New Books List
Installation Instructions : Classic version for UNIX
New Books List
Copyright 2000-2005, The University of Texas at Arlington
Written by Michael Doran, doran@uta.edu
UTA Libraries, Box 19497, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
See also: http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/autolist/
"Voyager" and "WebVoyage" are trademarks of Ex Libris
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| Version 6.1.2 Unicode |
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| Unix Installation Instructions |
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Prerequisites
-------------
Perl must be installed on servers where either newbooks.cgi
or newbooks.pl will run. The Perl DBI and DBD::Oracle
modules must be installed on the server where newbooks.pl
will run. If you choose the FTP option in newbooks.pl,
(not required) the Perl Net::FTP module must be installed.
Endeavor should have already installed Perl and the DBI/DBD
modules on (at least) your Voyager database server. Use
the "dope.sh" utility to determine what Perl versions
you have on your system.
This version of the New Books List requires that you have
the Voyager Unicode upgrade.
Installation scenarios
----------------------
There are at least four installation scenarios:
1) Both the extraction program (newbooks.pl) and the
CGI program (newbooks.cgi) will reside on the same
server. This will be the case if your Voyager
database server and WebVoyage server are one and
the same.
2) The extraction program (newbooks.pl) will reside on
the Voyager database server, and the CGI program
(newbooks.cgi) will reside on a separate WebVoyage
server. This case is typical for many Voyager sites.
3) Both the extraction program (newbooks.pl) and the
CGI program (newbooks.cgi) will reside on a WebVoyage
server that is _not_ also the Voyager database server.
This requires installation of the Perl DBI modules on
the WebVoyage server. It also requires modifications
to the DBI connection code in newbooks.pl that are not
supported in this release.
4) Both the extraction program (newbooks.pl) and the
CGI program (newbooks.cgi) will reside on a non-Voyager
related server. Like scenario 3, this requires the
installation of software and configuration changes that
are not supported in this release.
Scenarios 1 or 2 are recommended. For scenario 3 or 4
see http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/autolist/faq.html#appserver
Installation steps
------------------
Download newbooks-6.1.tar.gz to your server.
Unzip and untar the tarball:
gzip -d -c newbooks-6.1.tar.gz | tar xvf -
Note: Using an unzip application *other* than gzip (e.g. WinZip) may
corrupt the Perl executable scripts.
The newbooks-6.1.tar.gz tarball should contain the following files:
./newbooks-6.1/CHANGES
./newbooks-6.1/INSTALL
./newbooks-6.1/README.unicode
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.pl
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.cgi
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.ini
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.English
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.Finnish
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.Swedish
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.Welsh
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.Language
./newbooks-6.1/English.gif
./newbooks-6.1/English-alt.gif
./newbooks-6.1/Finnish.gif
./newbooks-6.1/Swedish.gif
./newbooks-6.1/Welsh.gif
./newbooks-6.1/newbooks.txt
./newbooks-6.1/dope.sh
CHANGES (text file)
A document extolling all the wondrous new and improved
features in this version and previous versions.
INSTALL (text file)
This file.
README.unicode (text file)
A README file that provides guidance for editing text
files in a Unicode (UTF-8) environment.
newbooks.pl (executable program)
A Perl program that extracts "new books" data from
the Voyager database and outputs a newbooks.txt file.
newbooks.cgi (executable program)
A CGI/Perl program that displays the initial New Books
search form, and then displays the results pages from
user searches.
newbooks.ini (configuration file)
This file contains configuration variables that are
used to customize the newbooks.cgi program.
newbooks.English/Finnish/Swedish/Welsh (language modules)
These files provide the language of the user interface.
Only one language module is required, but all modules can
be utilized if desired. Note that language module files
are also meant to be edited!
newbooks.Language (language module template)
This is a template for those who want to create their own
language module, in order to provide a user interface in a
different language than those provided.
