[Koha-devel] IMPORTANT Koha 3.0 updatedatase and kohastructure.sql

[Joshua M. Ferraro]

Hi all,

For years, we've had trouble maintaining the official Koha SQL
definition, it seems like every developer probably has a slightly
different definition. This is fine, however, we need to decide on
an appropriate process for updating the official kohastructure.sql
file that forms the basis for the new Web Installer in Koha 3.0.
If you look back through the history of this file:

http://cvs.savannah.nongnu.org/viewvc/koha/installer/kohastructure.sql?root=koha&view=log

You'll notice vastly different versions ... people seem to
just overwrite it with a new def exported in their favorite tool
(mysqldump, phpmyadmin, etc.). Recently I had to revert kohastructure.sql
in CVS because it patently failed for me ... I noticed that there are
some definitions missing as well, and discrepancies between versions
w/respect to the constraints.

For instance, I asked Paul this afternoon to send me his 3.0 SQL
definition, but that didn't include the 'defaultvalue' column in
the marc_subfield_structure table, and, as a result, the MARC
editor is broken for new installations when using that definition.

I'd also like to point out that updatedatabase should start completely
blank for 3.0. IMO updatedatabase shouldn't be the upgrade path
from 1.x or 2.x to 3.0 ... rather, it should be the upgrade path
for 3.0 to 3.2, etc. Other thoughts?

I'd like to get feedback from everyone on the best way to maintain
kohastructure.sql and updatedatabase, to make sure we always have a
known SQL definition and update process. Comments, ideas?

Cheers,

-- 
Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
address@hidden |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS