On Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 2:32:35 PM UTC-4 vince wrote:
> I'm noticing a growing pattern of new users posting to weewx-user along > the lines of "*I know nothing of Linux but I tried to install weewx and > it doesn't work. Will somebody please help me". * > > Think we need a "how to report problems" page more tailored to non-Linux > users perhaps. We're seeing a growing percentage of new pi non-unix > non-shell users. That's good of course, but they don't meet the > longstanding minimal user expectations nor will they ever. Many are just > not going to spin up on Linux nor shell etc. They just want to install > weewx and never look at it again. That's ok too. > > I also keep thinking about the origin of wee_debug and wonder if it's a > bit too heavyweight for 'initial' problem forensics especially when we try > to get new users to run it when they are not shell type users. > the quantity of information is not a problem. users' ability to run the tool and post the output is the problem. lets make that easier. > - all verbosity levels include obfuscated weewx.conf in the output. > Mine is over 900 lines long. That's too long for a new user to > cut+paste. > Suggest changing the default verbosity to '0' and having that level > 'not' > include weewx.conf at all. Add a command-line switch to include > weewx.conf only when explicitly asked for. > > keep weewx.conf in the output. contents of weewx.conf are often the most obvious indicator of a problem. > > - user/pass/key obfuscation isn't perfect, nor can it probably ever > be. I did find one edge case where it failed to filter out some things I > had in commented out lines. Suggest tweaking the obfuscation to not > include commented out lines to at least handle that edge case. > > probably worthwhile for wee_debug to run a second obfuscation pass after it has generated its output. that would catch commented items. > > - some users get confused how they installed weewx and do things like > use packages to update when their old installation was setup.py - not > quite > sure if that can be prevented, but wee_debug should at least report which > way(s) weewx was installed on the system > > how weewx was installed is pretty obvious from weewx.conf combined with the first few lines of the log output. and that is direct, not inferred information. > > - some users get confused re: systemd and whether it's using service > files or init.d backward compatibility. Tougher issue to work, but > wee_debug should report how the startup file is hooked into the init > subsystem > > we need to update weewx debian installer so that it detects systemd and installs unit file for systemd and rc script for non-systemd systems. also convert to weewx-multi everywhere, so that extending to multiple weewx instances is just a matter of modifying the /etc/default/weewx file, whether you are on a systemd system or non-systemd system. (this might not be possible on systemd systems - might have to do multiple unit files, but i need to do more testing to be certain) > > - many (MANY) pi users don't realize that their os does not install > and enable a webserver by default. Wonder if wee_debug can look to at > least see if nginx and/or apache are installed (and running?) on the > system. > > including peripheral information in wee_debug could be helpful. for example, query to see if mysql/maria is installed and enabled. query to see if nginx/apache is installed and enabled. query to see if sqlite cmd-line tools are available. query to see if pyephem and other python dependencies and suggestions/often-used packages are installed. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-development" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-development/a08e4bb5-6486-49c5-84e3-2cab3093d5ebn%40googlegroups.com.
