Book Image

Koha 3 Library Management System

Book Image

Koha 3 Library Management System

Overview of this book

Koha is the first full-featured open source library management system that is widely used for efficiently managing libraries. However, setting up and maintaining Koha is no walk in the park. It is not as straightforward as setting up the other popular LAMP applications.This practical guide provides all the essential information that is needed to make the task of installing and configuring Koha really seem simple and easy. It demonstrates how to set up Koha and its various aspects – installation, configuration, application administration, and data migration. It also covers troubleshooting, software maintenance, software customization, and other advanced topics.The book starts with installing and configuring the LAMP stack and the Koha application to meet your needs. It then goes deeper into setting up various rules and configuring settings for Koha. It also covers data migration of catalog records, software maintenance, and customization of the application. Chapters are also dedicated to providing an insight into advanced topics such as LDAP integration and Internationalization. Filled with numerous code samples and screenshots, this book will tour you through setting up Koha for evaluation or test purposes. It also includes loads of tips for troubleshooting and maintenance activities. By the end of this book, you will have gained the knowledge to get the most out of your Koha installation.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Koha 3 Library Management System
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Configuring the crontab


Several Koha programs need to be run periodically. These programs calculate fines, generate overdue notices, send out e-mails, or build Zebra indexes.

We use Linux's Cron utility to schedule the execution of these programs.

Editing the crontab

The cronjobs are set up under the koha user's crontab. To edit the crontab we run the command crontab with the –e option:

koha@koha@linux:~> crontab -e

To save and exit, we use the vi command wq:

:wq

Setting up environment variables

The first thing we need to do is to set Koha related environment variables in the crontab; without these none of the cronjobs will execute. Add these lines in the crontab, somewhere at the top:

PERL5LIB=/home/koha/kohaclone
KOHA_CONF=/etc/koha-dev/etc/koha-conf.xml

Generating advance notices

Advance notices are sent to patrons when items are due. To generate such notices, we need to script advanced_notices.pl as a cronjob. Add a line to the crontab as follows:

49 5 * * * perl /home/koha/kohacone/bin...