- Koha - lists.katipo.co.nz

help for a friend
by Nicole Engard 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

I have a friend that is new to Koha and I've been able to help up until now - so I thought I'd turn to you all for help. She's having issues with rebuilding authorities. She's on version 3.0.5. She follows these steps: 1) Export records from our ILS and use MarcEdit to get them like Koha wants them 2) Use bulkmarcimport.pl and bulkauthimport.pl to load records 3) Run link_bibs_to_authorities.pl 4) Run rebuild_zebra.pl Two problems with authority linking: When I'm done with these steps, I can see all loaded bib, item, and authority records in my system. And, some (but not all) of the authority records are linked to their related bib records (problem 1). But, when I try to do an author search on a name in an existing authority record but not in one of its linked bib records, no results are returned (problem 2). And a tertiary problem: I've discovered that some of my records contain errors that cause the bulkimport scripts to fail. I think, but am not sure, that this is related to non-Roman characters in the records. Two questions related to this problem: 1) Is there are trick for identifying these records before I actually try to load them? 2) I made the dumb mistake of double loading about 8000 authority records because I forgot to rebuild_zebra after my authority load script failed. Is there a good way to do one of the following: a) Batch delete all authority records with no bibs attached. b) Batch delete all "duplicate" authority records. c) Wipe out the entire authority table and start from scratch.

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Overdue Notices
by Todd Bowman 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Hi, I am running Koha without Zebra on a small school library. We are running build 3.0.5, and everything is working great, except for the overdue_notices.pl script. I get an error each time it tries to run. I made sure that there are no overdue triggers set up on the default library, instead setting them up for the individual libraries. (We have two.) I also get the following error from process_message_queue.pl. connect to localhost failed (Connection refused) no (more) retries!connect to localhost failed (Connection refused) no (more) retries! I do receive reports from advance_notices.pl and fines.pl. I don't know if it's connected, but when I try to download the list of overdues in csv format through the staff client, I get a blank document. Any help is appreciated. Todd Bowman -- Todd Bowman Math, Bible, Computer and Technology Coordinator Locust Grove Campus -- Lancaster Mennonite School