English.gif/Finnish.gif/Swedish.gif/Welsh.gif (flag image files)
English-alt.gif is an alternate "English" flag using
the US flag rather than the UK flag.
newbooks.txt (text file)
A tab delimited flat-file that you can use to test the
functionality of newbooks.cgi. You will be generating
your own site-specific newbooks.txt file when you
configure and run newbooks.pl.
dope.sh (shell script)
A utility designed to be run on the command line. It helps
determine how many instances of Perl are installed on your
system, what versions they are, and whether or not they
have the DBI and/or DBD::Oracle modules.
File ownerships and permissions
If the files don't untar with the correct ownerships
and permissions, please make them look like this:
-rwxr--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.pl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.cgi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.ini
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.English
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.Finnish
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.Swedish
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.Welsh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.Language
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... English.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... English-alt.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... Finnish.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... Swedish.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... Welsh.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... newbooks.txt
-rwxr--r-- 1 voyager endeavor ... dope.sh
Note: If the FTP option in newbooks.pl is selected,
use more strict permissions (700) for that file.
*RECHECK* file permissions and ownerships AFTER the
files are copied/moved to their installation directories.
Installation locations
Place the files in the following locations on the
appropriate server(s).
WebVoyage server:
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.cgi
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.ini
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.English
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.Finnish
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.Swedish
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.Welsh
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/cgi-bin/newbooks.txt
(for multilingual sites)
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/html/images/English.gif
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/html/images/Finnish.gif
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/html/images/Swedish.gif
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/webvoyage/html/images/Welsh.gif
Voyager database server:
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/sbin/newbooks.pl
*RECHECK* file permissions and ownerships AFTER the
files are copied/moved to their installation directories.
*RECHECK* file permissions and ownerships AFTER the
files are copied/moved to their installation directories.
Testing and configuration steps
-------------------------------
1) Do a pre-configuration test:
Before you start configuring the programs, test to see
if newbooks.cgi works by pointing a web browser to:
http://Your_WebVoyage.server.edu/cgi-bin/newbooks.cgi
It should work "out of the box". (Albeit with the "test"
new book data rather than your library's new book data.)
If it doesn't work, CHECK:
- FILE OWNERSHIPS AND PERMISSIONS
- that you have Perl installed (perl -v)
- that the top line of newbooks.cgi points to a valid
Perl executable
- run the "dope.sh" utility to find out where Perl is:
./dope.sh
[Note: links back to the catalog will not work unless
your library also owns the item in the test database.]
If the program works OK, go to step 2.
2) Generate your own data:
Read the configuration comments in newbooks.pl and then edit
the configurable parts so it will run on your system and
so that the desired options are specified.
Run newbooks.pl (should take approx. 2 to 15+ minutes).
./newbooks.pl
Debug and repeat as necessary (and re-read the comments!)
If you get an error message saying "Can't locate DBI.pm"
or other DBI:Oracle errors, try changing the top line of
the program to an alternate Perl path:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
or
#!/m1/shared/bin/perl -w
or
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
Run the "dope.sh" utility on the command line to determine
the appropriate paths on your system:
./dope.sh
Debug and repeat as necessary.
Once you have newbooks.pl working, make it a Voyager cron job
that runs once a day. See the man pages for cron and crontab
and/or consult your favorite Unix sysadmin book for more info.
(see: http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/scvugm2001/books.html)
Problems at this stage generally have to do with the transfer
of the newbooks.txt file rather than with the extraction of
data from your Voyager database. If the program produces a
newbooks.txt file, then you know that that part of the program
is working. Configuration of your servers to allow for remote
copy is something that I can provide some instructions for, but
I can't anticipate the many variables in a particular networking
environment. Read the comments in the transfer section of
newbooks.pl very carefully, and also read the man pages for
the "rcp" command and the "rhosts" file.
