MediaWiki Error: “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_NAMESPACE, expecting T_STRING

Posted by Derrick on Apr 19, 2010 in Computer Problems, Server Problems, Technology, Troubleshooting | 58 comments

After upgrading my PHP to 5.3.2, I received the following error when accessing MediaWiki (1.6.12):

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_NAMESPACE, expecting T_STRING in /usr/local/www/apache22/data/wiki/includes/Namespace.php  on line 46

There are three solutions:

1. Downgrade your PHP from 5.3 back to 5.2
2. Upgrade your MediaWiki to a newer version.
3. Fix the codes.

In my case, the first couple solutions do not work for me, and therefore I choose 3.

1. Backup your wiki file first.
2. Access your webserver and go to the MediaWiki/includes directory.
   For example:

   cd /usr/local/www/apache22/data/wiki/includes

3. Edit Namespace.php

   nano Namespace.php

4. Go to line 46, change the following from:

   class Namespace {

   to:
   

   class MWNamespace {

   Save the file.
5. Now, let’s create a script:

   nano wikifix.sh

   Copy and paste the following:
   
   

   for fl in *.php; do
   mv $fl $fl.old
   sed 's/Namespace::/MWNamespace::/g' $fl.old > $fl
   done

   Save the file.
6. Change the file to executable by:

   chmod u+x wikifix.sh

7. Search the keyword Namespace:: and replace it by MWNamespace:::

   ./wikifix.sh

   Warning: Don’t run the script twice!
8. Delete the script.

   rm wikifix.sh