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Official Koha Newsletter: Volume 1, Issue 2: February 2010
by Nicole Engard 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Hello all, The second issue of the Official Koha Newsletter has been released. You can read it here http://koha-community.org/koha-newsletter-volume-1issue-2-february-2010/ and you can read all newsletters here: http://koha-community.org/category/koha-newsletter/ . The plain text version is pasted below: ------------- Official Koha Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 2: February 2010 Table of Contents * Learning o Teaching Koha in Library School o Koha Training Videos * Koha Development o New Recommendations Feature o Full Git Stats for Koha o WordPress Plugins for Koha * Koha News o Koha in Norway o The Acquisition that Didn’t Happen o The Nelsonville Public Library chooses ByWater Solutions * Koha Community o February IRC Meeting Summarized o Koha Community Rocks Learning Teaching Koha in Library School by Thomas Krichel One problem with OSS in libraries is lack of education. As a library school professor, I am trying to help. In January, I ran an intensive course. Students, without any previous system administration experience, installed Debian, then rented Debian servers (since we can’t host the servers at the school) and then installed Koha. All 17 students managed to do it. For what it’s worth, I am making my syllabus available (http://openlib.org/home/krichel/courses/lis508p10w/) with slide presentations, and the installation documentation. I have not seen the course evaluations yet, but I believe it was a success. Koha Training Videos by Nicole C. Engard In December I gave two tutorials to librarians in California. Both of these training sessions were recorded and the recordings made available to all: * Introduction to Koha: OPAC & Circulation In this archived webinar, Nicole Engard, Director of Open Source Education introduces attendees to the first open source web-based integrated library system – Koha. This first of a two part series covers the features of the OPAC as well as managing patrons and handling circulation functions. This webinar was originally presented on December 17, 2009 * Introduction to Koha: Cataloging & Advanced Functions In this archived webinar, Nicole C. Engard, Director of Open Source Education and a professional cataloger walks librarians through the cataloging functionality within the first open source web-based integrated library system – Koha. In addition to the cataloging overview, attendees are shown how to handle some of the advanced functionality within Koha, such as, Serials, Acquisitions and System Preferences. This webinar was originally presented on December 21, 2009. Also the question and answer sessions were archived in the Q&A part of the site. Koha Development New Recommendations Feature by Mark Osborne Ever been stuck for a good read? Ever said to a librarian ‘I really like this book; have you got anything similar?’ Well now Koha can help you find the perfect read every time. Albany Senior High School recently had Chris Cormack of Catalyst IT write a recommendations feature for Koha. If you go to http://library.ashs.school.nz/ and search for a book you enjoyed reading, go into the details page and you’ll notice a link called ‘Recommendations’. If you click this link, you’ll see ‘X people who read this also read … ‘ and a list of other items in the catalogue. What this allow patrons to do is visit the details page of their favourite book and see what other patrons with similar tastes have read. It works for all item types too, so patrons can discover new magazines, DVDs and sheet music as well as books. The recommendations feature only works for libraries who don’t anonymise their patron data and of course the larger your collection and borrowing data, the better the recommendations get. Albany Senior High School only has a few thousand items and several hundred patrons, and it’s only been open for one year, but as the borrowing data builds up, it’ll be a very useful tool for helping people find just the right book. Long-term, we’d love people to pick up this feature and extend it so that it might be able to look through your entire borrowing history and make personalised recommendations for you. Now wouldn’t that be nice? A professional ‘good reads’ finder working for you around the clock! Keep an eye out for the Recommendations feature, it didn’t make it in before the 3.2 feature freeze, so it will be in 3.4! For now you can find it in the public Catalyst Git Repo (http://git.catalyst.net.nz/gw?p=koha.git;a=summary) Full Git Stats for Koha by Chris Cormack So after the great article by Eric Hellman on his blog about the copyright to Koha code I decided to learn about subtree merging so I could combine the old koha repo, with the new one. That way instead of having the stats broken into 2 different ones, pre 2000 and post 2000, I can generate stats for the whole of the history of Koha. Github has a great tutorial that I’m not going to repeat here. But if you follow it, you will end up with a repository that combines as many other repositories as you need. So here’s the stats report. Some interesting things: * If you look at at the activity tab, you can see that we have pretty even coverage for all 24 hours of the day. * If you look at the general page you will see we average 3.2 commits a day .. doesn’t sound that much until you realise that is 3.2 commits average for 3755 days!! * Out of the last 32 weeks, there is a only a single week where commits dipped into single figures So whatever might be happening elsewhere, main trunk development of Koha is as strong as ever. Tis good to see. WordPress Plugins for Koha by Liz Rea The Northeast Kansas Library System would like to announce the contribution of two widgets for WordPress based library (or personal!) websites: Koha Search Widget and Koha Login Widget. These WordPress plugins allow any WordPress 2.8+ site to easily add catalog search and login boxes to the widget space of any “widget ready” WordPress theme. Configuration is simple: the WordPress admin user only has to know the URL of their Koha catalog and the plugin handles the rest. Download the plugins from the WordPress plugin repository at the following links: * Koha Search Widget: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/koha-search-widget/ * Koha Login Widget: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/koha-login-widget/ The plugins were originally developed for the State of Kansas’ My Kansas Library on the Web project (http://www.mykansaslibrary.org) and are released under the GPL2+ license. Koha News Koha in Norway by Magnus Enger Norwegian libraries and librarians are slowly waking up to the fact that there is a new alternative in the ILS marketplace. So far one library has converted completely from a proprietary system to Koha: The Library of the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, led by Thomas Brevik (http://lib1point5.wordpress.com/) Their OPAC is at http://sksk.bibkat.no/ There are three more libraries that have committed to Koha: * The Norwegian council for folk music and folk dance (http://www.rff-sentret.no/index.php?lang=en) is using Koha internally for keeping track of a collection of some 10.000 books. * One school that teaches according to the Waldorf pedagogy is in the process of adopting Koha, but have not gone live yet. * One county library is going to use Koha for a collection of about 1.000 movies that it will lend to the libraries in it’s county, but they are not live yet either. Enthusiasts led by Thomas Gramstad and Axel Bojer secured funding for translating Koha into Norwegian (both dialects: “bokmål” and “nynorsk”), but this translation is now slightly out of date and needs to be looked after. Thomas and Axel are planning to start an organization that will be able to apply for support to this project, as well as organize the fledgling Koha community in Norway. I am working on support for NORMARC, our local variant of MARC, in Koha. It works today, but needs some more work before it is complete. I hope to be able to contribute this work to Koha 3.4. The annual Norwegian library conference will be held in March, with 600-700 attendees, and my company (Libriotech) will have a stand there, to promote Koha and the services it can provide. Nicolas Morin from BibLibre will also be present, to lend a hand in convincing Norwegian librarians that Koha is a good alternative to the proprietary systems they are used to. The Acquisition that Didn’t Happen compiled by Nicole C. Engard With the announcement last month that PTFS would acquire LibLime came many comments from librarians, Koha community members, customers of the two companies and even those from outside the library world. Most of these included words of hopes for the continued open future of Koha. Two days before the publication of this newsletter we were informed that this acquisition fell through, but I had already compiled a list of comments – most of which are very optimistic – and I thought it was necessary to share these comments with you all so that we can all remember that we’re in this together. Breeding, Marshall. “LibLime Acquisition by PTFS Marks a New Era for Koha.” Library Journal, January 13, 2010. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6714841.html. Cormack, Chris. “PTFS acquires Liblime.” Korerorero, January 14, 2010. http://blog.bigballofwax.co.nz/2010/01/14/ptfs-acquires-liblime/. Engard, Nicole. “So much Koha news today.” What I Learned Today…, January 13, 2010. http://www.web2learning.net/archives/3478. Haydock, Ian. “PTFS to acquire Liblime.” Meeting on the ledge, January 14, 2010. http://ianhaydock.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/ptfs-to-acquire-liblime/. Hellman, Eric. “PTFS to Acquire LibLime and Move to Library Systems Premier League.” go to hellman, January 21, 2010. http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2010/01/ptfs-to-acquire-liblime-and-move-…. ———. “Who Owns Koha?.” go to hellman, January 29, 2010. http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-owns-koha.html. Horton, Valerie. “Major Shake, Rattle and Roll in Koha Land.” Collaborative Librarianship News, January 13, 2010. http://collaborativelibrarianship.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/major-shake-ratt…. Ojala, Marydee. “PTFS Acquires LibLime, Expands Its Open Source Capabilities.” Information Today NewsBreaks, January 21, 2010. http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/PTFS-Acquires-LibLime-Expands-It…. Phillips, Lee. “A request to PTFS from Montana Koha Libraries.” Lee Phillips’ Weblog, January 16, 2010. http://leephillips2.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/a-request-to-ptfs-from-montana…. Ray, MJ. “The Koha Company-go-round.” Software Cooperative News, January 18, 2010. http://www.news.software.coop/the-koha-company-go-round/870/. Rea, Liz. “If all goes well, a bright new day for Koha.” Things I’ve Learned, January 15, 2010. http://wizzyrea.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/if-all-goes-well-a-bright-new-day-…. Shoemaker, Kristin. “Koha Optimistic That Forked Tree — And Troubles — Are History.” OStatic, January 15, 2010. http://ostatic.com/blog/koha-optimistic-that-forked-tree-and-troubles-are-h…. “What now for Koha: PTFS to acquire LibLime, new Koha newsletter out.” Blog. MmIT blog, January 15, 2010. http://mmitblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/what-now-for-koha-ptfs-to-acquire-…. The Nelsonville Public Library chooses ByWater Solutions by Owen Leonard On February 2 the Nelsonville Public Library migrated its Koha installation to ByWater Solutions’ cloud hosting. The Nelsonville Public Library, serving seven branches in Athens County, Ohio, was the first public library in the United States to implement Koha. Since 2002 we’ve been regular contributors to the project, taking full advantage of the Open Source process by contributing hundreds of patches for inclusion in Koha. We feel confident that our move to ByWater Solutions will facilitate the continuation of that full participation. This move gives us the building blocks we need for a successful Koha library: an up-to-date, 100% Open Source installation of Koha, direct access to our database for specialized data interactions and customized reporting, and a guarantee of personalized attention and community involvement. With ByWater’s help we plan to continue to help make Koha as good as it can be. Visit our catalog at http://search.myacpl.org. Koha Community February IRC Meeting Summarized by Galen Charlton The full log of the meeting today can be found at http://stats.workbuffer.org/irclog/koha/2010-02-09#i_387991. Significant news and updates: * Koha 3.2 beta will be targeted for release around 1 March. There is a bug squashing session tomorrow all day, all time zones in the #koha IRC channel. * Koha 3.0.6 is expected to be released in the next week or so. * The following people have been confirmed for 3.4 project roles: o 3.4 Release Manager: Chris Cormack o Documentation Manager: Nicole Engard will continue o QA Manager: Colin Campbell o 3. 2 Release Maintainer: Chris Nighswonger o DB Documentation: Zeno Tajoli o Bug wranglers: Jesse Weaver, Henri-Damien Laurent, CALYX o Translation Manager: Frédéric Demians * A vote for Translation Manager will be held tomorrow, 10 February 2010, at 19:00 UTC+0 in the #koha IRC channel * A call has been issued to update the default bug assignees, with volunteers to respond by the next general IRC meeting. * Nicole called for contributions to the upcoming newsletter by 14 February. * There was a discussion of the desire for more tutorials The next general meeting will be held on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 19:00 UTC+0. The Koha Community Rocks by Joann Ransom Early this month a Koha Community meeting was held to discuss, yet again, the community assets problem. The whole LibLime thing is still dragging everything to a near-standstill ….. But at the meeting, well the community just said enough – in the nicest, most polite way possible – we took back control of our community to make sure we had the tools we need to keep Koha rockin’ along. The idea was that it was just a temporary measure, just until the whole LibLime – PTFS thing was settled and PTFS had had time to work out what their customers want and what they wanted to do etc etc. And while we understood and were happy to give them the time they need to get their stuff sorted out, we needed to still be able to function as a community. The biggest problem over the last 18 months has been the lack of access to the koha.org site and having no way to expose the up-to-date Koha information, news, demos, documentation, pay for support options etc. Anyway, the big thing to come out of the meeting was the decision to make a new temporary website for the Koha community, to carry us through until we learn about the status of koha.org. We brainstormed names, voted, grabbed a domain and within a very short time – like a few hours – we have a community website again! irc has been an amazing place to be today. Developers and users and vendors all working together, volunteering support, hosting, mirror sites, content, testing – whatever they could and whatever was needed to get a Koha Community place up and running again. Liz Rea has done an incredible job on the website – and so fast! Newsletter edited by Nicole C. Engard, Koha Documentation Manager. Please send future story ideas to nengard(a)gmail.com

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Re: [Koha] Amazon Secret key used to generate digital signature
by Mike Mason 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Nicole, as you showed, I was mistaken. The secret key can be cut and pasted. I was fooled by having to select it like a line of graphics instead of it behaving like a line of print as the public key does. Mike At Monday 15/02/2010, you wrote: >...snip ... I was able to copy and paste my secret key today using >Firefox -- so I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to >copy/paste. > >Nicole > >On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 9:33 PM, <mcmlists(a)people.net.au> wrote: > > Hi Nicole, > > > > Further to my last post, I should have quoted this Koha FAQ, > > > http://koha.org/documentation/faq/why-do-i-need-a-awsprivatekey-for-amazon-… > > which states that the Private Access Key and Secret key are the same.Â I > > assumed you had written the FAQ. > > > > Why do I need a AWSPrivateKey for Amazon Content? > > > > Up to Table of Contents > > > > This FAQ applies to: 3.2 > > Why do I need the AWSPrivateKey as well as the AWSAccessKeyID to use Amazon > > Content? > > > > After 2009-08-15, Amazon Web Services will expect that all requests to the > > Product Advertising API, which is what Koha uses for retrieving reviews and > > other enhanced content from Amazon, include signatures.Â This patch and > > subsequenct patches implement this functionality. > > > > What this means in practice (assuming the user has elected to use any > > enhanced content from Amazon) is that > > > > The user must get a Amazon Secret Access Key.Â This can be done by logging > > in to the user's AWS account at (e.g.) http://aws.amazon.com/, going to the > > 'Access Identifiers' page, and from there retrieving and/or creating a new > > Secret Access Key. > > The contents of the Secret Access Key should then be entered into the new > > AWSPrivateKey system preference. > > > > Once that is done, grabbing reviews and table > of contents from Amazon should > > work as normal.Â If the user doesn't do this > before 2009-08-15, reviews and > > TOCs will no longer be supplied from Amazon, although there should be no > > crashes - the content will simply not show up. > > > > Note that the requirement to sign requests does *NOT* appear to apply to > > simply displaying book covers from Amazon. > > > > END OF QUOTE FROM FAQ. > > > > This won't be so simple to implement because the Secret key is long and > > complex and can't be cut and pasted from the Amazon site into the Koha > > system prefs. > > > > Presumably the patch for 3.2 uses the Secret Key to create a digital > > signature, as described in the following > > Amazon description of access keys at > > > http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSSecurityCredentials/1.0/AboutAWSCreden… > > > > Secret Access KeyÂEach Access Key ID has a > Secret Access Key associated with > > it. This key is just a long string of characters (and not a file) that you > > use to calculate the digital signature that > you include in the request. Your > > Secret Access Key is a secret, and only you and AWS should have it. Don't > > e-mail it to anyone, include it any AWS requests, or post it on the AWS > > Discussion Forums. No authorized person from AWS will ever ask for your > > Secret Access Key. > > > > When you create a request, you create a digital signature with your secret > > key and include it in the request along with > your Access Key ID. When we get > > the request, we use your Access Key ID to look up the corresponding Secret > > Access Key. We use the key to validate the > signature and confirm that you're > > the request sender. > > > > END OF QUOTE FROM AMAZON SITE. > > > > Mike Mason > > > > Earlier today, I wrote: > > ------------------------------------------------ > > My statement that "what we call the Amazon private key is really the Amazon > > Secret Access Key" was based on the following: I have just set up my Amazon > > associate ID and AWS access keys in Amazon, and the site described two keys > > as follows: (this is cut and pasted from Amazon's Associates' "Manage your > > account" page:) > > You will need access identifiers to call the Product Advertising API, > > authenticate requests and identify yourself as the sender of a request. Two > > types of identifiers are available: AWS Access Key Identifiers (Public and > > Secret Keys) and X.509 Certificates. > > > > The site guides you to set up the Public and Secret keys.Â It does not > > mention a "Private key".Â So I assumed that > what you referred to in the 3.2 > > manual as a "Private Key" was meant to indicate Amazon's "Secret Key". But > > perhaps you had something else in mind? > > > > Unfortunately I can't test this as I'm on Liblime's Koha Express, which is > > still back in Koha 3.00.02.012 and has no system preference entries for > > Amazon reviews or for the Secret/Private key. > > > > Mike Mason > > > > At Sunday 14/02/2010, you wrote: > > > > Hi all, > > > > I want to confirm that what we call the Amazon private key is really > > the Amazon Secret Access Key.Â If so I want to update the language in > > the manual and the sys prefs page -but I want to be sure before I do > > that. > > > > Nicole > > _______________________________________________ > > Koha mailing list > > Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > > http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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Updating LibXML
by Sven Jankofsky 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Hi, can somebody tell me, how to update (or downgrade) LibXML? Sorry for such a stupid question but I'm pretty new with Linux (Ubuntu 8.10). Got this error: This version of XML::LibXSLT requires XML::LibXML 1.6 (ABI 1), which is incompatible with currently installed XML::LibXML 1.70 (ABI 2). Please upgrade XML::LibXSLT, XML::LibXML, or both! at /usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.0/XML/LibXML.pm line 49. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/lib/perl5/XML/LibXSLT.pm line 7. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/XSLT.pm line 27. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/XSLT.pm line 27. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Search.pm line 27. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Search.pm line 27. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Heading.pm line 25. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Heading.pm line 25. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Biblio.pm line 114. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Biblio.pm line 114. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Reserves.pm line 28. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Reserves.pm line 28. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Circulation.pm line 25. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Circulation.pm line 25. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Overdues.pm line 24. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Overdues.pm line 24. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Members.pm line 27. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Members.pm line 27. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Auth.pm line 31. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/lib/C4/Auth.pm line 31. Compilation failed in require at /usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/opac-main.pl line 22. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/opac-main.pl line 22. A good weekend for everybody. Sven

