[Koha] Debian Package

[Tonnesen Steve]

Been quiet lately.  On the list anyway.  I've now got 8 libraries using
Koha.  It's definitely time for me to start developing that Debian package
that I talked about.  I've now learned how to use DebConf for the
configuration questions.  The unfortunate side effect of this will be to
make it _more_ difficult to build the rpm packages that everyone will
doubtless clamor for, but it shouldn't be too hard to work around when it
comes to that.  Just won't be as pretty as with Debian.  :)

I'm now at the point of needing a "starting point" database population.  I
remember from my first efforts at installing Koha that the database dump
that came with the tarball was missing a few things, like accounts info,
branches, etc. that left Koha unusable.  I guess I'll just have to ask
these questions during the installation process.  Alternatively, I could
just have a "dummy" branch installed by default.  If the user actually has
multiple branches, they will use the new web-based branch editor that will
be added to Koha at some point.  :) 

Another tricky part is going to be configuring Apache.  For Debian, the
config files shouldn't be difficult to find, they'll be either
/etc/apache/* or /etc/apache-ssl/*.  Don't know about RedHat.  Will deal
with that when the Debian package is done, I guess.

I don't really want the Koha install script to start messing around with
configuring network interfaces, so it will most likely require that the
user set up two aliases for Koha, including DNS lookups, and then enter
these values into the configuration questions.  I can then modify the
apache config files appropriately and reload apache.


This message is just intended to announce my intentions, and to let the
list members know that I'm still around.  :)


Steve Tonnesen
tonnesen at cmsd.bc.ca
Coast Mountains School District
Hazelton, BC, CANADA