[Koha] Issue logging into staff interface [Plack log complains about missing encryption key]

[Martin Morris]

Hello all,

I’m having trouble logging into our staff interface this morning.  Here’s what’s happening:


  *   I’m running koha 23.05.04
  *   I get an Error 500 page after putting in my credentials
  *   The only error message I can see in any log file is in plack-error.log
     *   Exception 'Koha::Exceptions::MissingParameter' thrown 'No encryption_key in koha-conf.xml. Please generate a key. We recommend one of at least 32 bytes. (You might use 'pwgen 32' to do so.)'
  *   I currently have the following line in my koha-conf.xml file, as the last entry before </config>
     *   <!-- Added 1 Nov 2022 from warning in About page
-->
<encryption_key>__ENCRYPTION_KEY__</encryption_key>
<!-- Added 1 Nov 2022 from warning in About page
-->
  *   I’ve tried generating a password with ‘pwd 32’, copying the first entry and replacing __ENCRYPTION_KEY__ with that entry, and have rebooted, but it didn’t make any difference so I reverted.

Is this a bug?  A known issue?

Thanks in advance!

Martin