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Reminder: KohaCon2010 Volunteers IRC Meeting
by Russel Garlick 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Hi all, Just a reminder about the IRC meeting for KohaCon 2010 planning at 10:00 NZDT on Tuesday, 16 Feburary 2010 (AKA 21:00 UTC+0 on Monday, 15 February). AGENDA * Catch up/Present overall plan – (http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=en:kohacon2010:2010conferenceplan) * Confirming roles * Set time for regular catch up meeting on IRC. Cheers, Russel

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Re: [Koha] Amazon Secret key used to generate digital signature
by Nicole Engard 15 Feb '10

15 Feb '10

Mike, I've written so much I can't remember it all :) That said - I was able to copy and paste my secret key today using Firefox -- so I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to copy/paste. Nicole On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 9:33 PM, <mcmlists(a)people.net.au> wrote: > Hi Nicole, > > Further to my last post, I should have quoted this Koha FAQ, > http://koha.org/documentation/faq/why-do-i-need-a-awsprivatekey-for-amazon-… > which states that the Private Access Key and Secret key are the same. I > assumed you had written the FAQ. > > Why do I need a AWSPrivateKey for Amazon Content? > > Up to Table of Contents > > This FAQ applies to: 3.2 > Why do I need the AWSPrivateKey as well as the AWSAccessKeyID to use Amazon > Content? > > After 2009-08-15, Amazon Web Services will expect that all requests to the > Product Advertising API, which is what Koha uses for retrieving reviews and > other enhanced content from Amazon, include signatures. This patch and > subsequenct patches implement this functionality. > > What this means in practice (assuming the user has elected to use any > enhanced content from Amazon) is that > > The user must get a Amazon Secret Access Key. This can be done by logging > in to the user's AWS account at (e.g.) http://aws.amazon.com/, going to the > 'Access Identifiers' page, and from there retrieving and/or creating a new > Secret Access Key. > The contents of the Secret Access Key should then be entered into the new > AWSPrivateKey system preference. > > Once that is done, grabbing reviews and table of contents from Amazon should > work as normal. If the user doesn't do this before 2009-08-15, reviews and > TOCs will no longer be supplied from Amazon, although there should be no > crashes - the content will simply not show up. > > Note that the requirement to sign requests does *NOT* appear to apply to > simply displaying book covers from Amazon. > > END OF QUOTE FROM FAQ. > > This won't be so simple to implement because the Secret key is long and > complex and can't be cut and pasted from the Amazon site into the Koha > system prefs. > > Presumably the patch for 3.2 uses the Secret Key to create a digital > signature, as described in the following > Amazon description of access keys at > http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSSecurityCredentials/1.0/AboutAWSCreden… > > Secret Access KeyEach Access Key ID has a Secret Access Key associated with > it. This key is just a long string of characters (and not a file) that you > use to calculate the digital signature that you include in the request. Your > Secret Access Key is a secret, and only you and AWS should have it. Don't > e-mail it to anyone, include it any AWS requests, or post it on the AWS > Discussion Forums. No authorized person from AWS will ever ask for your > Secret Access Key. > > When you create a request, you create a digital signature with your secret > key and include it in the request along with your Access Key ID. When we get > the request, we use your Access Key ID to look up the corresponding Secret > Access Key. We use the key to validate the signature and confirm that you're > the request sender. > > END OF QUOTE FROM AMAZON SITE. > > Mike Mason > > Earlier today, I wrote: > ------------------------------------------------ > My statement that "what we call the Amazon private key is really the Amazon > Secret Access Key" was based on the following: I have just set up my Amazon > associate ID and AWS access keys in Amazon, and the site described two keys > as follows: (this is cut and pasted from Amazon's Associates' "Manage your > account" page:) > You will need access identifiers to call the Product Advertising API, > authenticate requests and identify yourself as the sender of a request. Two > types of identifiers are available: AWS Access Key Identifiers (Public and > Secret Keys) and X.509 Certificates. > > The site guides you to set up the Public and Secret keys. It does not > mention a "Private key". So I assumed that what you referred to in the 3.2 > manual as a "Private Key" was meant to indicate Amazon's "Secret Key". But > perhaps you had something else in mind? > > Unfortunately I can't test this as I'm on Liblime's Koha Express, which is > still back in Koha 3.00.02.012 and has no system preference entries for > Amazon reviews or for the Secret/Private key. > > Mike Mason > > At Sunday 14/02/2010, you wrote: > > Hi all, > > I want to confirm that what we call the Amazon private key is really > the Amazon Secret Access Key. If so I want to update the language in > the manual and the sys prefs page -but I want to be sure before I do > that. > > Nicole > _______________________________________________ > Koha mailing list > Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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Koha and Public Access Computers
by Josh Westbrook 14 Feb '10

