Blazing Moon

Installing Koha 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10

Koha

Configure Linux Permissions

Using Webmin (or another method if you prefer) create a user named "koha" and add it to a group named "koha":

  1. System > Users and Groups
  2. "Create new user" link (above the "Delete/Disable/Enable Selected Users" button)
  3. Username: koha
  4. Real name: Koha User
  5. Password (Normal Password): {enter a koha admin password here}
  6. Group Membership > Primary Group > New Group: koha
  7. Create

Configure MySQL

Webmin vs. The Shell Prompt

Although you can accomplish these things as well—and probably faster—using the terminal window, and although Linux experts probably roll their eyes at the idea of using a web-based interface for this sort of configuration, I'm assuming you're not a Linux expert but a Linux learner.

Given that, a web-based approach will probably make more sense to you, and will also familiarize you with a tool that will be useful to you in other ways later.

These instructions assume you're using Webmin to configure MySQL. If you're more comfortable with another tool or the shell prompt, that's fine too.

Before you can administer MySQL through Webmin it will prompt you for the MySQL administrative login. The user should be "root", and the password is the one you created earlier when configuring LAMP.

First create a new Koha administrative user with all permissions on your server, localhost: Servers > MySQL Database Server > User Permissions (under "Global Options") > Create new user (at the top of the page). Fill in the prompts as follows:

Username: { choose a koha administrator name — one word }
Password: { choose a koha administrator password}
Hosts: localhost
Permissions: all permissions
[Create]

Next create a database for Koha to use: Servers > MySQL Database Server > Create a New Database (under "MySQL Databases"). Leave all options as they default except:

Database name: koha
[Create]

Finally, give your Koha administrative user full permissions for the "koha" database: Servers > MySQL Database Server > Database Permissions (under "Global Options") > Create New Database Permissions. Fill in the form as follows:

Databases: Selected (koha)
Username: { enter the koha administrator name from above }
Hosts: from host permissions
Permissions: all permissions

Install Koha

At last!

Verify SAX Parser

Confirm your system is using the correct SAX parser (XML::LibXML). After running the following command you should see something like "XML::LibXML::SAX::Parser=HASH(0x81f0a74)".

cd /build/koha-3.00.00/misc
./sax_parser_print.pl

If you don't have the right parser your Koha system will have problems with extended characters (e.g., accented characters). To correct this problem you'll need to edit the ParserDetails.ini file. First find the file:

locate ParserDetails.ini

This will probably report two files by that name, but one of them should simply be a symbolic link to the other so you can edit either one:

gedit /etc/perl/XML/SAX/ParserDetails.ini

The file should have one or more sections that look something like "[XML::LibXML::SAX::Parser]" followed by one or more lines of settings. To use the right parser, move the "[XML::LibXML::SAX::Parser]" section (including the settings that follow it) to the bottom of the file, then retest:

Missing Dependencies

Koha might tell you one or more dependencies are missing. Maybe you messed up. Maybe something was wrong with the dependent item, or a server it needs, or your network, or the alignment of the planets, or...

Regardless you'll need to re-install the offending dependencies.

  • Use apt-get install for Linux packages.
  • Use cpan for Perl modules.
  • If cpan doesn't work, try installing the Perl module manually as we did for Net::LDAP.
  • If you're not sure whether it's a module or a package, try both cpan and apt-get.
  • Try using the Synaptic Package Manager if a command-line approach doesn't work; open Synaptic and search for all or part of the dependency's name.

./sax_parser_print.pl

Install Koha Files

First we need to make the Koha application.

The "perl Makefile.pl" command will run for several minutes, ask you several questions, and generate e-reams of diagnostic text. In general you'll do well to accept the default answers.

When prompted "Please spcify the name of the user that owns the dataase to be used by Koha", provide login information for the koha MySQL user you created earlier on this page. The make test and make install commands will also run for several minutes but you won't need to answer any prompts.

sudo su
cd /build/koha-3.00.00
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

Next we need to configure Apache to recognize Koha as a valid website. To do this, the default Apache configuration directory needs to have a symbolic link to the Koha Apache configuration file, koha-httpd.conf. Create the symbolic link like this:

ln -s /etc/koha/koha-httpd.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/koha

Next we need to enable a required Apache module (the rewrite module) and then enable the Koha site.

a2enmod rewrite
a2ensite koha

We're almost done! By default Koha uses port 8080 for its administrative interface, the web site library staff will use. We need to tell Apache to accept web page requests on port 8080 in addition to the default port, 80. To do this edit the port configuration file:

gedit /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Add this line then save and exit.

Listen 8080

Finally, restart Apache to put the new configuration settings into effect:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart