I've made a new MediaWiki installation, added the Translate extension,
both r56280 from the svn, and essentially copied the pblished configuration
data from translatewiki.net

Warning: dba_open(/translate_messageindex.cdb.tmp.1259851570) [function.dba-open]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php on line 121
Run php maintenance/update.php or web install to enable page translation feature.

Internal error

Unable to open DB file for write "/translate_messageindex.cdb"

Backtrace:

#0 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php(62): CdbWriter_DBA->__construct('/translate_mess...')
#1 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/utils/MessageIndexRebuilder.php(42): CdbWriter::open('/translate_mess...')
#2 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(206): MessageIndexRebuilder::execute()
#3 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(178): TranslateUtils::messageIndex()
#4 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(267): TranslateUtils::messageKeyToGroup(8, 'Sidebar')
#5 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(248): TranslateEditAddons::getMessageGroup(8, 'Sidebar')
#6 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(21): TranslateEditAddons::getKeyCodeGroup(Object(Title))
#7 [internal function]: TranslateEditAddons::addNavigation(Object(OutputPage), '<div class="noa...')
#8 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Hooks.php(133): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#9 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(783): wfRunHooks('OutputPageBefor...', Array)
#10 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(727): OutputPage->addParserOutput(Object(ParserOutput))
#11 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(701): OutputPage->addWikiTextTitle('<div class='noa...', Object(Title), true)
#12 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Article.php(1246): OutputPage->addWikiText('<div class='noa...')
#13 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Article.php(835): Article->showMissingArticle()
#14 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Wiki.php(464): Article->view()
#15 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Wiki.php(67): MediaWiki->performAction(Object(OutputPage), Object(Article), Object(Title), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
#16 /home/purodha/html/phase3/index.php(117): MediaWiki->performRequestForTitle(Object(Title), Object(Article), Object(OutputPage), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
#17 {main}

MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: exception 'MWException' with message 'Unable to open DB file for write "/translate_messageindex.cdb"' in /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php:123
Stack trace:
#0 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php(62): CdbWriter_DBA->__construct('/translate_mess...')
#1 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/utils/MessageIndexRebuilder.php(42): CdbWriter::open('/translate_mess...')
#2 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(206): MessageIndexRebuilder::execute()
#3 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(178): TranslateUtils::messageIndex()
#4 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(267): TranslateUtils::messageKeyToGroup(8, 'Sidebar')
#5 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(248): TranslateEditAddons::getMessageGroup(8, 'Sidebar')
#6 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateEditAddons.php(21): TranslateEditAddons::getKeyCodeGroup(Object(Title))
#7 [internal function]: TranslateEditAddons::addNavigation(Object(OutputPage), '<div class="noa...')
#8 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Hooks.php(133): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#9 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(783): wfRunHooks('OutputPageBefor...', Array)
#10 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(727): OutputPage->addParserOutput(Object(ParserOutput))
#11 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(701): OutputPage->addWikiTextTitle('<div class='noa...', Object(Title), true)
#12 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Article.php(1246): OutputPage->addWikiText('<div class='noa...')
#13 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Article.php(835): Article->showMissingArticle()
#14 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Wiki.php(464): Article->view()
#15 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Wiki.php(67): MediaWiki->performAction(Object(OutputPage), Object(Article), Object(Title), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
#16 /home/purodha/html/phase3/index.php(117): MediaWiki->performRequestForTitle(Object(Title), Object(Article), Object(OutputPage), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
#17 {main}

Exception caught inside exception handler: exception 'MWException' with message 'Unable to open DB file for write "/translate_messageindex.cdb"' in /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php:123
Stack trace:
#0 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Cdb.php(62): CdbWriter_DBA->__construct('/translate_mess...')
#1 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/utils/MessageIndexRebuilder.php(42): CdbWriter::open('/translate_mess...')
#2 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(206): MessageIndexRebuilder::execute()
#3 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/TranslateUtils.php(178): TranslateUtils::messageIndex()
#4 /home/purodha/html/phase3/extensions/Translate/utils/ToolBox.php(17): TranslateUtils::messageKeyToGroup(8, 'Sidebar')
#5 [internal function]: TranslateToolbox::toolboxAllTranslations(Object(MonoBookTemplate))
#6 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Hooks.php(133): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#7 /home/purodha/html/phase3/skins/MonoBook.php(324): wfRunHooks('SkinTemplateToo...', Array)
#8 /home/purodha/html/phase3/skins/MonoBook.php(186): MonoBookTemplate->toolbox()
#9 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/SkinTemplate.php(489): MonoBookTemplate->execute()
#10 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/OutputPage.php(1186): SkinTemplate->outputPage(Object(OutputPage))
#11 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Exception.php(164): OutputPage->output()
#12 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Exception.php(191): MWException->reportHTML()
#13 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Exception.php(289): MWException->report()
#14 /home/purodha/html/phase3/includes/Exception.php(348): wfReportException(Object(MWException))
#15 [internal function]: wfExceptionHandler(Object(MWException))
#16 {main}

Of course, I tried .../maintenance/update.php, but it would not work either, see bug 20634

Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement