XOWA

XOWA is an open source graphical software that allows you to easily and quickly find, read and edit various Wikipedia sources, such as Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikiquote or Wikivoyage.

Features at a glance

Key features include compatibility with Wikispecies and Wikimedia Commons, as well as with foreign Wikipedia sources, such as the French Wikipedia, rendering of Wiki articles with full HTML formatting, a high-quality browser, as well as the ability to edit articles.

In addition, the application displays all articles from Wikipedia without an Internet connection (offline mode), works with any non-English language, downloads images and other files on demand, sets up Wikipedia in less than 5 minutes, and navigates between offline wikis.

Highly customizable graphical user interface

Users will be able to customize the application on many levels, from keyboard shortcuts to HTML layouts and internal functions. The graphical user interface is simple, looks like a basic web browser and allows you to bookmark pages, open as many tabs as you want, find and copy text.

Under the hood, supported platforms and availability

It looks like the entire application has been written in the cross-platform Java programming language, which means that it is supported under GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms are supported at this time.

On GNU/Linux, the program is available for download as binary archives that must only be extracted in order to run the application (no installation is required), as well as a source archive that allows users to configure, compile and install it on any Linux distro.

Bottom line

In conclusion, XOVA is a great application for anyone who wants to browse various Wikipedia sources from the comfort of their Linux desktop. It looks like a web browser and includes a wide range of features and options.

What is new in this release:

• Minor parser enhancement

What is new in version 2.5.4.1:

• Minor parser enhancement

What is new in version 2.5.1.2:

• Minor parser enhancement

What is new in version 2.4.2.1:

• Minor parser enhancement

What is new in version 2.2.2.1:

• Minor parser enhancement

What is new in version 1.6.5.1:

• Several minor parser changes / enhancements for English Wikipedia
• Minor changes for XOWA Popups (currently optional; will be default for v1.7.1). See [[Help:Options/Popups]] and [[Help:Popups]].
• Offline images for Spanish (update) and Romanian (new) wiki

What is new in version 1.6.4.1:

• Popups when hovering over links (currently optional; will be default). See [[Help:Options/Popups]] and [[Help:Popups]].
• Fixes to handle latest English Wikipedia dump.
• Offline images for English (update) and Latin (update) wiki.

What is new in version 1.2.4.1:

• This release updates the Russian wikis, Greek wikis, Chinese Wikivoyage, and the German wiki.

What is new in version 1.2.3.1:

• Offline images for Spanish Wikipedia 2014-02-16 and sister wikis
• Offline image update for English Wikipedia 2014-02-02
• Faster wiki dump file import. See [[Help:Options/Import]] and "Import bz2 by stdout" * Fixes for HTTP Server and Firefox Addon
• Support for Wikidata 2014-02-10 including quantity datatype support {contributed by Schnark}
• Several parser improvements for Spanish Wiktionary, Spanish Wikis, and other wikis

What is new in version 1.2.1.1:

• This version adds offline images for all Dutch and Latin wikis as well as Commons Mainspace.
• It includes improved JavaScript support for the Firefox addon, GUI fixes for navigating backward/forward through history, and minor fixes.

What is new in version 1.1.4.1:

• New offline packages for Wikisources: German, French, Polish, Chinese and English.
• More support for Wikisource (automatic table of contents)
• Fix for links not working in home wiki (broken in v1.1.3.1)
• New universal url shortcut system: EX: fr.s:Auteur:Shakespeare -> fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Auteur:Shakespeare. See: [[Help:Address_bar/Shortcuts]]

What is new in version 1.1.3.2:

• Links to XOWA home pages in XOWA sidebar did not work.
• Clicking on logo did not open current wiki's Main Page
• ImageMagick portable Windows x86 binary was no longer available . See http://www.imagemagick.org/discourse-server/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24793

What is new in version 1.1.3.1:

• New offline packages for German Wiktionary (with audio) (2014-01-04), German Wikibooks (2014-01-15), German Wikiversity (2014-01-11), German Wikinews (2014-01-13), French Wikinews (2014-01-11), and English Wikinews (2014-01-16).
• Better support for Wikisource ( and {{#lstx}})
• Fix for underscore magic words (__NOTOC__)
• Handle title with questions marks (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Being_Served?_episodes)

What is new in version 1.1.2.1:

• This version adds an image update for English Wikipedia; offline images for Chiniese Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, and Wikinews; better support for Chinese Wikis; and other minor fixes.

