April 2011 - Koha-devel - lists.koha-community.org

How to get CAS based Single Sign On working?
by Koustubha Kale 25 May '15

25 May '15

Hi All, I have a situation where we have a main website based on Joomla. This Joomla site uses CAS to authenticate users. We would like users ( who have already logged in to the Joomla site via CAS) to be able to follow a link to Koha site and be logged in automatically ( e.g. Single Sign On ). I have got simple CAS ( not proxy CAS ) working with Koha ( version 3.2.6 ) using the same CAS server as used by Joomla site. Still when I login to Joomla site with CAS, and then go to Koha and click on login and follow the CAS login link, I am asked to fill up CAS login information again. How can this be avoided by using CAS SSO? I have read through http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/SSO_CAS_improvements and am confused by the statement "Note: simple sso cas support (no proxy) has been done already by biblibre, is in testing and should be released in Koha 3.2" in there. Does this statement mean that SSO is possible with simple CAS? If yes how to set it up? If not, I have also read through bugs 6012, 5630 and the CAS Proxy examples. Frankly I haven't been able to figure out how I can achieve the above required functionality based on all the reading. Any help is much appreciated.. Another related query is, Is it possible to automatically create users in Koha once they have authenticated with CAS? Regards, Koustubha Kale Anant Corporation Contact Details : Address : 103, Armaan Residency, R. W Sawant Road, Nr. Golden Dyes Naka, Thane (w), Maharashtra, India, Pin : 400601. TeleFax : +91-22-21720108, +91-22-21720109 Mobile : +919820715876 Website : http://www.anantcorp.com Blog : http://www.anantcorp.com/blog/?author=2

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koha-3.00.00 make fails
by Rick Welykochy 28 Dec '13

28 Dec '13

Hi all, I have downloaded http://download.koha.org/koha-3.00.00.tar.gz and began installing it on Debian/etch (in a Linux vserver environment). 0. FINE: cd koha-3.00.00 1. FINE: perl Makefile.PL 2. FAIL: make : : : Manifying blib/man3/C4::UploadedFile.3pm Manifying blib/man3/C4::BackgroundJob.3pm Manifying blib/man3/opac::opac-dictionary.3pm Manifying blib/man3/serials::member-search.3pm /usr/bin/perl "-Iblib/arch" "-Iblib/lib" fix-perl-path.PL blib /usr/bin/perl "-Iblib/arch" "-Iblib/lib" rewrite-config.PL blib/KOHA_CONF_DIR/koha-conf.xml Bad arg length for Socket::inet_ntoa, length is 0, should be 4 at rewrite-config.PL line 67. make: *** [blib/KOHA_CONF_DIR/koha-conf.xml] Error 255 Any ideas what went wrong and how to fix? Aside: there were a couple of other problems with this "out of the box" debian based install of Koha 3.0 which had to be fixed along the way, e.g. seven missing perl modules and libgd not found. I'll report on the entire process from unpacking to a running Koha/3.00.00 once I get to the end. cheers rickw -- ________________________________________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services || Internet Driving Instructor The manual said Windows XP/SP2 or better so I installed Linux.

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Restructuring C4
by Ian Walls 21 Sep '11

21 Sep '11

Fellow Developers, Last night, I stayed up late running circ/circulation.pl through NYTProf, to get an idea where we may be able to optimize circulation for speed. After much frustration (darn session IDs...), I was able to get a report. The results were... not exactly what I expected. It seems that much of the time spent running circ/circulation.pl is spent BEGINing the various C4 modules, multiple times. C4::Items, for example, is BEGuN 14 times in the execution of circ/circulation.pl. More stats: C4::Accounts - 8 BEGINs C4::Acquisition - 14 BEGINs C4::Auth - 14 BEGINs C4::Biblio - 14 BEGINs C4::Branch - 5 BEGINs C4::Circulation - 22 BEGINs C4::Context - 18 BEGINs C4::Dates - 12 BEGINs ... and so on. Even modules like C4::XSLT, C4::SMS, C4::Suggestions, and C4::Search::PazPar2 are BEGuN several times, without any calls to any of their subroutines. Some modules, it seems, don't have an END at the end... I was also able to get a Graphviz file out, showing all the package calls (folks may remember my keen interest in such things from KohaCon). Running it through sccmap to detect cycles, I found a very long one between several of the modules. About 8 packages long. All this indicate to me that we REALLY need to start thinking about imposing some kind of structure on C4. I'm thinking something with two-levels: Level 1 : Calls to the database, other direct interaction with stored data Level 2: Calls to Level 1 functions to manipulate data all our scripts would then be modified to call only Level 2, which would take care of talking to Level 1. At the worst, a particular Level 1 package would be BEGuN as many times as there were Level 2 packages BEGuN in the script (and we could certainly do better). It would eliminate all the cycles, as well. I can provide access to my report for anyone who needs it, or more details about how I obtained it. Whatever any of you need to keep this conversation going. This is a big deal, in my opinion, and we need to start detangling our code before too much long, or we're going to get seriously bogged down. Cheers, -Ian -- Ian Walls Lead Development Specialist ByWater Solutions Phone # (888) 900-8944 http://bywatersolutions.com ian.walls(a)bywatersolutions.com Twitter: @sekjal

