[Koha-devel] Shell script for installing PERL modules

[Partha Mukhopadhyay]

Attention Koha Developers 

Dear friends, 

I'm dealing with Koha (both Windows and Linux versions for the last couple of years as end user (with little bit change/modification of source code to suit my requirements e.g. Bengali language version of Koha, introduction of GUI interface in Koha for easy backup and restoration of databases, integration of MARC 21 community information format with MARC 21 bibliographic format in Koha etc.). In this part of world people often request me to render help in installing Koha in their libraries (public, college and university libraries). 

As far as Koha 2.2.7 version in Windows is concerned there is no problem in installation (thanks to Rob for developing a installer file for all the PERL modules required for Koha [http://www.koha.rwjr.com/Perl5.8.xModulesForKohaR4.EXE] ). In fact this script is a great help in upgradation of Koha in windows. But a similar facility is not available for Koha Linux users. This sometimes create a great problem in installing koha on linux (paticulary version 2.2.6 onwards; upto version 2.2.5 it is managable). For example all the newly required PERL modules (for 2.2.6 & 2.2.7)  again requires lot of dependencies, again dependencies requires further dependencies in the form of PERL modules. In some cases these dependencies are version specific. So things are day-by-day going beyond control. 

In view of this problem I would like to request the Koha developer team (one of the most talented and dedicated FLOSS team of our time) to develop a shell script for installation of the all the required PERL scripts for Koha 2.2.7. A tarball file may include all the PERL modules, their version specific dependencies (and dependencies of dependencies and so on) along with a installer script. The whole file may be released as a single tarball file or as a RPM file (as more sophisticated alternative). 

Pl. comment on this proposal and help to make life of end users more comfortable. I know it's a matter of a few hours for you people. 

Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay 
Vidyasagar University, India 


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