14 Feb '10

I apologize for being slightly off topic, but does anyone on the list know of any free, inexpensive, or open source tools for managing Public Access Computers? Any that work with Koha to validate patrons? We had used Windows SteadyState previously but it won't be developed for Windows 7 so we need to move to something else fairly quickly. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Josh Westbrook Prescott Library Mngr/District Technology Mngr Walla Walla County Rural Library District joshw(a)wwrurallibrary.com http://www.wwrurallibrary.com

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Re: [Koha] Amazon Private Key
by Nicole Engard 14 Feb '10

14 Feb '10

Mike thanks, I had gone to AWS today and saw that there was no 'private key' which is what it used to be called - but that it was now a secret key - so glad that you see the same thing as me. Nicole On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 6:54 PM, <mcmlists(a)people.net.au> wrote: > Hi Nicole, > > My statement that "what we call the Amazon private key is really the Amazon > Secret Access Key" was based on the following: I have just set up my Amazon > associate ID and AWS access keys in Amazon, and the site described two keys > as follows: (this is cut and pasted from Amazon's Associates' "Manage your > account" page:) > You will need access identifiers to call the Product Advertising API, > authenticate requests and identify yourself as the sender of a request. Two > types of identifiers are available: AWS Access Key Identifiers (Public and > Secret Keys) and X.509 Certificates. > > The site guides you to set up the Public and Secret keys. It does not > mention a "Private key". So I assumed that what you referred to in the 3.2 > manual as a "Private Key" was meant to indicate Amazon's "Secret Key". But > perhaps you had something else in mind? > > Unfortunately I can't test this as I'm on Liblime's Koha Express, which is > still back in Koha 3.00.02.012 and has no system preference entries for > Amazon reviews or for the Secret/Private key. > > Mike Mason > > At Sunday 14/02/2010, you wrote: > > Hi all, > > I want to confirm that what we call the Amazon private key is really > the Amazon Secret Access Key. If so I want to update the language in > the manual and the sys prefs page -but I want to be sure before I do > that. > > Nicole > _______________________________________________ > Koha mailing list > Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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Re: [Koha] Amazon Secret key used to generate digital signature
by mcmlists＠people.net.au 14 Feb '10

