[Koha] Can't add items on Koha 3.18.03 built from .tar

[Tim Young]

Hi,
The difference between installing from packages and from tar is 
basically that the process of installing from package checks for 
dependencies, it puts things in specific directories, and runs any 
after-the-fact scripts to make changes to things.  But packages only 
work on systems that are the cookie-cutter systems.

When you install via tarball, you personally are responsible for 
everything.  If you make a typo, or if the system you are installing 
onto is not capable of running it, you are the one who needs to 
figure it out.  It is possible to unpack the tarball onto something 
that has all the wrong versions of perl, that does not have zebra 
installed, or something like that.

At the same time, you may get a newer version of the software if you 
are installing from git or the tarball.  Packages are not always kept 
up-to-date.

     - Tim Young

On 2/14/2015 9:49 AM, Bob Ewart wrote:
> When I try to add an item on Koha 3.18.03 built from the .tar file, 
> I get a "Can't call "fields" on undefined value at ... additem.pl 
> line 683.
>
> It works on Debian based systems installed as a package.
>
> See bug 13711 
> http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=13711
>
> I can't use Debian because it fails the vulnerability checks and 
> the Ubuntu based systems kept locking up hard.
>
> I really would like to know the difference between the 
> Debian/Ubuntu packages and building it from a .tar file.
>