I also tried looking from a
different computer which hasn't seen the site for a few days.
If anyone who understands how language.php works could help me out I'd
be very grateful.