RELEASE NOTES FOR KOHA 25.05.03

26 Aug 2025

Koha is the first free and open source software library automation
package (ILS). Development is sponsored by libraries of varying types
and sizes, volunteers, and support companies from around the world. The
website for the Koha project is:

• Koha Community

Koha 25.05.03 can be downloaded from:

• Download

Installation instructions can be found at:

• Koha Wiki
• OR in the INSTALL files that come in the tarball

Koha 25.05.03 is a bugfix/maintenance and security release.

It includes 40 enhancements, 57 bugfixes.

System requirements

You can learn about the system components (like OS and database) needed for running Koha on the community wiki.

Security bugs

• 39906 Add bot challenge (in Apache layer)
• 40538 XSS in hold suspend modal in staff interface

  Fixes XSS vulnerability in suspend hold modal and suspend hold button by refactoring the Javascript that creates the HTML.

• 40579 CSV formula injection protection

Bugfixes

About

Other bugs fixed

• 32244 Add Vue and Cypress to the About Koha > Licenses page

  This adds Cypress and Vue to the About Koha > Licenses page.

• 40466 Zebra status misleading in “Server information” tab.

Accessibility

Other bugs fixed

• 29069 Accessibility: “Refine your search” link doesn’t have sufficient contrast

• 39489 ‘Refine your search’ should have an aria-expanded attribute

  This fixes the “Refine your search” section in the OPAC. For screen reader users on smaller screens, it now correctly announces that it is an expandable section, instead of a link (by adding an aria-expanded attribute).

  Explanation: The ‘Refine your search’ expandable section in the Koha OPAC was not clearly announced by screen readers for smaller screen sizes. This is because the expandable section was identified and announced as a link. This resulted in screen reader users incorrectly expecting a link to another page, and not being informed that it was an expandable section.

  Sponsored by British Museum

• 39502 Web Usability Accessibility Audit – Decorative Images Don’t Need alt Text
• 39998 Missing presentation role on layout tables.

Acquisitions

Other bugs fixed

• 40106 Language selector not displayed on some acquisition views (vue)
• 40318 “Receive shipments” should not open in a new tab/window – vendor list view

  This fixes the “Receive shipments” action from the table listing vendors in acquisitions – it now opens the receive shipment form in the same window, instead of opening in a new tab or window.

Architecture, internals, and plumbing

Other bugs fixed

• 40132 Remove some POD from Koha/Template/Plugin/AdditionalContents.pm
• 40516 Boolean filters are broken on datatables
• 40535 Branches.tt view page has out of place “Category:” field

  This removes a category field that was mistakenly added to the library’s detail page (Koha administration > Basic parameters > Libraries > view any library).

Cataloging

Critical bugs fixed

• 40544 Manage bundle button broken

Other bugs fixed

• 40156 Advanced editor should not create empty fields and subfields

  Sponsored by Ignatianum University in Cracow

Circulation

Critical bugs fixed

• 40296 Bookings that are checked out do not have status updated to completed

Other bugs fixed

• 39180 Handle and report exception at checkout/checkin due to missing guarantor

  This fixes checking out, checking in, and renewing items for a patron where a guarantor is required, and they don’t have one (where the ChildNeedsGuarantor system preference is enabled).

  These actions are now completed correctly, and a warning message is now shown on the patron’s page where a guarantor is required and they don’t have one: “System preference ‘ChildNeedsGuarantor’ is enabled and this patron does not have a guarantor.”.

  Previously:
  – checking items in or out generated a 500 error message, even though the actions were successfully completed
  – attempting to renew items generated this message “Error: Internal Server Error” and the items were not renewed
  – no message was shown on the patron page warning that they needed a guarantor

ERM

Critical bugs fixed

• 40198 Datatables search for data providers is broken

Hold requests

Critical bugs fixed

• 40620 Holds Queue will assign to the lowest item number if multiple branches have the same transport cost
• 40654 Sorting holds table can cause priority issues

  This patchset fixes a problem where hold priority could be incorrectly updated depending on how the table is sorted on reserve/request.tt.

Other bugs fixed

• 38412 Koha should warn when hold on bibliographic record requires hold policy override

  Sponsored by BibLibre and Westlake Porter Public Library

• 40530 Show hold cancellation reason in patron holds history

  This fixes the status message when a hold is cancelled on the patron’s holds history page in the staff interface. It displayed “Cancelled(FIXME)”, instead of the actual reason. (This is related to bug 35560 – Use the REST API for holds history, added in Koha 25.05.00 and 24.11.05.)

