PIA 2.8, realtime and weathermap

[MrBr]

Hi all, this post is a result of 4 days of bashing head against a wall.
My main objective isn't whining, but attempt to improve some documentation.

I had a task to install realtime plug-in on 0.8.7g cacti while weathermap 0.96a was already installed.

1. Realtime won't work while weathermap exists. Eventually I had to remove the weathermap from "plugins" directory. I have no idea how to use this plug-ins together.
2. I've used PIA README file as a guide while installing "realtime"

Edit your includes/global.php and add a plugin to the $plugins list

realtime won't work if there are plugin settings in global.php
Please fix the file.
3. I've also used realtime README file as a guide while installing "realtime"

Edit your include/global.php and add it to your $plugins list, and you are rolling.

realtime won't work if there are plugin settings in global.php
Please fix the file.
4. I've made a mistake and I used "Plugin Announcements" sticky post as a reference for latest release of "realtime" plugin. Only after I've read the whole post, while trying to resolve the problems, I've noticed that instead of version 0.36 I should use 0.42.
If the latest version of the plugin changed, please change the sticky post title. I think it'll be nice to have a header, which redirects anyone, who's searching latest release to http://docs.cacti.net/plugin:realtime. I believe it'll spare the confusion.
5. In realtime tar file there is"-v0.42-1.tgz" file, why it's there? Is it somehow different from the main 0.42-1.tgz?
6. In realtime tar file there is realtime.sql file, why it's there? In which cases should I apply it?
7. I haven't found installation instructions on doc.cacti.net? Is there a reason for this? Only source that I've found for PIA installation documentation is http://cactiusers.org/wiki/PluginArchitectureInstall
8. While upgrading from older version of PIA you should not apply pa.sql ( based on BSOD2600 answer to my previous post ), there is no document which describes this or any other upgrade consideration.
Please add this to PIA README file.
9. Blank graphs, can be caused by lack of permissions on scripts, is scrips are used as a data source. Please add this to "realtime" documentation as one of installation consedirations.

[Howie]

If you are using 0.8.7g, I believe the plugins[] stuff has moved back into config.php again.

Also, the latest Weathermap is 0.97a - I don't think there's anything in there that would make much difference to your problems, but you would get a year's worth of other bugfixes.

For what it's worth, I have Weathermap 0.97a, Cacti 0.8.7e and Realtime 0.39 all working together with no issues.

[MrBr]

I believe the plugins[] stuff has moved back into config.php again.

Not according to this http://docs.cacti.net/plugins.install

Since PIA 2.8 with Cacti 0.8.7g, you no longer need to edit your include/config.php

Simply ensure that your config.php has been updated to PIA 2.8, and you can add plugins via the Plugin Management page

There is no longer a requirement to add 2.x compliant plugins to the plugin array

And this is exactly my point, there is too many contradicting piece of information.
There is no step by complete step guide for new users and there is no change log for experienced users

[Howie]

That's not contradicting - Weathermap is a 1.x-style plugin. Those DO still need to be added to the plugins[] array. The location of that array has changed twice over the different Cacti/PA versions though, from config.php to global.php and then back again.

[MrBr]

So where should I add the $plugins[] = 'weathermap'; line?
I've tried both global.php and config.php
As soon as I'm doing this, "realtime" stops working.

By the way, do you know who is in charge of the documentation?

[Howie]

So where should I add the $plugins[] = 'weathermap'; line?
I've tried both global.php and config.php
As soon as I'm doing this, "realtime" stops working.

I have yet to use 'g', but my understanding is that the plugins=array() line is added in there by the PA patches, and you add your plugins[] lines in there too.

By the way, do you know who is in charge of the documentation?

For what? You are talking about 4 separate things (cacti, the PA, realtime and weathermap). Those are maintained by the Cacti Devs, cigamit, TheWitness and Me, respectively.