Koha Newsletter: Volume 3, Issue 2: February 2012

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Official Koha Newsletter (ISSN 2153-8328) Subscribe
Volume 3, Issue 2: February 2012

 

Edited by Daniel Grobani, Koha Community Newsletter Editor.
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Table of Contents

Koha Development

Koha 3.6.4 Status
by Chris Nighswonger

The 3.6.x branch is in a string freeze. Koha 3.6.4 is scheduled for release on 1 March 2012.

Koha 3.6.3 Released
by Chris Nighswonger

It is with pleasure that I announce the release of Koha 3.6.3.

The package can be retrieved from:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz

You can use the following checksum and signature files to verify the download:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.MD5
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.MD5.asc
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.sig

Release notes for 3.6.3 are at http://koha-community.org/koha-3-6-3.

Koha 3.4.8 Released
by Chris Nighswonger

It is with pleasure that I announce the release of Koha 3.4.8.

The package can be retrieved from:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz

You can use the following checksum and signature files to verify the download:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.MD5
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.MD5.asc
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.sig

Release notes for 3.4.8 are at http://koha-community.org/koha-3-4-8.

Koha Release Statistics

Chris Cormack, statistician par excellence, has posted some stats on recent Koha releases:

Statistics for Koha 3.6.3
Statistics for Koha 3.4.8

He also posted signoff statistics for January 2012.

Release Manager’s Newsletter

Paul Poulain, Koha 3.8 Release Manager, is publishing a monthly newsletter dedicated to Koha 3.8 development. It can be found on the Koha Community website in the Koha News category.

The first two issues were distributed via the koha-devel mailing list. The third issue is here.

Koha Community

New Koha Libraries

  • Huntington Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
  • Kimball Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
  • Montgomery House Warrior Run Area Public Library (self-hosted)
  • Plaistow Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
  • Sandown Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)

Community Gossip

Equinox Software is seeking a Library Data Specialist to work with library data and configure Koha and Evergreen systems.

Kyle Hall has joined ByWater Solutions as Development Support Specialist.

Nicole Engard has created a number of useful video tutorials on using Koha.

Check out the map of Koha sites.

Past Koha Events

February General IRC Meeting

The February general IRC meeting was held on 8 February 2012.

For more info, including the agenda and links to the minutes, see http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/General_IRC_Meeting,_8_February_2012.

Global Bug Squashing Day 2012-02-08
by Magnus Enger

A Global bug squashing day was held on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, and there was much rejoicing.

For the numbers, see http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/2012-02-08_Global_bug_squashing_day.

Upcoming Koha Events

Marseille Hackfest
by Paul Poulain

25 Koha developers will be gathering to work on improving Koha from 19-25 March in Marseille, France.

There will be people from Croatia (2), Switzerland (1), Italy (1), Germany (1), USA (1), and France (19).

Six of us are librarians; the rest are IT/developers.

We plan to focus on these topics:

  • a small group working on performance and persistence issues, trying to make Koha Plack/mod_perl compatible
  • a small group working on database issues, trying to remove MySQL dependencies and incorporate business/database separation logic into Koha
  • a small group working on user interface issues, trying to improve HTML, CSS, etc.
  • a small group working on Solr integration (that will, hopefully, be submitted for October 2012 release)
  • the rest of us working on what we could call a Global Bug Squashing Week–testing patches, etc.

We still have space, so if you’d like to come, just email me.

March General IRC Meeting

The March general IRC meeting will be held on Wednesday, 21 March 2012.

For more info, see http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/General_IRC_Meeting,_21_March_2012.

KohaCon12

KohaCon12 will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 5-7 June 2012. A hackfest will be held 9-11 June.

This is a free conference for everyone interested in the Koha library system, which is Free and Open Source Software. There is no registration fee, but we will ask that attendees pre-register. Further calls, including calls for papers and registrations will be posted soon.

Details (travel, hotels, agenda draft, etc) can be found linked from http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/KohaCon12_Summary.

KohaCon12 is the fifth KohaCon, following last year’s successful conference in India which brought together users and developers worldwide. KohaCon12 will feature an international slate of speakers (both Koha users and active Koha contributors) conducting presentations and workshops on a diverse range of topics. Talks will cover a range of topics from general experiences of Koha through to technical information on the various modules.

“We expect this event to have wide appeal,” said MJ Ray of host organisation and Koha support provider software.coop. “The conference is for both techies and non-techies. In addition to presentations on the technical side of Koha, the conference will be a demonstration of how users and developers around the world cooperate to improve Free and Open Source Software. software.coop is delighted to host KohaCon in Edinburgh in our tenth anniversary year and this UN International Year of Co-operatives.”

“Koha conferences are always an informative and uplifting event, I have no doubt that this years conference in Edinburgh will be the best conference yet.” said Chris Cormack, one of the original authors of the Koha version 1.0.