14 Feb '10

Hi Nicole, Further to my last post, I should have quoted this Koha FAQ, http://koha.org/documentation/faq/why-do-i-need-a-awsprivatekey-for-amazon-… which states that the Private Access Key and Secret key are the same. I assumed you had written the FAQ. Why do I need a AWSPrivateKey for Amazon Content? <http://koha.org/documentation/faq>Up to Table of Contents This FAQ applies to: 3.2 Why do I need the AWSPrivateKey as well as the AWSAccessKeyID to use Amazon Content? After 2009-08-15, Amazon Web Services will expect that all requests to the Product Advertising API, which is what Koha uses for retrieving reviews and other enhanced content from Amazon, include signatures. This patch and subsequenct patches implement this functionality. What this means in practice (assuming the user has elected to use any enhanced content from Amazon) is that * The user must get a Amazon Secret Access Key. This can be done by logging in to the user's AWS account at (e.g.) <http://aws.amazon.com/>http://aws.amazon.com/, going to the 'Access Identifiers' page, and from there retrieving and/or creating a new Secret Access Key. * The contents of the Secret Access Key should then be entered into the new AWSPrivateKey system preference. Once that is done, grabbing reviews and table of contents from Amazon should work as normal. If the user doesn't do this before 2009-08-15, reviews and TOCs will no longer be supplied from Amazon, although there should be no crashes - the content will simply not show up. Note that the requirement to sign requests does *NOT* appear to apply to simply displaying book covers from Amazon. END OF QUOTE FROM FAQ. This won't be so simple to implement because the Secret key is long and complex and can't be cut and pasted from the Amazon site into the Koha system prefs. Presumably the patch for 3.2 uses the Secret Key to create a digital signature, as described in the following Amazon description of access keys at http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSSecurityCredentials/1.0/AboutAWSCreden… * Secret Access KeyEach Access Key ID has a Secret Access Key associated with it. This key is just a long string of characters (and not a file) that you use to calculate the digital signature that you include in the request. Your Secret Access Key is a secret, and only you and AWS should have it. Don't e-mail it to anyone, include it any AWS requests, or post it on the AWS Discussion Forums. No authorized person from AWS will ever ask for your Secret Access Key. When you create a request, you create a digital signature with your secret key and include it in the request along with your Access Key ID. When we get the request, we use your Access Key ID to look up the corresponding Secret Access Key. We use the key to validate the signature and confirm that you're the request sender. END OF QUOTE FROM AMAZON SITE. Mike Mason Earlier today, I wrote: ------------------------------------------------ My statement that "what we call the Amazon private key is really the Amazon Secret Access Key" was based on the following: I have just set up my Amazon associate ID and AWS access keys in Amazon, and the site described two keys as follows: (this is cut and pasted from Amazon's Associates' "Manage your account" page:) You will need access identifiers to call the Product Advertising API, authenticate requests and identify yourself as the sender of a request. Two types of identifiers are available: AWS Access Key Identifiers (Public and Secret Keys) and X.509 Certificates. The site guides you to set up the Public and Secret keys. It does not mention a "Private key". So I assumed that what you referred to in the 3.2 manual as a "Private Key" was meant to indicate Amazon's "Secret Key". But perhaps you had something else in mind? Unfortunately I can't test this as I'm on Liblime's Koha Express, which is still back in Koha 3.00.02.012 and has no system preference entries for Amazon reviews or for the Secret/Private key. Mike Mason At Sunday 14/02/2010, you wrote: >Hi all, > >I want to confirm that what we call the Amazon private key is really >the Amazon Secret Access Key. If so I want to update the language in >the manual and the sys prefs page -but I want to be sure before I do >that. > >Nicole >_______________________________________________ >Koha mailing list >Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz >http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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