[Koha] installer database error

[Rick Welykochy]

MJ Ray wrote:

> The installer is currently being rewritten (cue cheers) but I have hit
> a problem that I've yet to email to koha-devel (boo!).  While I'm
> writing here: does anyone know a complicated (one with extra modules)
> perl web application with a particularly good installation?

I'm not sure if these projects use perl, but they are rather large.
I've never used them myself, so do not know:

MythTV
GnuCash

Could I provide a bit of installer feedback?

(a) it should be easier to get out of the damn thing! when things
     go wrong during install, Ctrl-C is intercepted by a signal
     handler and I cannot exit ungracefully.

(b) readline support is required, or at least the ability to
     edit a line of input. So may times I have mistyped something
     and had to start again from scratch. On average, for one
     Koha install, I seem to have to run the script about ten times,
     fixing things up as I go along.

(c) Make it easier to re-run the installer, perhaps with a --uninstall
     option. Right now each time I re-run, I must remove files in
     /etc, files in /usr/local/koha and drop the database.

The set of Perl modules that works with Koha version X (e.g. 2.2.8)
should be cast in concrete. e.g. if XML::Parser version 3.2 works with
Koha 2.2.8, then XML::Parser/3.2 should be downloaded and form part of
the the Koha set of sources. It is asking for trouble (MUCH trouble!)
to allow CPAN to download the latest set of everything and "hope"
it will all fit together. I find it never does.

In the process of installing perl modules prior to running installer.pl,
something always breaks via CPAN, i.e. a version of one module has
changed which now breaks its relationship with another module.

I've worked with Perl for ten years now and one thing learned the hard
way is that for a given project version, always download and nail
down a compatible working set of perl Modules that work with
your project. And never upgrade or change those modules without
thorough unit and integration testing.

We should be using the power of open source in Koha to its full advantage.
Would it be possible starting at Koha/3.0 to make a tarball available
containing all the required perl modules, versions of which are known
to be compatible with each other and Koha itself? I cannot see any other
way to guarantee a smooth and painless install.


cheers
rickw


-- 
_________________________________
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

Klingon function calls do not have parameters, they have 'arguments'
and they ALWAYS win them.