Koha Newsletter: Volume 3, Issue 8: August 2012
Official Koha Newsletter (ISSN 2153-8328) 
Volume 3, Issue 8: August 2012
Edited by Daniel Grobani, Koha Community Newsletter Editor.
Please submit news items to 
Table of Contents
- Koha Development
- Koha Community
- Past Koha Events
- Upcoming Koha Events
Koha Development
Koha 3.8.4 Released
by Chris Cormack
The Koha release team are proud to announce the release of Koha 3.8.4.
This is a maintenance release and contains a lot of useful bug fixes.
You can download the release here.
Debian packages will be available here soon.
Release notes are here.
Koha 3.6.8 Released
by Jared Camins-Esakov
The Koha release team are proud to announce the release of Koha 3.6.8.
This is a maintenance release and contains a lot of useful bug fixes.
You can download the release here.
Release notes are here.
Koha 3.10 Release Delayed
by Paul Poulain
The official release of Koha 3.10.0 is delayed by one month. For Koha 3.4 and Koha 3.8, we faced some nasty bugs that were not detected before the release. We think the “feature freeze” was too short to identify all potential problems.
That’s why I have the following plan that delays the release by one month:
- until 22 Sep: development
- 22 Sep: feature freeze, no more large or core enhancements pushed for 3.10, whatever the patch submission date
- 22 Oct: string freeze, no more string changes
- 22 Nov: Koha 3.10.0 is released
If you plan to upgrade your version immediately when the new one is released, please note that the release will be made on 22 November.
I could release a 3.10.0RC1 (“Release Candidate”) on 22 October for early adopters. If you’re interested in such a RC1, let me know!
Koha Statistics
Chris Cormack, Koha Community statistics wizard, has posted statistics for Koha 3.8.4 and Koha 3.6.8, and signoff statistics for July.
Chris also addressed on his blog how long it takes patches and enhancements to make it into master.
Release Manager’s Newsletter
Paul Poulain, Koha 3.8 & 3.10 Release Manager, publishes a monthly newsletter dedicated to Koha development. It can be found on the Koha Community website in the Koha News category.
The latest issue is here.
Koha Community
New Koha Libraries
- Clatsop Community College (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
- Indiana Supreme Court Law Library (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
- French Cultural Center of Boston (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
- Kenya Polytechnic University College Library (Kenya)
- LCC International University Library (Lithuania) (via ByWater Solutions)
- Palco and Lucas Public Libraries (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
Community Gossip
Nancy Keener reports that the Systems staff at Washoe County Library System will be presenting a program on “Migrating to Koha” at the Nevada Library Association conference in Las Vegas this October. They will also be doing a program on “Do-it Yourself”, Self-Service Kiosks, and using Linux in the library. Nancy, whose library is hosting KohaCon13, also says, “This same Nevada Library Association conference will be held in Reno next October at the same time and place as KohaCon13. It is our hope to get a better deal on rooms and meeting space by having the two separate conferences in the same location. It also will show Nevada libraries that the Koha community is a vibrant and innovative group.”
Catalyst Academy students continue to contribute patches to Koha. Koha 3.8.0 had 15 patches from Academy students.
Irma Birchall reports that a mailing list for Australian Koha users has been established.
Rutgers MLS students will be using Koha in their “Library Systems and Software” class this fall. Hosting is being donated by ByWater Solutions.
The National Library of the Philippines and its use of Koha was featured in an article in the online Sun Star newspaper.
Jesse Maseto posted a description of the stages a Koha bug moves through on the way to being fixed.
Koha Kenya is an association of information managers, librarians and IT specialists fostering the diffusion of open source technology in libraries and Information Centers across Kenya. More info is here.
Kathryn Tyree of Catalyst IT went from not having a git checkout of Koha to having her first patch pass QA in less than 90 minutes.
Past Koha Events
August General IRC Meeting
The August general IRC meeting was held on 8 August 2012.
More information, including the agenda and links to the minutes, is here.
Global Bug Squashing Day
by Magnus Enger
Global bug squashing days are days designated to a concerted effort to get bugs and patches moving along in the right direction.
A Global bug squashing day was held on Friday, 10 August 2012, and there was much rejoicing.
More info is here.
Upcoming Koha Events
September General IRC Meeting
The September general IRC meeting will be held on 5 September 2012 at 18:00 UTC.
More information, including the agenda, will be available here.
PASIFIKA Koha workshop
Pacific libraries using or considering using Koha are invited to a free one-day PASIFIKA Koha workshop on Monday 10 September 2012 at the University of the South Pacific Laucala campus based in Suva, Fiji Islands.
More info is here.
Help Make KohaCon13 a Success!
KohaCon13 will be held Reno, Nevada, USA, at a date to be determined. There will be three days of conference, one day of an activity, and three days of hackfest.
Main and summary wiki pages have been created.
Community members are encouraged to volunteer to help organize the conference. A volunteer IRC meeting has already been held.