Topic: Library Software

[hawk]

Hi SME people

I have a seminary that i donated a SME server to a few years ago, everything is running perfectly with very minor hiccups, they now want to change to an electronic library system instead of the paper system they are running in their library now.

Does anyone know of good open source software / contrib that will do this job. Internet searching has found loads of packages but i can not seem to find something suitable from open source.

Any ideas will greatly appriciated.

Thanks in advance
John

[Frank VB]

Hi Hawk

I've been using OpenBiblio http://obiblio.sourceforge.net as an electronic library system for a few months now. It works on PHP4 and MySQL4. It is not an SME contrib but I've installed it in an ibay and it works like a charm. Another alternative is using a Joomla component, there are a few out there (take a look in the extensions section on the Joomla website) but I wasn't very much impressed by the library components on offer.

[mdo]

Hi,

have a look at www.koha.org.

[mmccarn]

I saw a news article last summer about Evergreen that looked very impressive...

[hawk]

Thanks some very interesting advice, all of these paqckages will work perfectly, but i have been un-able to get any of them running, does anyone know where i can get hold of a sme contrib for any of these packages?

thanks

[Stefano]

well.. first of all you colud explain what are the problems you've found..

BTW, I suggest you to follow frankvb's link..

Ciao
Stefano

[hawk]

Hi Guys
thanks for all the advise, i have been looking into all the different options available. Followed all the different install proceddures. I have decided to use the OpenBiblio software. I am using SME 7.4, i have an ibay lib, but i keep getting his error,

Warning: is_dir() [function.is-dir]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/tmp/dataface) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/e-smith/files/ibays/lib/) in /home/e-smith/files/ibays/lib/html/librariandb-0.2/dataface/Dataface/Application.php on line 594

Fatal error: Class 'Dataface_Error' not found in /home/e-smith/files/ibays/lib/html/librariandb-0.2/dataface/Dataface/Application.php on line 620

i have looked at the these line errors and they don't make much sense to me.

If any one can decipher the errors i would be most grateful, or a walk through they have used and found to be successful.

many thanks
John

[cactus]

Warning: is_dir() [function.is-dir]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/tmp/dataface) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/e-smith/files/ibays/lib/) in /home/e-smith/files/ibays/lib/html/librariandb-0.2/dataface/Dataface/Application.php on line 594

Above error is (most likely) solved by adding the /tmp folder to the PHPBaseDir setting of the lib ibay like described here: http://wiki.contribs.org/PHP#Open_basedir_restriction

It might also solve the next issue but I am not sure of that as I am unfamiliar with the code.

[Frank VB]

Above error is (most likely) solved by adding the /tmp folder to the PHPBaseDir setting of the lib ibay like described here: http://wiki.contribs.org/PHP#Open_basedir_restriction

Yes, indeed. You only have to set the PHPBaseDir and fill in the relevant database connection variables (database name, username and password) in the database_constants.php file, then Openbiblio should be up and running.

[judgej]

Above error is (most likely) solved by adding the /tmp folder to the PHPBaseDir setting of the lib ibay...

Better still, is there a config setting in Biblio to tell it to use a different directory? There is always the worry that when security features are loosened, some bug in the application will be exploited to cause havoc.

-- Jason

[cactus]

Better still, is there a config setting in Biblio to tell it to use a different directory? There is always the worry that when security features are loosened, some bug in the application will be exploited to cause havoc.

Good point there, forgot to add that, but most applications seem to lack such a functionality. If it does have such a functionality you should point it to (a subfolder under) the files folder in your ibay so the temporary folder is not exposed to the web, which it is when putting it somewhere in the html tree of the ibay.

[judgej]

This entered into a .htaccess file in a folder in your html area will prevent it from being seen from the web:

Code: [Select]

order allow,deny
deny from all
So if your application will allow you to use 'tmp' as its temporary work area rather than '/tmp', create a 'tmp' directory under the 'html' directory of the i-bay, then create a file in that directory called '.htaccess' and add the above two lines to it.

I have noticed that some applications attempt to copy uploaded files by accessing the uploaded file directly, rather than going through the appropriate PHP function 'move_uploaded_file() (http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.move-uploaded-file.php). Those applications need bugs raised against them, but in the meantime you don't really have a choice about opening up the '/tmp' dirctory to an i-bay.

-- Jason

[cactus]

This entered into a .htaccess file in a folder in your html area will prevent it from

Which is not at all needed if you would use the files folder like mentioned before.

[judgej]

I saw a news article last summer about Evergreen that looked very impressive...

Very nice. I've not come across that one before. The demo is pretty impressive. The installation procedure looks like it is a bit more involved than simply copying the files to an i-bay.

-- Jason