weewx/docs_src/usersguide/where.md

Where to find things

Location of WeeWX components

Here is a summary of the layout for the different install methods, along with the symbolic names used for each component. These names are used throughout the documentation.

=== "Debian"

| Component               | Symbolic name    | Nominal value                   |
|-------------------------|------------------|---------------------------------|
| WeeWX root directory    | _`WEEWX_ROOT`_   | `/`                             |
| Executables             | _`BIN_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/weewx/`             |
| Configuration directory | _`CONFIG_ROOT`_  | `/etc/weewx/`                   |
| Skins and templates     | _`SKIN_ROOT`_    | `/etc/weewx/skins/`             |
| SQLite databases        | _`SQLITE_ROOT`_  | `/var/lib/weewx/`               |
| Web pages and images    | _`HTML_ROOT`_    | `/var/www/html/weewx/`          |
| Documentation           | _`DOC_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/doc/weewx/`         |
| Examples                | _`EXAMPLE_ROOT`_ | `/usr/share/doc/weewx/examples/`|
| User directory          | _`USER_ROOT`_    | `/usr/share/weewx/user/`        |

=== "RedHat"

| Component               | Symbolic name    | Nominal value                          |
|-------------------------|------------------|----------------------------------------|
| WeeWX root directory    | _`WEEWX_ROOT`_   | `/`                                    |
| Executables             | _`BIN_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/weewx/`                    |
| Configuration directory | _`CONFIG_ROOT`_  | `/etc/weewx/`                          |
| Skins and templates     | _`SKIN_ROOT`_    | `/etc/weewx/skins/`                    |
| SQLite databases        | _`SQLITE_ROOT`_  | `/var/lib/weewx/`                      |
| Web pages and images    | _`HTML_ROOT`_    | `/var/www/html/weewx/`                 |
| Documentation           | _`DOC_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/doc/weewx-x.y.z/`          |
| Examples                | _`EXAMPLE_ROOT`_ | `/usr/share/doc/weewx-x.y.z/examples/` |
| User directory          | _`USER_ROOT`_    | `/usr/share/weewx/user/`               |

=== "openSUSE"

| Component               | Symbolic name    | Nominal value                          |
|-------------------------|------------------|----------------------------------------|
| WeeWX root directory    | _`WEEWX_ROOT`_   | `/`                                    |
| Executables             | _`BIN_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/weewx/`                    |
| Configuration directory | _`CONFIG_ROOT`_  | `/etc/weewx/`                          |
| Skins and templates     | _`SKIN_ROOT`_    | `/etc/weewx/skins/`                    |
| SQLite databases        | _`SQLITE_ROOT`_  | `/var/lib/weewx/`                      |
| Web pages and images    | _`HTML_ROOT`_    | `/var/www/html/weewx/`                 |
| Documentation           | _`DOC_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/doc/weewx-x.y.z/`          |
| Examples                | _`EXAMPLE_ROOT`_ | `/usr/share/doc/weewx-x.y.z/examples/` |
| User directory          | _`USER_ROOT`_    | `/usr/share/weewx/user/`               |

=== "pip"

| Component               | Symbolic name    | Nominal value        |
|-------------------------|------------------|----------------------|
| WeeWX root directory    | _`WEEWX_ROOT`_   | `~/weewx-data`       |
| Executables             | _`BIN_ROOT`_     | varies               |
| Configuration directory | _`CONFIG_ROOT`_  | `./`                 |
| Skins and templates     | _`SKIN_ROOT`_    | `skins/`             |
| SQLite databases        | _`SQLITE_ROOT`_  | `archive/`           |
| Web pages and images    | _`HTML_ROOT`_    | `public_html/`       |
| Documentation           | _`DOC_ROOT`_     | `docs/`              |
| Examples                | _`EXAMPLE_ROOT`_ | `examples/`          |
| User directory          | _`USER_ROOT`_    | `bin/user/`          |

!!! Note In the locations above, relative paths are relative to WEEWX_ROOT. Absolute paths begin with a forward slash (/).

Location of executables in a pip install

If you use a pip install, the location of the executables will depend on how the pip installation was done.

Install method	Commands	Location of executables
Virtual environment (recommended)	python3 -m venv ~/ve source ~/ve/bin/activate pip3 install weewx	~/ve/bin/
pip, no sudo, with --user	pip3 install weewx --user	~/.local/bin/
pip, no sudo, no --user	pip3 install weewx	~/.local/bin/
pip with sudo (not recommended)	sudo pip3 install weewx	/usr/local/bin/ (1)
Virtual environment with --user	python3 -m venv ~/ve source ~/ve/bin/activate pip3 install weewx --user	Not allowed

(1) Checked on Ubuntu 22.02 and Rocky v9.1

Log files

In the default configuration, WeeWX writes its status to the system log. This is where to find the system log for each platform.

=== "Debian"

`/var/log/syslog`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the log.

=== "RedHat"

`/var/log/messages`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the log.

=== "openSUSE"

`/var/log/messages`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the log.

=== "macOS"

`/var/log/syslog`

!!! note
    On macOS, the log file is likely to contain only severe log messages.

If the default for your system is inconvenient, or does not provide the logging fidelity that you require, then you may want to consider logging to a separate, rotating log file. See the wiki article Logging to rotating files.