23 Feb 2021
Koha is the first free and open source software library automation package (ILS). Development is sponsored by libraries of varying types and sizes, volunteers, and support companies from around the world. The website for the Koha project is:
Koha 20.05.09 can be downloaded from:
Installation instructions can be found at:
Koha 20.05.09 is a bugfix/maintenance release with security fixes.
It includes 2 security fixes, 1 new features, 13 enhancements, 63 bugfixes.
[14004] Add ability to temporarily disable added CSS and Javascript in OPAC and interface
This allows to temporarily disable any of OPACUserCSS, OPACUserJS, OpacAdditionalStylesheet, opaclayoutstylesheet, IntranetUserCSS, IntranetUserJS, intranetcolorstylesheet, and intranetstylesheet system preference via an URL parameter.
Alter the URL in OPAC or staff interface by adding an additional parameter DISABLE_SYSPREF_
=1. Example: /cgi-bin/koha/mainpage.pl?DISABLE_SYSPREF_IntranetUserCSS=1
[24254] Add Koha::Items->filter_by_visible_in_opac
This patch introduces an efficient way of filtering Koha::Items result sets, to hide items that that shouldn't be exposed on public interfaces.
Filtering is governed by the following system preferences. A helper method is added to handle lost items:
- hidelostitems: Koha::Items->filter_out_lost is added to handle this.
Some patrons have exceptions so OpacHiddenItems is not enforced on them. That's why the new method [1] has an optional parameter that expects the logged in patron to be passed in the call.
[1] Koha::Items->filter_by_visible_in_opac
[26943] Show not for loan descriptions in cataloging search (addbooks.pl)
Adds the ability to see not for loan descriptions in the cataloging search results.
[27422] HTML5Media is http by default but Youtube is https only
Sponsored by Banco Central de la República Argentina
[24272] Add a command line script to compare the syspref cache to the database
This script checks the value of the system preferences in the database against those in the cache. Generally differences will only exist if changes have been made directly to the DB or the cache has become corrupted.
[26713] Add pagination to bottom of saved SQL reports table
This enhancement adds a second pagination menu to the bottom of saved SQL reports tables.
[27395] Add warning to PatronSelfRegistrationDefaultCategory to avoid accidental patron deletion
This patch adds a warning to the PatronSelfRegistrationDefaultCategory system preference to not use a regular patron category for self registration.
If a regular patron category code is used and the cleanup_database cronjob is setup to delete unverified and unfinished OPAC self registrations, it permanently and and unrecoverably deletes all patrons that have registered more than PatronSelfRegistrationExpireTemporaryAccountsDelay days ago.
It also removes unnecessary apostrophes at the end of two self registration and modification system preference descriptions.
[27586] Import patrons script has a confirm switch that doesn't do anything
This fixes the misc/import_patrons.pl script so that patrons are not imported unless the --confirm option is used. Currently, if the script is run without "--confirm" option it reports that it is "Running in dry-run mode, provide --confirm to apply the changes", however it imports the patrons anyway.
[27068] HoldsQueue doesn't know how to use holds groups
Koha 20.05 introduced local hold groups, but neglected to add support of them in the holds queue. Because of this, the holds queue will not show items the could have filled holds from other libraries in a hold group. This patch set adds support for hold groups to the holds queue builder thus improving Koha's ability to find items to fill hold requests.
[27608] Correct 'accepted by' inconsistency in suggestion.tt
Sponsored by Collecto
[25552] Add missing Claims Returned option to MarkLostItemsAsReturned
Marking an item as a return claim checks the system preference MarkLostItemsAsReturned to see if the claim should be removed from the patron record. However, the option for "when marking an item as a return claim" was never added to the system preference, so there was no way to remove a checkout from the patron record when marking the checkout as a return claim. This patch set adds that missing option.
[27179] Misspelling of Method in REST API files
This fixes the misspelling of Method (Mehtod to Method) in REST API files.
[27011] Warnings in returns.pl
This patch removes a variable ($name) that is no longer used in Circulation > Check in (/cgi-bin/koha/circ/returns.pl), and the resulting warnings (..[WARN] Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at..) that were recorded in the error log.
[27548] Warnings "use of uninitialized value" on branchoverdues.pl
This fixes the cause of unnecessary "use of uninitialized value" warnings in the log files generated by Circulation > Overdues with fines (/cgi-bin/koha/circ/branchoverdues.pl).
This was caused by not taking into account that the "location" parameter for this form is initially empty.
[27549] Warning "use of uninitialized value" on renew.pl
This fixes the cause of unnecessary "use of uninitialized value" warnings in the log files generated by Circulation > Renew (/cgi-bin/koha/circ/renew.pl).
This was caused by not taking into account that the "barcode" parameter for this form is initially empty.
This fixes the HTML
[11996] Default active currencies for ru-RU and uk-UA are wrong
This fixes the currencies in the sample installer files for Russia (ru-RU; changes GRN -> UAH, default remains as RUB) and the Ukraine (uk-UA; changes GRN -> UAH).
[24810] French SQL files for "news" contain "Welcome into Koha 3!"
This removes the Koha version number from the sample news items for the French language installer files (fr-FR and fr-CA).
[24811] French SQL files for "news" contain broken link to the wiki
This fixes a broken link in the sample news items for the French language installer files (fr-FR and fr-CA).
[27454] Additional patron attributes change sequence on every reload of edit page
This fixes the order that additional patron attributes are displayed on the patron edit form. They are now sorted by the attribute code, before this they displayed in a random order.
[26181] Holds placed via the REST API should not be forced by default even if AllowHoldPolicyOverride is enabled
This patch disables AllowHoldPolicyOverride by default in the /holds REST API. It also adds tests for this behaviour, and adds a header that can be used to request the override explicitly.
[27299] Zebra phrase register is incorrectly tokenized when using ICU
Previously, Zebra indexing in ICU mode was incorrectly tokenizing text for the "p" register. This meant that particular phrase searches were not working as expected. With this change, phrase searching works the same in ICU and CHR modes.
[20238] Show description of ITEMTYPECAT instead of code in itemtypes summary table
This enhancement changes the item types page (Koha administration > Basic parameters > Item types) so that the search category column displays the ITEMTYPECAT authorized value's description, instead of the authorized value code. (This makes it consistent with the edit form where it displays the descriptions for authorized values.)
[24055] Description of PayPalReturnURL system preference is unclear
This enhancement improves the description of the PayPalReturnURL. Changed from 'configured return' to 'configured return URL' as this is what it is called on the PayPal website.
[27525] 'wich' instead of a 'with' in a sentence
This patch fixes two spelling errors in the batchMod-del.tt template that is used by the batch item deletion tool in the staff interface: "wich" -> "with."
The Koha manual is maintained in Sphinx. The home page for Koha documentation is
As of the date of these release notes, only the English version of the Koha manual is available:
The Git repository for the Koha manual can be found at
Complete or near-complete translations of the OPAC and staff interface are available in this release for the following languages:
Partial translations are available for various other languages.
The Koha team welcomes additional translations; please see
For information about translating Koha, and join the koha-translate list to volunteer:
The most up-to-date translations can be found at:
The release team for Koha 20.05.09 is
Release Manager: Jonathan Druart
Release Manager assistants:
QA Manager: Katrin Fischer
QA Team:
Topic Experts:
Bug Wranglers:
Packaging Manager: Mason James
Documentation Managers:
Documentation Team:
Translation Manager: Bernardo González Kriegel
Release Maintainers:
Release Maintainer mentors:
We thank the following libraries who are known to have sponsored new features in Koha 20.05.09:
We thank the following individuals who contributed patches to Koha 20.05.09.
We thank the following libraries, companies, and other institutions who contributed patches to Koha 20.05.09
We also especially thank the following individuals who tested patches for Koha.
We regret any omissions. If a contributor has been inadvertently missed, please send a patch against these release notes to koha-patches@lists.koha-community.org.
The Koha project uses Git for version control. The current development version of Koha can be retrieved by checking out the master branch of:
The branch for this version of Koha and future bugfixes in this release line is rmain2005.
Bug reports and feature requests can be filed at the Koha bug tracker at:
He rau ringa e oti ai. (Many hands finish the work)
Autogenerated release notes updated last on 23 Feb 2021 20:26:24.