Before you begin

Before you begin you need some preparations.

Software

m_Librarian is written in Python and requires Python (2.7 or 3.4+). So install Python first. Install required modules: SQLObject and m_lib.defenc. pip installs required modules automatically.

Library archives

The program works with local library archives so download some. In addition to the very libraries you need to get INPX indices for them — m_Librarian cannot index libraries yet.

Configuration file

m_librarian looks up configuration file in $HOME/.config/ (if your OS is POSIX-compatible). The configuration file must be named m_librarian.conf. It must be in ini-file format. The following sections and keys are now understood:

[database]
URI = "database URI"

[library]
path = "path to the library archives"

[download]
format = "download file format"

Most programs have an option -C|–config file to use a non-default configuration file.

Database

The program needs a database. It can work with any database supported by SQLObject. Preferred ones are: MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite. If you plan to use an SQL server you must create a database yourself. For SQLite, the database file will be created by the program, so it’s the simplest way of using m_Librarian.

Database URI

In configuration file define section [database] with the only key URI. The value for the key must be a Database URI in format accepted by SQLObject. Some examples:

[database]
URI = mysql://user:password@host/database

[database]
URI = postgres://user@host/database

[database]
URI = sqlite:///full/path/to/database

See some more examples in m_librarian.conf.sample. See detailed description for DB URIs in SQLObject documentation.