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KohaCon11 hackfest: discussion
by Paul Poulain 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

Hello everybody, 3 weeks ago we had our 1st IRC meeting about the next KohaCon in India. It seems I've been selected to start the discussion about the Hackfest ! We've had 3 KohaCon already : one in France (2006) one in USA (2009), one in NZ (2010). In Marseille, it lasted one week and was mostly about hacking. In USA it lasted 3 days, we had one day (and a half ?) teaching new developers how to hack, then one day hacking In NZ it lasted 3 days too. the 1st day was dedicated to some -technical- lightning talks (http://www.kohacon10.org.nz/2010/hackfest/index.html) then teaching new hackers, then doing a few hacking What should be the hackfest in India then ? We have two goals during those meetings: welcome new developers, and do some real hacking: it's very efficient to work in the same room and without clock/time differences ! I proposed during the first IRC meeting to split the hackfest in 2 sub-parts, each of them dealing with one goal: * Hackfest part 1 = "become a Koha developper" * Hackfest part 2 = "do some hacking". We could say part1 is about theory, and part2 is about practising what we've learned on part1 ;-) (and of course, ppl coming for part1 would/should/could stay for part2 !) The 1st part would be dedicated to teaching Koha to ppl wanting to know how to join: things like using git, Koha source code organisation, Koha database, working with templates, dealing with translations, submitting patches. kmkale suggested to have 2 days for this part, just before sunday (that would be a day-off) The 2nd part would be dedicated to hacking: showing what is underway, showing POC if applicable (Proof of Concept), playing with bugzilla, writing unit tests,... How long could/should it last ? There are 2 opinions here: - staying & taking time is expensive, so not too long - once you're here, we must make the trip worth, so as long as possible What's your opinion on this matter ? Mine is that once we're here, we must stay as long as possible, those meetings are precious. So how long should this part last ? kmkale said there will be a room available for us for as long as we want. My proposition would be to say 3 days (mon-wed): not too short, we will be able to do useful things, not too long, we'll be back home on tuesday, before or for the next week-end, back to work next monday. What's your opinion on those ideas ? anything to add ? Feel free to give your opinion, nothing has been decided yet ! -- Paul POULAIN http://www.biblibre.com Expert en Logiciels Libres pour l'info-doc Tel : (33) 4 91 81 35 08

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Why is Dewey in the su index?
by Magnus Enger 29 Apr '11

29 Apr '11

Hi, all! I just had a library ask me about how they could best search for a specific Dewey number (and not as part of a call number, but on it's own). After a bit of head-scratching I discovered that searching for the Dewey-number as a subject gave good results (e.g. /cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/search.pl?idx=su&q=355&op=and&idx=kw&op=and&idx=kw&sort_by=relevance). Now the trouble is I was unable to leave well enough alone, and started trying to figure out why Dewey is included in the su index. And I'm still scratching my head... Normally I would expect to find the answer in one of the following files, but this seems like a dead end: etc/zebradb/marc_defs/normarc/biblios/record.abs melm 082 Dewey-classification:w,Dewey-classification:s etc/zebradb/biblios/etc/bib1.att att 13 Dewey-classification etc/zebradb/ccl.properties #Classification-Dewey 13 A classification number from 082 # the Dewey Decimal # Classification, developed by # Melvyl Dewey. #Dewey-classification 1=13 I have tried also tried grep'ing throught the source for Dewey-classification, with meager results (the mention in Search.pm is just in a list of "available indexes"): C4/Search.pm: 'Dewey-classification', etc/zebradb/biblios/etc/bib1.att:att 13 Dewey-classification etc/zebradb/ccl.properties:#Dewey-classification 1=13 etc/zebradb/marc_defs/unimarc/biblios/record.abs:melm 676$a Dewey-classification:w,Dewey-classification:s etc/zebradb/marc_defs/normarc/biblios/record.abs:melm 082 Dewey-classification:w,Dewey-classification:s etc/zebradb/marc_defs/marc21/biblios/record.abs:melm 082 Dewey-classification:w,Dewey-classification:s koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules/opac-browser.tt: <a href="opac-search.pl?q=Dewey-classification:[% LEVEL_LOO.classification |uri %]">[% LEVEL_LOO.description |html %]</a> koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/nb-NO/modules/opac-browser.tt: <a href="opac-search.pl?q=Dewey-classification:[% LEVEL_LOO.classification |uri %]">[% LEVEL_LOO.description |html %]</a> If anyone could shed some light on why Dewey-numbers are available in the su index I would be eternally grateful! Best regards, Magnus Enger libriotech.no

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Translation bug 6278 (XSLT subfield select pars)
by Marcel de Rooy 28 Apr '11

28 Apr '11

Could not reach the translate list, but this may be interesting for dev too: If your translation file translates the English word "at", please check your XSLT files for >at<. See problem below. English XSLT contains constructs as: <xsl:call-template name="subfieldSelect"> <xsl:with-param name="codes">at</xsl:with-param> </xsl:call-template> The translated Dutch XSLT contains: <xsl:call-template name="subfieldSelect"> <xsl:with-param name="codes">bij</xsl:with-param> </xsl:call-template> Since at is not a word here, but just two subfields a and t, they should not have been translated of course. Incidentally, bij is the Dutch translation of the English at. The word gets translated and so subfields a and t are replaced by b, i and j. In most cases resulting in no information. Note: Occurs 5 times in MARC21slim2OPACDetail.xsl. And affects display of fields 490/8XX, 773, 780/785.

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Label Batch Management Broken?
by Bernard Shiundu 27 Apr '11

27 Apr '11

Hi all, Just giving 3.4 a spin on a clean install and find that "Manage Batches" does not pick the branch details and therefore breaks. "Manage Templates" et al correctly register the branch and work fine in my cursory test. Anyone else seen this before I raise a bug report? Bernard Shiundu Strathmore University Library Nairobi, Kenya ________________________________ Strathmore University provides all-round education in an atmosphere of freedom and responsibility. This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for use by the recipient(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete this email and/or any files attached to it from your computer. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Strathmore University. The University accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages incurred, or suffered, resulting, or arising, from the use of this email and/or its attachments. The University warrants neither the integrity of the e-mail nor its freedom from errors, viruses, interception or any other form of interference. ............................................................................ Website: www.strathmore.edu

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DB Documentation
by Nicole Engard 27 Apr '11

27 Apr '11

Hello all, I see that no one volunteered to do the DB Documentation for Koha 3.6 and I'm willing to take this on under the Documentation Manager role. I just wanted to ask for a refresher on what we decided was the way we were going to manage this project. There is the 'COMMENT' option in MySQL or we can just use the '--' notation after every field. Once I know what we want to use I can start documenting the database to the best of my ability so that it will make reporting easier on people new to Koha and Koha language (borrowers instead of patrons, reserves instead of holds, etc etc). Thanks Nicole C. Engard

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Request for discussion: bugs 3674, 6220, 6224 and 6218
by Fernando Canizo 26 Apr '11

26 Apr '11

I found bug 6220, the bug is the first paragraph only, the rest is me rambling on because I thought there were some default password for newly created koha users when no password was provided. 6224 explains the same bug better and without rambling. 3674 is an implementation of users with disabled login from biblibre. And 6218 has a tiny patch to auto generate logins upon user creation if none provided. These all leave me thinking: 1. what's the purpose of creating users? and 2. what would be desirable upon user creation? And those two questions is what I want to discuss here so answer may clear my view on this. There was some prior talking in the comments to bug 6220 with Katrin Fischer. The answer to my first question is pretty simple to me: we create users to use the system! But this leads to some defaults we were not enforcing: - they will require a login (implemented on my patch for 3674), we cannot allow users on database without a login - they will require a password. I think, but on biblibre it seems they need users with no password at all and also disabled users, which was implemented by making borrowers.password = '!'. It's not clear to me if they need both or just the = '!' one. This leads to the second question: - do we need empty passwords? or can we cope with disabled ones (='!') - if we allow disabled logins, then shouldn't we provide a way to disable/enable them (right now you can only get a disabled login upon user creation, and you cannot disable it again once you enabled it) - should it be desirable to have auto-generated passwords? If so, we need to decide if they would be viewable by superlibrarian upon creation (to tell it to the user), or if we silently will send it by mail directly to the user. If the second option is choosen, then we need to get sure KohaAdminEmailAddress is a valid email on installation and also require upon user creation to provide an email (and what if the user doesn't have one?) - KF also suggested these auto-generated passwords should be made 'one time only' and force user to provide a new one on first login, which means we would need to add a new column to database, something like borrowers.password_valid_until which should be a timestamp. I might be rambling again, so I'll summarize: - I think database should not have users which don't have a login defined. Then we should enforce it by default making systempreferences.BorrowerMandatoryField include OPAC login field, and also provide a mechanism to avoid empty logins just in case some superlibrarian modifies it. - I would like to hear from you to know how to close all these bugs/enhancements propositions. -- Fernando Canizo (a.k.a. conan) - http://conan.muriandre.com/ GCS d? s:+ a C++ P--- L++++ E--- W+++ w--- M-- PE-- !tv b+++ h---- y+++

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Perl Docs?
by Nicole Engard 25 Apr '11

25 Apr '11

Hi all, I'm wondering who's managing this page: http://perldoc.koha-community.org/v3.04.00/ - it looks like it's repeating things an awful lot. Nicole

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