[Koha] Creating an INSTALL.opensuse file and Koha 3 and openSUSE versions

[gsl]

Ricardo:

While perhaps your ideas and questions below weren't directed at the end 
users I would like to respond.

We are currently setting up a Koha server "just to test it and see how 
it works". I've got a tech assistant who is a senior CS major at a local 
college actually doing most of the typing and research, and I'm supposed 
to know some stuff about *nix, so between the two of us we can work 
through most things.

I think an install how-to for OpenSuse would be great! We started off 
trying to use Ubuntu and the install directions on the wiki, but despite 
the generally well-regarded Synaptic/apt-get features of Deb/Ubuntu we 
just kept getting hit with dependency issues. We kept at them, and got 
as far as yaz and zebra and some dependency that I can't recall now, and 
at that point I just decided it would have to be easier with OpenSuse, 
with which I am more familiar anyway, so we started from scratch and 
installed OpenSuse 10.3.

Everything up to the actual install of Koha 3 beta 2 on OpenSuse 10.3 
was a complete breeze. We had yaz and zebra installed with just a couple 
of mouse clicks using Yast, in less than two minutes. At least half the 
perl modules were also in Yast, and weren't there in Synaptic, and 
overall Yast seemed much better at handling dependencies. I'm not trying 
to stir the OS pot here, but in my experience with this over the past 
couple of weeks OpenSuse has been much much easier to work with. I think 
we have Koha installed now too, but are dealing with another problem 
trying to http into it.

I said all that I suppose just to make the point that some install 
instructions for OpenSuse would probably be a big help, regardless of 
whether it's 10.3 or 11, but since 11 and Koha 3 are so close to 
release, my suggestion would be to document those.

Greg Lawson
Network Administrator
Rolling Hills Consolidated Library
1912 N. Belt Highway
St. Joseph, MO  64506

---------------------------------


Ricardo Dias Marques wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Following up the request from Joshua Ferraro asking me to create an
> INSTALL.opensuse file  -
> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/public/koha/2008-May/013916.html - here I am
> writing some questions regarding WHAT versions of Koha 3 and openSUSE
> I should target.
>
> I'm asking this because:
>
> 1 - openSUSE 11.0 is "just around the corner": the RC1 ("Release
> Candidate 1") is scheduled for the 29th of the current month (May
> 2008). The final version is scheduled for the 19th June -
> http://en.opensuse.org/Roadmap/11.0
>
> I already tried to install Koha 3 Beta 2 in the current openSUSE
> available Beta (openSUSE 11 Beta 3). Besides an annoying bug in
> package selection during openSUSE installation ( already acknowledged
> and corrected for RC1: "Package selector doesn't show any pattern" -
> https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=390139 ), the installation
> of Koha wasn't harder than it usually is.
>
> Actually, Koha installation was EASIER on openSUSE 11.0 Beta 3: at
> least, CPAN installation was easier than it was in openSUSE 10.3,
> because CPAN "setup wizard" now asks if it can assume what it thinks
> to be reasonable defaults. If you say "yes", CPAN just sets up itself.
> Pretty neat!  :)
>
> So, my first question is: Should I create documentation for openSUSE
> 10.3 or for openSUSE 11 (Beta 3 / RC 1 / Final)?
>
> I would like very much to get feedback on that. However, I do think
> that the answer to that question depends partially on the answer to
> another question:
>
>
> 2 - Is a Beta 3 / Release Candidate of Koha 3 expected to be available soon?
>
> If a "Beta 3" of Koha is also "just around the corner", then it may
> make sense to create setup instructions based on openSUSE 10.3. If
> we're still moderately far from a Beta 3 / Release Candidate of Koha
> 3, it seems to me that basing the instructions on openSUSE 11 would be
> a "better bet".
>
> Another "issue" would be that it probably makes sense to integrate
> Koha dependencies that were created after Koha 3 Beta 2 (like the
> HTML::Scrubber Perl Module and ImageMagick) in this document.
>
>
> A final (?) question: based on feedback from Jesse (pianohacker at
> gmail.com) and Joshua Ferraro, I'm thinking of "putting" up an initial
> version of this document with instructions to install Koha in openSUSE
> in the Koha Developer's Wiki - http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php - letting
> people review and improve on it (thanks to Brendan Gallagher for
> already having  volunteered to help!), and then putting the "final"
> version in the git tree as the INSTALL.opensuse text file.
>
>
> Comments and questions about all this... please?  :)
>
> Best wishes,
> Ricardo Dias Marques
> lists AT ricmarques DOT net