Lists

Other bugs fixed

• 39427 Searching lists table by owner can only enter firstname or surname

• 40488 “Public lists” breadcrumb link doesn’t work when editing public list in staff interface

  Fixes breadcrumb link when editing public lists in staff interface.

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

Notices

Other bugs fixed

• 39279 Terminology: Please return or renew them at the branch below as soon as possible.

  This fixes the terminology used in the overdue notice (ODUE) to change ‘branch’ to ‘library’: “Please return or renew your overdue items at the library as soon as possible.”.

  Note: The notice is not automatically updated for existing installations. Update the notice manually to change the wording if required, or replace the default notice using “View default” and “Copy to template” if you have not customized the notice.

OPAC

Other bugs fixed

• 40540 OPAC generates warnings in logs when no results are found

  Sponsored by Ignatianum University in Cracow

• 40590 OPACAuthorIdentifiersAndInformation shows empty list elements for unknown 024$2

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

Patrons

Other bugs fixed

• 40321 DataTables search ( dt-search ) does not work on holds history page
• 40459 Preferred name is lost when editing partial record
• 40469 Reword anonymous_refund permission description

REST API

Other bugs fixed

• 40433 Missing maxLength in item, patron and library

Reports

Other bugs fixed

• 39066 Fix “To screen into the browser”

  This fixes the terminology used for showing the output for standard reports in the browser. It changes “To screen into the browser” to “To screen in the browser” (“into” changed to “to”).

SIP2

Other bugs fixed

• 40270 Remove useless warnings on failed SIP2 login

Searching

Other bugs fixed

• 39896 System preference AuthorLinkSortBy is not working for UNIMARC or custom XSLT

  This fixes the default UNIMARC XSLT files so that the AuthorLinkSortBy and AuthorLinkSortOrder system preferences now work with UNIMARC, not just MARC21.

  A note was also added to the system preference for those that use custom XSLT (for OPACXSLTDetailsDisplay, OPACXSLTResultsDisplay, XSLTDetailsDisplay, and XSLTResultsDisplay) – they need to update their templates to support these features for both MARC21 and UNIMARC.

  (These preferences were added in Koha 23.11 by Bug 33217 – Allow different default sorting when click author links, but only the default XSLT files for MARC21 were updated.)

Self checkout

Other bugs fixed

• 40004 Standardize spelling of “Self Checkout” to “Self-checkout” with hyphen in UI

Staff interface

Other bugs fixed

• 39712 Query parameters break the manual mappings in vue modules

• 40081 textareas appear to now be fixed width

  This fixes OPAC and staff interface forms with text area fields. You can now adjust the size both vertically and horizontally – after the Bootstrap 5 upgrade you could only adjust the size vertically. (This is related to the OPAC and staff interface Bootstrap 5 upgrade in Koha 24.11.)

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40121 library and category not selected on the patron search
• 40298 A select2 in a bootstrap modal, like in the patron card batch patron search modal, needs it’s parent defined

• 40560 Incorrect breadcrumb on recall history

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40647 “dictionary” misspelled in rep_dictonary class

  This fixes a spelling error in the class name on the reports home page in the staff interface: “rep_dictonary” to “rep_dictionary”.

System Administration

Other bugs fixed

• 40114 Can’t select new library when editing a desk

  This patch fixes a problem that made it impossible to select a new library/branch when editing a desk from Administration -> Desks.

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40547 Unable to view background job if enable_plugins is 0

Templates

Other bugs fixed

• 40222 Bootstrap popover components not updated for BS5

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40413 Patron list input missing “Required” label

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40451 Link patron restriction types to correct section in manual

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

Test Suite

Critical bugs fixed

• 40430 Toolbar_spec.ts is failing

Other bugs fixed

• 40051 cy.wait(delay) should not be used in Cypress tests
• 40345 Missing Cypress tests for checkout history – OPAC
• 40371 t/db_dependent/Budgets.t generates warnings
• 40386 t/Edifact.t generates warnings
• 40387 t/db_dependent/Koha/EDI.t generates warnings
• 40490 Warnings from GD::Barcode::QRcode on U24
• 40493 t/cypress/plugins/dist/ must be git ignored
• 40539 Cypress videos and screenshots should be gitignored
• 40541 Add new line at the end of the files when missing

Tools

Other bugs fixed

• 31930 Ignore whitespace before and after barcodes when adding items to rotating collections

  This fixes adding or removing items to a rotating collection (Tools > Patrons and circulation > Rotating collections). If a barcode has a space before it, it is now ignored instead of generating an error message.

• 40549 Warnings generated when using Import Patrons tool

Enhancements

About

Enhancements

• 34783 Update list of ‘Contributing companies and institutions’ on about page

Accessibility

Enhancements

• 39982 Accessibility: The ‘Browse results’ menu does not have sufficient color contrast.
• 40097 Text elements on the OPAC user pages don’t have sufficient color contrast.

Acquisitions

Enhancements

• 34127 Allow to customize CSV export of basketgroup and add a ODS export

  It is now possible to export any basket to CSV, even the closed ones or those linked to a group.

Architecture, internals, and plumbing

Enhancements

• 40037 Redundant check in notices_content hook handling

Cataloging

Enhancements

• 37604 Give skip_open_orders checkbox an ID in batch record deletion template

  This enhancement adds an ID to the “Skip bibliographic records with open acquisition orders” checkbox on the batch record deletion page (Cataloging > Batch editing > Batch record deletion”).

  This is required so that when selecting or unselecting the checkbox, the focus remains on the checkbox. The ID semantically links the checkbox to its label so machines (screenreaders and computers) can tell they are related elements.

Circulation

Enhancements

• 35669 Update check in message for a specific authorised value in the LOST authorised values
  

  This enhancement displays the LOST authorized value description when checking an item in, instead of the generic “Item was lost, now found.” message. For example, if the LOST value description is “Missing” it will now display as “Item was Missing, now found.”.

• 39923 Add classes to email and phone in overdue report to allow for customization

  This patches adds a overdue_email and overdue_phone to the overdue report making it easier to target the phone/email with CSS or JavaScript.

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

Command-line Utilities

Enhancements

• 38404 Make clear in RestrictPatronsWithFailedNotices syspref description that restrict_patrons_with_failed_notices.pl cronjob has default days setting

ILL

Enhancements

• 39773 OPAC ILL form does not use client-side form validation for required fields

• 39917 Display a prompt for status alias when completing a request if ILL_STATUS_ALIAS in use

  This enhancement to ILL requests lets you select a ‘status alias’ when marking requests as complete. This is only shown when values are defined for the ILL_STATUS_ALIAS authorized values category. The alias is then shown in the status field on the request details page, and in the status column for the list of ILL requests. If there are no values defined, then you are not prompted to select a status alias.

  Sponsored by NHS England (National Health Service England)

• 40026 Edit item metadata should present Standard form if AutoILLBackendPriority is in use
• 40075 ILL Standard form should only show libraries that are pickup_locations

Label/patron card printing

Enhancements

• 40414 Update patron card layout with expiry date

MARC Authority data support

Enhancements

• 38514 Filter out autocomplete list of authorities with ConsiderHeadingUse

  This patch updates the authority search in cataloging to exclude results from the autocomplete that would be excluded from the search based on ConsiderHeadingUse and MARC21 field 008/14-16 indication of what the heading can be used for (main/added entry, subject entry, series entry).

MARC Bibliographic record staging/import

Enhancements

• 38661 Add warning when deleting import batch

Notices

Enhancements

• 36127 Port default HOLDPLACED and HOLD_CHANGED notices to Template Toolkit syntax

OPAC

Enhancements

• 40143 Add links to private lists in OPAC bibliographic record detail pages

  This enhancement lets patron see links to their own private lists on OPAC bibliographic record detail pages. Previously, only public lists were shown.

Patrons

Enhancements

• 40367 Improve display of messages on patron account

  This adjusts the way patron messages are displayed on a patron account, grouping messages together and labeling them based on whether they are internal staff notes or OPAC messages.

Plugin architecture

Enhancements

• 39632 Failed plugin install gives too little info

REST API

Enhancements

• 39091 Cash registers should have a list API endpoint
• 40417 Search_rs is re-instating deleted query parameters
• 40423 Handling x-koha-request-id relies on wrong data structure
• 40424 Handling query-in-body relies on wrong data structure
• 40542 Add cancellation_reason to holds strings embed

Serials

Enhancements

• 37115 Add the option to delete linked serials when deleting items

System Administration

Enhancements

• 39897 Make EDI accounts a configurable DataTable

  This enhancement converts the EDI accounts table from a standard table to a DataTable – so you can now sort, filter, configure the columns, export the data, and so on (Koha administration > Acquisition parameters > EDI accounts).

  Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 40343 Koha to MARC mapping should suggest to run batchRebuildItemsTables.pl

  This enhancement updates the information message on the Koha to MARC mapping page to mention that batchRebuildItemsTables.pl should also be run if changes are made to mappings that affect the items table. It currently only mentions running misc/batchRebuildBiblioTables.pl

Templates

Enhancements

• 39809 .required class was made too non-specific in Bootstrap upgrade

  This patch corrects the styling of required fields so that the text entered in the input is no longer shown in red. Previously, the .required class was incorrectly applied to the input itself rather than just the label and required indicator.

• 39960 Improve messages in the OPAC ask for a discharge page (opac-discharge.tt)
  This enhancement improves the messages in the OPAC on the ask for a discharge page (Your account > Ask for discharge, when the useDischarge system preference is enabled).

  Improvements:
  – Improved wording for the number of items checked out: instead of “..2 item(s)..” and “..1 item(s)…” the text changes based on the actual number of checkouts – “…2 items…” and “…an item…”.
  – More succinct text: for example, instead of “Please pay your charges before reapplying.”, “Please pay them before reapplying.”

Test Suite

Enhancements

• 40173 Reuse http-client from Cypress tests – preparation steps
• 40174 Add a way to cleanly insert data in DB from Cypress tests
• 40180 Missing Cypress tests for ‘Holds to pull’ library filters
• 40181 Cypress tests – Ensure that insertData does not leave data in the DB
• 40301 Missing Cypress tests for ‘Type’ column visibility
• 40346 Allow Cypress to test OPAC
• 40447 Add documentation for cypress plugins

Tools

Enhancements

• 40400 Rename club start and end date to make clearer these are for the enrollment period

  This enhancement to patron clubs renames “Start date” and “End date” to “Enrollment start date” and “Enrollment end date”, to better reflect what the dates represent.

Documentation

The Koha manual is maintained in Sphinx. The home page for Koha
documentation is

• Koha Documentation
  As of the date of these release notes, the Koha manual is available in the following languages:

• English (USA)

• French (74%)
• German (98%)
• Greek (86%)
• Hindi (70%)

The Git repository for the Koha manual can be found at

• Koha Git Repository

Translations

Complete or near-complete translations of the OPAC and staff
interface are available in this release for the following languages:

Partial translations are available for various other languages.

The Koha team welcomes additional translations; please see

• Koha Translation Info

For information about translating Koha, and join the koha-translate
list to volunteer:

• Koha Translate List

The most up-to-date translations can be found at:

• Koha Translation

Release Team

The release team for Koha 25.05.03 is

• Release Manager: Lucas Gass

• QA Manager: Martin Renvoize

• QA Team:

  • Andrew Fuerste-Henry
  • Andrii Nugged
  • Baptiste Wojtkowski
  • Brendan Lawlor
  • David Cook
  • Emily Lamancusa
  • Jonathan Druart
  • Julian Maurice
  • Kyle Hall
  • Laura Escamilla
  • Lisette Scheer
  • Marcel de Rooy
  • Nick Clemens
  • Paul Derscheid
  • Petro V
  • Tomás Cohen Arazi
  • Victor Grousset

• Documentation Manager: David Nind

• Documentation Team:

  • Aude Charillon
  • Caroline Cyr La Rose
  • Donna Bachowski
  • Heather Hernandez
  • Kristi Krueger
  • Philip Orr

• Translation Manager: Jonathan Druart

• Wiki curators:

  • George Williams
  • Thomas Dukleth

• Release Maintainers:

  • 25.05 — Paul Derscheid
  • 24.11 — Fridolin Somers
  • 24.05 — Jesse Maseto
  • 22.11 — Catalyst IT (Wainui, Alex, Aleisha)

• Release Maintainer assistants:

  • 25.05 — Martin Renvoize
  • 24.11 — Baptiste Wojtkowski
  • 24.05 — Laura Escamilla

Credits

We thank the following libraries, companies, and other institutions who are known to have sponsored
new features in Koha 25.05.03

We thank the following individuals who contributed patches to Koha 25.05.03

We thank the following libraries, companies, and other institutions who contributed
patches to Koha 25.05.03

We also especially thank the following individuals who tested patches
for Koha

We regret any omissions. If a contributor has been inadvertently missed,
please send a patch against these release notes to koha-devel@lists.koha-community.org.

Revision control notes

The Koha project uses Git for version control. The current development
version of Koha can be retrieved by checking out the main branch of:

• Koha Git Repository

The branch for this version of Koha and future bugfixes in this release
line is 25.05.x.

Bugs and feature requests

Bug reports and feature requests can be filed at the Koha bug
tracker at:

• Koha Bugzilla

He rau ringa e oti ai.
(Many hands finish the work)

Autogenerated release notes updated last on 26 Aug 2025 19:49:36.