Cumulus.ini (preserving history): Difference between revisions

Cumulus.ini (preserving history) (view source)

Revision as of 07:11, 15 June 2021

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 == Mark Crossley era==
-<big>The configuration file content relating to old releases has been moved to [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)|old MX page]]</big>
+* Cumulus.ini content has changed drastically, and therefore the documentation page called "Cumulus.ini"  has also had to change drastically
+* There was a period when it was possible for one page to document both the legacy Cumulus 1.9.4 and all MX releases, but that has long gone.
-'''The [[Cumulus.ini]] page now covers just the latest MX releases''' i.e. 3.8.0 onwards
-When Mark Crossley brought MX out of beta, he started adding new features to MX:
-* Some features used parameters that had been used for the legacy software
-* For other new features, he created new parameters
 {| class="wikitable" border="1"
 |-
-!style="width:200px" | MX beta releases 3.0.0 to MX release 3.4.6
+!style="width:300px" | MX beta releases 3.0.0 to MX release 3.4.6
-!style="width:200px" | MX releases 3.6.0 to 3.9.7
+!style="width:200px" | MX releases 3.6.0 to 3.7.0
+!style="width:400px" | MX releases 3.8.0 to 3.9.7
 !style="width:200px" | MX releases 3.10.0 to 3.11.4
-!style="width:200px" | MX release 3.12.0 onwards
+!style="width:300px" | MX release 3.12.0 onwards
 |-
-| All documentation was on the beta page, [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], this was a combination of information copied from this page, and information about all the new settings introduced by MX.
+|
+* Until MX release 3.4.6, people using MX needed to refer to the page now called [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)]], which was called "Cumulus.ini" at the time, and the  beta page, [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], as MX still used most of the parameters that the legacy software used and just a few new parameters. The latter still contained information from the last Cumulus 1 beta relating to Proxies section of Cumulus.ini, as that had not been finalised.
-This continued to be used until April 2020, when all the information was moved to this page.
+* When Mark Crossley brought MX out of beta, he started adding new features to MX:
-| All documentation was previously on this page, it became very complicated as can be seen on [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)|old MX page]] as some parameters were controlled by settings pages in the admin interface and some by directly editing the file.
+** Some features represented  functionality in the legacy software that MX had lacked, these used parameters that had been used for the legacy software
+** For other new features, like interfaces with new weather station types and new sensors, he created new parameters, and the beta page began to rival the legacy page in the number of parameters it covered
-''Please note, nobody copied the various changes to the configuration file mentioned in MX release announcements from 3.8.0 to 3.9.7 inclusive into the Wiki, if anyone can be bothered, they should be added to the documentation on that old MX page!''
+* The information about MX on the beta page stayed there until April 2020
-| * From release 3.10.0, much of the information that was produced for earlier MX releases became invalid. Release 3.10.0 was actually withdrawn.
+|
-* Release 3.10.x added a lot of new settings, and  made others redundant.
+* Release 3.6.0  was when the functionality of MX first started to exceed the functionality of the legacy software
-* Release 3.10.x totally rewrote all the settings pages, making past references to how you edit parameters redundant.
+* Between April and June 2020, information on the beta page was slowly moved across to the main page, it took some time as it needed to be verified because as MX developed configuration file content was changing
-** Consequently, this page was emptied again, and made ready for new content to reflect how MX works from 3.10.1 onwards.
+* Suddenly, a lot of people were migrating from the legacy software to MX
+* To help people migrating, from June 2020, all settings (for both the legacy software and MX) were covered on a single "Cumulus.ini" page
-The aim of the new approach is to for all settings to be adjusted within the admin interface (sometimes called dashboard interface) settings pages, but in these releases there were still some settings that were simply read from the configuration file.
+* As people migrated, they could see on that single page clearly which parameters in their '''Cumulus.ini''' file were still valid, and what new parameters were needed when they migrated
-| * Release 3.12.0 is another major change affecting configuration documentation
+* For those using MX, the page was recording the new  parameters that were being added to the file as MX developed
-*This release introduced a lot of new settings
+* Now the history of all the changes at that time can be viewed on this page, as this was originally the page that once held that combined information.
-** So more to document!
+|
-* This release moved some settings from one section in the settings pages to another
+* From release 3.8.0, the pace of change in MX was so fast, and the contributors to the Wiki so few, the page then called "Cumulus.ini" (with its previous content) stopped being maintained.
-** So the page had to be redesigned again so that it was easier to maintain when settings were moved!
+*# The main problem was somebody needed to do a lot of research, and devote a lot of time, to track what the developer was changing.
-* This release provided places in the settings pages to alter more of the settings that had been read only
+*# There was a second problem, it was clear that it was too complicated to use the same page to describe configuration for the legacy software, older MX releases, and the latest MX  release
-** So the page has fewer parameters that have to be edited directly in the file
+* Consequently, the "Cumulus.ini" page had to change, and the first move meant accepting MX and the legacy software could not be documented any more on the same page
+** A new page was created [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)]], and all the information specific to the legacy software was split off from this page
+* This still left the problem that this page, at that time called "Cumulus.ini", had information that related to a release that had been superseded
+** Another new page was created,  [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)]], and all the MX information was moved there.
+* Finally, this old "Cumulus.ini" paqe, with the attached history, but without any parameter information in the main page, was renamed to its current name, so it has preserved the history of the old page that had been split into two new pages, neither of which had the past history
+|
+* At release 3.10.0, the settings pages in the admin interface were given a significant makeover, and huge numbers of new settings were created, while many others became redundant, so it was decided the old [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)|old MX "Cumulus.ini"]] page
+* This new page would incorporate changes from 3.8.0 onwards, and would ignore anything that was now redundant
+* The other change was a redesign of the page, so it focussed on explaining how to change the settings using the admin interface, rather than just documenting what each parameter in the file was used for
+|
+* As MX was developed, its settings pages were being redesigned, and so where you changed particular parameters in the file was modified making the documentation that already existed obsolete for people using latest release, but still valid for people who were using an older release.
+* As release 3.12.0 was planned to add many, many more parameters to the Cumulus.ini file, and the Settings pages get another redesign, it was decided the documenting of the changes in 3.8.0, 3.9.2, and 3.10.0 would be delayed until it became clearer what might change in 3.12.0
+* The new [[Cumulus.ini]] page to cover all these recent releases was created in June 2021, a year after the last big change to a page with that name.
 |}