What is new in version 1.1.1.1:

• New offline images for Polish Wikipedia (2013-12-18)
• New offline packages for Polish Wiktionary (2013-12-31), Polish Wikivoyage (2013-12-31), Polish Wikiquote (2014-01-01), Polish Wikibooks (2014-01-01), and Polish Wikinews (2013-12-31)
• Chinese wikis now have convert support
• File.Thumbs: Support for wikinews repos.

What is new in version 0.12.4.0:

• This version adds offline images for French Wikipedia (1.5 million images in 26.5 GB), as well as French Wiktionary, Wikivoyage, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, and Wikiversity offline packages.
• It includes a fix for images sometimes not loading on a page, as well as other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.12.3.0:

• This version adds support for English Wikisource, Wikibooks, and Wikiversity offline packages, general Scribunto fixes for French and Polish Wikipedia, and other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.12.2.0:

• This version adds support for the recent 2013-12-02 English Wikipedia images (250,000 images in 5 GB), a fix for DeadLink pages, and other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.12.1.0:

• This version adds support for the new offline image databases for German Wikipedia (2 million images in 32 GB), a new search suggest system, an alpha HTTP server, and other fixes.

What is new in version 0.12.0.0:

• This release includes offline image support for English Wikipedia (3.7 million images in 75 GB), a redlinks performance enhancement, Scribunto fixes, a Mac OS X 64-bit JRE build, and other changes.

What is new in version 0.11.3.0:

• This version adds support for the new offline image databases for English Wikipedia (3.7 million images in 75 GB).
• An entire copy of English Wikipedia with images can now be downloaded entirely to one's machine.

What is new in version 0.11.2.0:

• Torrent for Simple Wikipedia images
• Fix for redlinks when using Back / Forward

What is new in version 0.11.1.0:

• This version improves performance when highlighting missing links (redlinks), addresses Scribunto issues for ru.wikipedia.org, and includes other changes.

What is new in version 0.11.0.0:

• This is a roll-up release of all changes in the 0.10.* series.
• It includes offline image support for simplewiki, Scribunto English Wiktionary fixes, a Window 64-bit JRE build, and other changes.

What is new in version 0.10.3.0:

• This version fixes a number of minor issues, including the Search system and the {{formatnum}} parser function.

What is new in version 0.10.1.0:

• This version adds support for offline thumbnails and Simple Wikipedia (testers wanted), a new Windows 64-bit JRE package, and other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.10.0.0:

• This release includes a search word database, Special:Statistics, support for 2013-09-10 Wikidata wikis, and other fixes.

What is new in version 0.9.4.0:

• This version fixes a critical defect with Search Suggest, and includes a handful of other minor changes.

What is new in version 0.9.3.0:

• This version adds a word-index database for more accurate SQLite searches.
• Other minor changes are included.

What is new in version 0.9.1.0:

• This version adds a Special:Statistics page, a word index database for better Search performance (commandline only), and other minor changes.

What is new in version 0.9.0.0:

• This is a rollup release of all changes in the 0.8.* series.
• It includes Firefox add-on support, a wiki maintenance page, a customizable application menu bar, SQLite performance enhancements, and other fixes.

What is new in version 0.8.3.0:

• This version adds an application menu bar and further support for the Firefox Add-on (offline redirects from http: to xowa:; Edit/View HTML modes).

What is new in version 0.8.2.0:

• This version adds a wiki maintenance page, further support for the Firefox Add-on, Search performance enhancements, and other minor changes.

What is new in version 0.8.0.0:

• This release includes sqlite as the default format, TCP server support, an expanded context menu, Wikidata enhancements, improved support for Special:Random, and Wikiquote wikis (for a total of 663 importable wikis) .

