How to run sites like Wikipedia offline

Small tutorial to have web sites like Wikipedia running offline and how to use either the App or have it run on Docker on Prem for the whole network.

Kiwix app

• Go to the Kiwix app web site
• Click on the Kiwix for iOS and macOS and download the app on the Mac App Store

Download offline files

• To easily get the files required to host entire web site offline using a browser instead of having to use the app, go to this link
• Click on “wikipedia” folder
• Download the file called “wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2023-11.zim”¹
• There is also other useful web sites that can be donwloaded the same way like “WikiHow”, “iFixit” and “Project Gutenberg”

Using the app

Import the file in the Kiwix app to be able to read it.

Docker and running On Prem

To have all these files consolidated and served to the entire home network to make them available to any browsers on any devices (ex.: iPhone, Mac, PC, ect.) the best way is to use Docker on a server from the HomeLab.

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1. This file is about 102 GB which contain all the Wikipedia articles up to the month of November 2023. The file with the “nopic” is the same thing without pictures and the rest of the files are Wikipedia articles separated by category. ↩