RE: [Koha] ANNOUNCE: Koha perl dependency RPMs for Red Hat 9
I have to say this program is easily one of the worst to install Ive seen in 6 years of using open source.
Usually such a multitude of errors and omissions has been reserved for commerical software, I find it very disappointing that koha is proving such a time waste. I have also found OS installs generally as simple and reliable as commercial stuff if not usually better, due usually to extream simplicity with no silly pretty pictures.
I can live with a manual install, indeed so far a manual install has almost got me going where the auto install has failed badly. If the list of dependancies is available I can work throughthem and get running, at
Tis difficult to raise a bug report when the installer fails and I cant determine why. Steven -----Original Message----- From: Mike Hansen [mailto:mwhansen@hmc.edu] Sent: Monday, 23 June 2003 4:49 PM To: koha@lists.katipo.co.nz Cc: sjones08@eds.com Subject: Re: [Koha] ANNOUNCE: Koha perl dependency RPMs for Red Hat 9 Hello, Unlike the installation of many other open source programs, Koha requires more than merely copying a handful of files to their proper location. The complexity of a Koha installation arises from the fact that the installer has ot configure a number of different programs and get them to work together -- not from including "silly pretty pictures." It has to check for and install the required Perl modules, locate the Apache configuration, modify it to work with Koha, get information regarding the installation of MySQL, connect to the MySQL server, create the necessary database and associated tables, etc. It is not the simplest of processes. We are only able to personally test it out of a small number of configurations. That being said, I have done 4 Koha installs on three different operating systems and ran into no difficulty using the installer. I do not recall you submitting any bug reports at http://bugs.koha.org regarding the installer. The devlopers are unable to devine any problems or errors that you might run encounter. We rely on the feedback from users to work out any bugs. It is just as much of your responsibility as it is ours to help out with bugs. If you require assistance with the installation, you are always free to message us or stop by the IRC channel; just this last week, I did a remote install via SSH. I do not know the required modules off the top of my head; however, a quick glance at Install.pm informs me that they consist of the following: DBI Date::Manip DBD::mysql HTML::Template Digest::MD5 MARC::Record Mail::Sendmail Net::Z3950 I hope that helps. Mike On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 15:00:36 +1200 "Jones, Steven" <sjones08@eds.com> wrote: present
I dont even seem to be able to do that!
regards
Steven
Jones, Steven <sjones08@eds.com> wrote:
Tis difficult to raise a bug report when the installer fails and I cant determine why.
I am working on the installer. It is difficult for me to help you determine why it fails when your site rejects my email for no good reason. Please give me an alternative way to contact you, try jabber instant messaging to the address below, or telephone me on +44 870 4321 9 10. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ jabber://slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ Thought: "Changeset algebra is really difficult."
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Jones, Steven wrote:
Tis difficult to raise a bug report when the installer fails and I cant determine why.
Isn't that a bug in itself? :-) - -- Paul http://paulgear.webhop.net -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE+9t4j0yv0OWRYqWwRAu4CAJ0dv25fOSc0jpeKu5SFnk8yzjDCZACcDLmr fIEHLoaVHBO+Yfl15xcMZWQ= =O5yC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Paul Gear <paul@gear.dyndns.org> wrote:
Isn't that a bug in itself? :-)
If the installer is not giving any error output, yes. If it's just a case of incomprehensible output, it might not be. We can't anticipate and beautify all errors, sadly. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ jabber://slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ Thought: "Changeset algebra is really difficult."
The current debate about the required ease of installation that Koha must aspire to has again raised the necessity to distinguish between Open Source code ( free availability ) and software products which do not cost anything ( any amount of currency ) to use. Let us not forget that an integrated library management software package has always been a very complex piece of technology. This complexity will always translate into cost of maintenance and raises the threshhold skill levels required to install and configure a package. As Mike Ray pointed out, many of us make a living by providing the bridge between the technical requirements and the end-users' need for simplicity and ease of use. I am not trying to justify crypto-babble installation jargon. There is enough of that spontaneously without trying to inculcate its creation. But the need to keep a given codebase abstracted enough from a particular circumstance ( OS/hardware/language ) that it can appeal to a wide audience necessarily requires the installation personnel ( IT staff ) to provide the bridge. And Koha very admirably keeps that bridge quite small. There are many librarians who have managed it through patience and learning as they went. An IT professional may have an easier time of it, if the variety of the biases inherent in the installers fits their own experience. It pros will also bitch more pointedly when they find something in the biases of the installer which offends against their own preferences. Let's not get caught up in a religious war over particular OS/installer preferences. Koha is young, still struggling toward version 2.0 There will doubtless be many evolutionary steps between now and "maturity". The functionaolity of the catalogue and the user records is well on its way. Creating bibliographic records requires skilled understanding of library science and practices. So too the installation and configuration of the software package. This is simply a common fact in the nature of the work. Cheers, Erik -- Erik Stainsby Systems Support Technician, Web and Database Services, Vancouver Public Library 604.331.4083
participants (4)
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Erik Stainsby -
Jones, Steven -
MJ Ray -
Paul Gear