What is new in version 0.7.4.0:

• This version includes a customizable context menu, reorganized option pages, hidden category support, and minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.7.3.0:

• This version includes a Translate extension and Special:ItemByTitle for wikidata, Randomrootpage/Main for various wikisources, and basic TCP server functionality.
• Minor fixes are also included.

What is new in version 0.7.1.0:

• This version includes a UI option for importing to a SQLite database, Russian Wikipedia fixes for Wikidata, and a Wikiquote listing.
• Other minor fixes are also included.

What is new in version 0.7.0.1:

• This release fixes an issue wherein importing from a dump file would fail if "wiki.unzip" was part of custom commands.

What is new in version 0.6.3.0:

• This version adds redlink capability for missing pages, improved sqlite database functionality (commandline only), better support for French Wikipedia templates, and many other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.6.2.0:

• This version adds sqlite database storage (commandline only).
• It includes a redesigned import page, as well as other minor changes.

What is new in version 0.6.1.0:

• This version adds a new search suggestions feature, a fix for it.wikisource.org, and other minor changes.

What is new in version 0.6.0.0:

• Scribunto fixes related to the 2013-05-03 English Wikipedia dump.
• A Unicode Collation Algorithm for Categories.
• Version 2 category upgrade through the UI.
• Extended search syntax support.
• Wiki import reads directly from bz2 and saves directly to compressed format.

What is new in version 0.5.3.0:

• This version allows for direct wiki import to .gz (no post-processing zip step).
• It also includes many changes to the Option pages.
• Other minor fixes/changes are also included.

What is new in version 0.5.2.0:

• This version supports a new search syntax (AND, OR, quotes), adds a UI for the new category system, and allows direct reading from a .bz2 dump.
• Minor fixes/changes are also included.

What is new in version 0.5.1.0:

• This version fixes Scribunto/Wikidata issues in the latest English Wikipedia dump (2013-05-03).
• It also fixes an issue with the new category system and wikis using the Unicode Collation Algorithm for sortkeys.

What is new in version 0.5.0.0:

• Phase 2 Wikidata and the #property tag;
• Wikidata JSON structured data formatter;
• a Score extension for music transcription through lilypond;
• improved Scribunto support for 2013-04 English Wikipedia;
• an improved Categories system;
• JavaScript injection prevention.

What is new in version 0.4.4.0:

• This version features a new Score Extension for music transcription, includes a new Property/Article name lookup for the Wikidata JSON formatter, and has another layer of defense against JavaScript injection attacks, as well as other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.4.3.0:

• This version fixes a potential JavaScript injection vulnerability, includes a JavaScript "disable" option, adds a MediaWiki-like Category view and Wikidata support for qualifiers, includes a fix for French Wiktionary, and adds other minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.4.1.0:

• This version adds Wikidata Phase 2 support ({{#property:astronomic symbol|of=Earth}}).
• It includes a Wikidata JSON structured data formatter.
• Minor bugfixes are also included.

What is new in version 0.4.0.0:

• This release includes the following changes in the v0.3.* series: Scribunto/Lua support; Wikidata Phase 1 support; Javascript Timeline; Options page improvements; and a Wiki list in the sidebar.
• New minor fixes and additions are also included.

What is new in version 0.3.3.0:

• This version adds Stage 1 Wikidata support (intralanguage wiki links), improved Scribunto/Lua support, and new options for application paths/wiki import zipping.
• Minor bug fixes also included.

What is new in version 0.3.2.0:

• This version adds preliminary Lua/Scribunto support, improvements to the JavaScript Timeline, and minor bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.3.1.0:

• This version adds a pure JavaScript Timeline extension, installed wikis in the sidebar, options page improvements, UI language support (currently only German and Polish have been provided), and minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.3.0.0 Alpha:

• Mathjax; better support for non-English languages;
• Sortable/Collapsible Javascript;
• Better support for Wikisource;
• Special:Allpages;
• Reference tooltips;
• An Options page;
• Wiki-specific sidebars;
• New UI image buttons/right-click menu;
• A Mac OS X build;
• Nany parser fixes.

Requirements:

• Oracle Java Standard Edition Runtime Environment
• UnZip
• 512 MB RAM