Temporary Fix for Koha Check-In Issues

Koha Check-In Not Working? Here’s a Temporary Fix for Auto Increment Problems

Library administrators using Koha may sometimes encounter a strange issue — books just don’t check in. No matter how many times you try, the transaction hangs. The culprit? Auto increment errors in the underlying MySQL or MariaDB database.

This guide offers a practical, field-tested solution that can temporarily resolve the issue and get your circulation back on track.

The Problem: Broken Auto Increment in Koha Tables

When Koha fails to assign new unique IDs in tables like issues, borrowers, or items, it leads to check-in and circulation errors. These database inconsistencies often stem from deleted records that disrupt the sequence of auto-incremented fields.

Affected tables usually include:

• old_issues
• deleteditems
• deletedbiblio
• deletedborrowers

Step 1: Access Your Database

Open a terminal and connect to your MySQL/MariaDB server:

sudo mysql -uroot -p

Switch to your Koha database:

USE koha_library;

Step 2: Manually Delete Problem Entries

Identify and remove problematic records using the following SQL commands:

DELETE FROM old_issues WHERE issue_id IN (1001, 1002);
DELETE FROM deletedbiblio WHERE biblionumber IN (201, 202);
DELETE FROM deleteditems WHERE biblionumber IN (301, 302);
DELETE FROM deletedborrowers WHERE borrowernumber IN (401, 402);

Modify the IDs according to the actual invalid entries found in your system.

Exit MySQL:

sqlCopyEditexit;

Step 3: Set Up Auto Increment Fix Script

Next, update the DB config file depending on your OS:

• Ubuntu 16.04 (MySQL): /etc/mysql/my.cnf
• Ubuntu 18.04 (MySQL): /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf
• Debian 9 or Ubuntu 16.04 (MariaDB): /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Under the [mysqld] section, add:

init-file=/var/lib/mysql/init-file_koha_library.sql

Step 4: Create Initialization SQL File

Now create the initialization file:

sudo leafpad /var/lib/mysql/init-file_koha_library.sql

Paste this code (adjust DB name if needed):

USE koha_library;
SET @id1 = (SELECT GREATEST(IFNULL(MAX(borrowernumber),0), IFNULL((SELECT MAX(borrowernumber) FROM deletedborrowers),0)) + 1);
SET @sql = CONCAT('ALTER TABLE borrowers AUTO_INCREMENT = ', @id1);
PREPARE stmt FROM @sql; EXECUTE stmt;

-- Repeat the logic for other tables like biblio, items, issues, and reserves

Save and close the file.

Step 5: Restart Database Service

Apply your changes:

sudo service mysql restart

Wrap-Up

This workaround resolves check-in problems caused by ID mismatches in Koha’s backend. It’s not a permanent fix, but it restores functionality while developers work on a full patch. Always ensure you back up your database before applying changes.