[Koha] notes during koha 2.0 install

[Scott Scriven]

Hello.  I installed koha 2.0.0 about a month ago, and wrote down
some info about my experiences with it afterward.  I began the
process as a complete koha newbie, though I've been a *nix
sysadmin for nearly a decade.  Anyway, I'm providing these notes
in hopes it will help the koha developers:


Installation experiences...

I went to koha's main site and found a download link to sourceforge.
Continuing, I found a tarball for koha-2.0.0, and grabbed it.  After
unpacking, I browsed the contents a bit.

The README had very little info, and said to run the installer.  No
INSTALL file was provided.  I don't like running downloaded executables
on my system; who knows what they might do?  Such a script might assume
things which are not true about me, or my system.  I probably didn't
even have its dependencies satisfied, so I decided to get more
information first.

  Suggestion:  Create an INSTALL file, and list all dependencies in it.
    Also, describe what the installer script does, in detail.

I looked at the koha site again, for installation info.  It had a decent
installation guide, here:

  http://www.koha.org/installation/quick-start.html

I read the hints there, the faq, and the install guide.  I located the
debian packages for listed dependencies, and installed them.  I got the
rest of the deps from cpan, packaged them into .deb files, and installed
them.  Then I followed directions, and ended up without a working koha.
This was partly because of a typo in apache's config, but mostly because
I had tried to do as the install guide said.

  Suggestion: update the online docs to reflect the current version.
    Perhaps maintain them along with the koha source, and copy the files
    to the site whenever there is a new release.
    Or, at least, add a note to the online docs stating they do not
    apply to koha 2.0.0 or newer.

Eventually, I decided to run the installer, as a throwaway user, to see
what it did.  It informed me about additional dependencies, so I located
and/or built those again, as needed.  Continuing on, I learned all about
what the installer does, but it failed to set up the database correctly.
I got enough errors that I couldn't scroll back to see where they
started.  ...  I have a pretty long scrollback buffer.  Anyway, the
installer continued merrily along, having noticed nothing wrong.

  Suggestion: check for errors during installer operations.

Other than the database errors, and the expected failure while trying to
write to /etc, all went well.  I decided to run it as root as soon as I
got the database problem fixed.  But, as it turns out, running as
non-root was the problem.  I discovered this after I found the koha IRC
channel and chris helped me.  (thanks!)  It gets DB info from /etc
instead of from the installer script, so failing to write /etc/koha.conf
is fatal to the install.

  Suggestion: list the IRC channel somewhere on the main site; it was
    buried near the last hit on google.

  Suggestion: notify user that installer must be run as root.  Or, add
    non-root installation capability.  Or, abort install when writing to
    /etc fails, and explain why to the user.

Continuing, I ran the installer as root, and it worked.  It still
printed a bunch of red text during the database portion, but none of it
was errors.  I then looked at the apache config it generated, merged
parts into my apache config, and tested.  On the first try, it failed,
but then I fixed a typo from earlier, and it worked.

:)


-- Scott