3) Customize newbooks.cgi by editing newbooks.ini:
Read the configuration comments in newbooks.ini and then edit
the configurable parts to customize for your library. If you
chose months instead of weeks in newbooks.pl, you must choose
the same option in newbooks.ini.
Use your browser to test newbooks.cgi against your library's
new books file (newbooks.txt) that you generated in step 2.
Debug and repeat as necessary.
Be sure that you take the time to adjust the colors to match
your library's WebVoyage look. It only takes a few minutes
and makes a big difference. :-)
4) Customize the appropriate language module(s) as needed or desired.
Note that this step applies to English-only sites, too!
You can change/edit any and all text that makes up the user
interface. Examples include changing the tab text to match
the tabs in your Webvoyage search screens. Please read the
README.unicode help file prior to editing language module files.
Multilingual sites should examine pathname values in the
language modules for accuracy and may also want to refine the
translations. It is also possible to add additional languages
using the language module template (newbooks.Language).
5) Add a "New Books" tab to all WebVoyage search screens:
This step requires that you edit the Tab_Text entry
in the Course_Reserve_Search_Page stanza of the
/m1/voyager/xxxdb/etc/webvoyage/local/opac.ini file.
Replace this:
Tab_Text=Course Reserves
With this:
Tab_Text=Course Reserves</a> </font>
</th></tr></table></td><td> </td>
<td><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr><th nowrap bgcolor="#8b8989"> <font
color="#ffffff"> <a style="color:#ffffff"
href="/cgi-bin/newbooks.cgi">New Books</a>
IMPORTANT NOTE: There shouldn't be any line breaks in the
above code! That means that all of the Tab_Text value should
be one continuous line. If you cut-and-paste, there will be
line breaks that have to be removed! (In vi, use shift-J to
concatenate lines.)
You will also have to adjust font, background, and style
colors to match your site's scheme. If your site does not
utilize the Course Reserves tab, then of course, you will be
apply this to the right-most tab, using the corresponding
stanza and making whatever adjustments are appropriate.
6) I would really appreciate it, if once you make the New Books
List available to your patrons, you would send me the URL so
that I can add your institution to the User List. This is
the ONLY thing I ask for in return for using this program.
(see: http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/autolist/users.html)
Free advice
-----------
As you edit the program files, make sure you regularly make
backup copies. That way if some configuration change renders
the program unexecutable and you can't figure out how to fix
it, you can always backtrack to a previous working copy.
Mailing list
------------
My intention is to eventually maintain a mailing list of
contacts for libraries using these programs so that minor news
regarding bug fixes, etc., can be sent out without spamming
the voyager-l listserv. While not required, I'd appreciate it
if using libraries would provide the email address of a system
administrator or other contact person.
Bug Reports
-----------
Please report bugs or installation problems to:
Michael Doran
email: doran@uta.edu
telephone: 1.817.272.5326
telephone: 1.888.565.9023 x25326 (toll-free in U.S.)
Support
-------
I am a Systems Librarian with a full time job quite apart from
creating, enhancing, documenting, distributing, and supporting
the New Books List. Please keep that in mind and thoroughly
read these installation instructions, the program comments,
and the FAQs (http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/autolist/faq.html)
before contacting me for help. Considerable effort has gone
into the documentation, and chances are good that the answer
to your question is contained there.
This is not meant to discourage you from contacting me,
particularly in regard to bugs or issues that may impact other
users of the software. I am also very interested in hearing
how the installation instructions and other documentation can
be made more clear or otherwise improved.
Server network configuration to allow for remote copy (rcp)
of the newbooks.txt file is a separate issue from whether
the newbooks programs are functioning as designed. Since
rcp configuration occurs in files that have nothing to do
with the newbooks programs, there are no code changes I can
make in the newbooks.pl program to magically make rcp work.
I will only provide assistance for remote copy (rcp) problems
if you are willing to give me temporary access to your system.
That's all folks!
-----------------
Good luck and thanks for choosing the New Books List. :-)