How to Install Koha on FreeBSD Latest

Koha is a free and open-source Integrated Library System (ILS) that provides a comprehensive set of features for managing physical and digital collections of libraries of all sizes. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Koha on FreeBSD Latest.

Prerequisites

Before you start with the installation of Koha, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• FreeBSD Latest with root access
• Git
• Perl
• MySQL or MariaDB

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Before you start with the installation of Koha, make sure your system is up to date:

sudo pkg update -f
sudo pkg upgrade -f

To install the required packages for Koha, run the following command:

sudo pkg install -y git perl mysql57-server mod_cgi p5-Apache-LogFormat-Compiler apache24

Step 2: Configure MySQL Database

Koha requires a MySQL database to store its data. If you already have a MySQL server, you can skip this step. If not, you can install it by running the following command:

sudo pkg install -y mysql57-server

Next, start the MySQL server and enable it to start automatically at boot time:

sudo sysrc mysql_enable="yes"
sudo service mysql-server start

Once you have the MySQL server running, create a new user and database for Koha:

sudo mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE koha;
CREATE USER 'koha'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL ON koha.* TO 'koha'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

Replace 'password' with your desired password.

Step 3: Install Koha

Clone the Koha repository using Git:

sudo git clone --depth=1 git://git.koha-community.org/koha.git /usr/local/koha

Now, run the installation script to setup Koha:

cd /usr/local/koha
sudo ./installer/data/mysql/mandatory-update-db.pl --user=koha --password=password --create_database

Replace 'password' with your desired password.

Step 4: Configure Apache

To use Koha, you need to configure Apache. First, enable CGI and SSL modules:

sudo echo 'apache24_enable="yes"' >> /etc/rc.conf
sudo echo 'apache24_http_accept_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
sudo echo 'apache24_ssl_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
sudo echo 'apache24_modules="ssl_info cgid"' >> /etc/rc.conf
sudo service apache24 start

You also need to configure the virtual host for Koha. Create a new configuration file:

sudo touch /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/koha.conf

Edit the file and add the following contents:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName koha.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://koha.example.com
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName koha.example.com
    DocumentRoot /usr/local/koha/opac/htdocs
    LogLevel warn
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/etc/apache24/server.crt" 
    SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/apache24/server.key"
    SetEnv KOHA_CONF "/usr/local/koha/sites/koha.example.com/koha-conf.xml"
    ScriptAlias "/" "/usr/local/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/"
    ScriptAlias "/cgi-bin/koha/" "/usr/local/koha/intranet/cgi-bin/koha/"
    ScriptAlias "/cgi-bin/opac/" "/usr/local/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/"
    <Directory "/usr/local/koha/opac/htdocs">
        Options All
        AllowOverride All
        FileETag None
    </Directory>
    <Directory "/usr/local/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac">
        Options All
        AllowOverride All
        FileETag None
    </Directory>
    <Directory "/usr/local/koha/intranet/cgi-bin/koha">
        Options All
        AllowOverride All
        FileETag None
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Replace 'koha.example.com' with your preferred domain name.

Step 5: Start the Koha Services

Start the Koha services:

sudo systemctl enable koha-index-daemon.service
sudo systemctl enable koha-worker-daemon.service
sudo systemctl start koha-index-daemon.service
sudo systemctl start koha-worker-daemon.service

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned how to install Koha on FreeBSD Latest. After completing this tutorial, you will have a fully functional Koha Integrated Library System running on FreeBSD Latest.

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