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OpenWaterFoundation / cdss-app-snodas-tools

Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS) Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Tools
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Install latest stable QGIS/Python/PyCharm on Linux VM #18

Open smalers opened 3 years ago

smalers commented 3 years ago

The SNODAS linux server needs to run QGIS to do processing. The original work used QGIS 2.17 (I think?) and QGIS is now up to version 3.x. The OWF Learn QGIS documentation describe how to install QGIS on Windows. I'm not sure what the process is for Linux. It would probably be useful to install directly from QGIS download rather than apt-get so that we can rely on QGIS documentation. Below are technical considerations:

  1. For all of this, it would be great to take Markdown notes and screen shots so that we can update README and MkDocs documentation for the current environment. This is really helpful for OWF staff. See the MkDocs developer documentation in this repository.
  2. It may be helpful to archive the old software by creating a top-level folder and creating a new copy. For example, maybe there should be a top-level folder indicating the QGIS version so that it is easy to see the old code parallel to new code. Or, keep the old folder, which we know works as is, and create a new folder for the new work.
  3. Installing the versioned QGIS (meaning the install folder has version number in it - at least that is how it works on WIndows) is desirable rather than the OSGeo version that does not have version in the folder. The documentation mentioned above explains this. That way we can test and deploy different versions and transition easier without clobbering something that is working. We may need to improve how the previous configuration was done.
  4. The GeoProcessor also has installation instructions that get into setup.
  5. We used PyCharm before but OWF staff may not have set up as cleanly as it should be. GeoProcessor uses the same tools so look at that. Basically, we don't want to commit anything to the repo that is dynamic for developers and causes flip-flopping (similar issue to Java workspace/project and Angular). The free community addition can be used. Previous work focused on Windows so need to make sure it installs on Linux.
  6. I can help with TSTool Linux install - the old version should work for this project but there are some changes that need to be done.
  7. Any changes to the environment should ideally be minimal and can use existing scripts. However, if changes are needed, we can discuss.
  8. A part of the update is figuring out how to spin up a new VM, transition everything to that, and shut down the old VM. That way the State only has to pay for one VM. This type of update is going to increasingly be part of what we have to deal with.