Re: newbie notes 1: getting started

["Elizabeth Krumbach" <..hidden..>]

On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Chris Bennett
<..hidden..> wrote:
> Elizabeth Krumbach wrote:
>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 9:25 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <..hidden..> wrote:
>> I can see about trying to write something for someone completely new
>> to Debian server administration, PostgreSQL and Apache2, since you're
>> not the first person to have stumbled upon these issues. Meanwhile,
>> there are a lot more people on the ledgersmb users mailing list than
>> on the IRC channel, so when you're stumped please feel free to post
>> there.
>>
> I think that a short guide to using basic functions for PostgreSQL
> and Apache and Apache2 are needed desperately. Just enough to get
> a new user that is ONLY using them for LSMB.
> How to set up Apache httpd.conf and how to erase everything in PostgreSQL.
> It is hard to find good tutorials on how to do these basic steps.
> An advanced user won't need this, but new users seem desperate for
> clearly written steps.

Since this does seem to be something that people are really clamoring
for, I'll bump up the priority of writing one for Debian and Ubuntu.

>>> I find out (too late) about README.Debian (from INSTALL).
>>>
>>> ==> Perhaps some big "START HERE" sign is needed.  Perhaps there was
>>>    one that I missed.
>>>
>>
>> Again, with Debian administration it's assumed that someone managing a
>> system will know that the "START HERE" sign is the README.Debian.
>>
>>
> This seems to be a big error. Right or wrong, most people just jump into
> installations,
> without searching through all the files and directories first.
>
> Unless I'm wrong, I needed to read INSTALL and OpenBSD.README.
> But also, somewhat hidden away in /doc was README and faq.html.
> At least three documents, not located together (or merged into one
> document) needed to be found.

In the Debian package I've consolidated the basic steps into the
README.Debian, drawing from the INSTALL and my own installation
experience (and of those folks who helped me test it).

For those of you playing along at home, the README.Debian is here:

http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-sql-ledger/ledger-smb/trunk/debian/README.Debian

And I'll be using this as a starting point for more fleshed out online
docs, which I'll probably publish on
http://pkg-sql-ledger.alioth.debian.org/ledgersmb/

As per Debian standards, I removed the INSTALL document from the
package early on, but then later learned that very useful FAQ were
included in this document and added a standards override so it could
be kept. On the Debian side if the LedgerSMB development team chose to
keep INSTALL to the basics to install and other FAQ separate it would
help avoid confusion - when people look into the documentation
directory they'd find the README.Debian and it would be a more obvious
starting point.

> I think one single document needs to be created in the /ledgersmb
> directory so that no one needs
> to go hunting for various documents.

I'll never object to including more fleshed out documentation. I'm
just not positive how to go about it, and how to tell users about it
when they open up the tarball.

> I see no benefit in stripping out
> any steps for individual OS's.

But the steps may be different and having incorrect documentation is
almost worse than having bad documentation. To avoid confusion Debian
package standards require the INSTALL document to be gone, since you
don't compile the program (not an issue here, of course, but speaking
in general) and config files are often in different places (to adhere
to /etc config placement standards and such).

>> I am open to suggestions of how to make this more explicit, but I don't see how.
>>
> Simple answer, MYROLEPASSWORD and MYPASSWORD look too similar.
>
> Something like 'postgre-password' and 'ledgersmb-password' and
> 'user-password' would be instantly clear

Good idea, thanks! I'll include this change in the next release.

-- 
Elizabeth Krumbach // Lyz // pleia2
http://www.princessleia.com