For upgrading from a previous allsky...

[Jonk2]

Can you also include automatically copying the scripts folder please? i just realised why some things weren't working after upgrading! Thanks!

[EricClaeys]

Jon, that would defeat the purpose of an upgrade which usually upgrades many of those scripts.
What script(s) are you wanting to copy over? I assume those are your scripts, not Allsky's?
One possibility is that install.sh could copy over a specific directory if it exists, e.g., allsky/scripts/myScripts and that's where people would put their own scripts.
We already do that with the myImages folder in the Allsky Website - it's designed for people to store their own images and other files that need to be preserved when upgrading. For example, I have my personal "favicon.ico" file there.

@Alex-developer, thoughts?

[Jonk2]

Ok, makes sense - yes it's my own scripts. There are 30 extra files in there I've built up over the past 2 years or more.

From a file structure point of view, having allsky/scripts/myscripts or whatever is unnecessarily long. But then I come from windows environment where sometimes in a large company, file trees were ludicrously long and I grew to dislike them, especially with a 256 character limit imposed.

I also don't fancy going back through everything and changing code to suit a new folder, edit service files etc...

I don't know how easy it is, but when upgrading, could the script compare the 2 folders and copy over anything that doesn't match filename from old to new?

This would copy anything 'different' like people's own files, but then if you changed the name of some new scripts it would still copy old allsky scripts you didn't want to I suppose.

Just thinking out loud here...

[EricClaeys]

I prefer NOT to copy over anything that doesn't match - that's a recipe for copying over junk and temporary files as well.
How are you currently calling your scripts? All the allsky/scripts programs are called using ${ALLSKY_SCRIPTS}/xyz.sh. If I created a "myScripts" directory I'd also create a variable called ${MY_SCRIPTS} so you could simply execute ${MY_SCRIPTS}/Jon_script.sh.

FYI, I put my personal scripts in ~, usually in a subdirectory, like ~/fan for the fan programs that the WebUI calls to display fan speed.

[Jonk2]

Yeh, you're probably right....could it be a prompt to the user during installation (well, upgrading anyway)? i.e. [do you want to copy these files or scripts? Check all that apply.]

My scripts are all independent of allsky and some run as services, so if allsky stops, my heating or cooling will still carry on. For example, allsky crashes, or the camera dies, or it fails to restart, any of these things....on a hot summer's day where I'm not at home... my fans would 'in theory' not be affected and would still run. I've measured 60+ degrees in the camera dome during the summer without forced airflow.

Some of the scripts are manual, others are used to test various things.

[Jonk2]

Thanks Eric, I don't use Discord - is it something I can sign up for anonymously? Alternatively, can you have a private forum on github?

[EricClaeys]

Jon, you can use any name you want but I'm pretty sure it requires an email.

[Jonk2]

I've looked at discord online, it's asked me for a screen name, then asks to start my own or join one via a link.

If you post an invite link here, will others be able to use it too?

I can't see anything about signing up, but that might come next.

[Alex-developer]

Jon

Try this link

https://discord.gg/UFSDE43p

[Jonk2]

I have found that I signed up for discord in the early days of NINA, so I'm in!

Would you rather most of the test chat happens in there? I assume that's why you have it.

[EricClaeys]

Jon, Discord is where we do almost all team discussions, like what to include in a release, thoughts about what something should do or how it should look, and other things that the general user base doesn't need to see or we don't want them to see (e.g., so we don't get their hopes up). We also do problem solving of stuff we may not have released yet, and request others to test an upcoming release. I think everyone has at least one test Pi that they don't mind wiping clean or installing releases with known problems.
Several of the guys, e.g., bobbo, knew almost nothing when they started which made them great sources of feedback like you. But they caught the Pi bug and have learned a lot, including basic coding of their own scripts.