Question

"We're all ignorant, only on different topics" -Mark Twain

I tried to edit Support/WebHome page, but couldn't find the text to correct.

testenv is distributed in the tarball, and resides in twiki/bin directory.

The instructions say to download the latest version and install it in yourweb.com/cgi-bin

This is incorrect. The error message is:

WARNING: TWiki.cfg is unreadable ...

Note: I'm not sure I can ever adopt a Wiki, if twiki.org is any indication. My real issues:

- Everything is a side-effect; "SideWays" is an apt movie. Nothing moves straight ahead, there is always a side comment and indirection. Example: The install page. I can't just read thru the Install ... there are dozens of comments that want to tell me what to avoid downstream, so it's impossible to follow a proven receipe, cookbook style.

- Links are great, TWiki.org is beautiful, but unless you've followed these 4-year-old conversations from the beginning, it's nearly impossible to get started.

Hint: Humans have really good pattern recognition hardware, but we're not very good at memory. Click 6 links, and it's impossible to remember where you started, why someone thought the topic you're now reading was relevant, and how to get yourself back on track. This is especially troublesome if the task can't be completed in one sitting, in a few minutes. When I return to the install issues, it's like starting all over again.

- It's 2005, and some spring housecleaning is in order. Only the site admins can do this sort of thing. It is distracting and non-productive to read thru all the issues the development team had ... and have now resolved.

If you've solved a problem, archive the discussion somewhere so that newbies don't have to read thru this just to get going.

Example: tar files retain ownerships and permissions. If they are wrong when the installer untars, they should be fixed.

Permissions and Ownerships of directories and files, which can be corrupted by accident, malice, or lack of understanding, are best corrected by post-install scripts ... not descriptive text and half-baked chown/chmod command examples.

An executable script can be reviewed for correctness. The script can be passed to an administrator who has the authority to run it, but not the time or patience to read thru a lot of descriptive text.

This can all be automated ... I'll keep careful notes on the stumbling points I've experienced, but right now there are just too many.

I'm an experienced unix admin/sysprog, and this install is taking a lot longer than I anticipated.

Environment

-- DickDunbar - 03 May 2005

Answer

Welcome to our world Dick. Please help us improve the installation process. Let's make the docs more legible for less experienced. Everyone can and shall help. This IS a great system, once one has managed to set it up correctly. Also try out the DevelopBranch, it really has improved and is still improving on a daily basis.

-- FranzJosefSilli - 03 May 2005

Hmmm, haven't had that same, negative experience. What I have seen is an overwhelming willingness to help when one asks for help.

My 2cents.

-- SteveRJones - 05 May 2005