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Running WeeWX

WeeWX can be run either directly, or as a daemon. When first trying WeeWX, it is best to run it directly because you will be able to see sensor output and diagnostics, as well as log messages. Once everything is working properly, run it as a daemon.

Running directly

To run WeeWX directly, invoke the main program, weewxd.

weewxd

!!! note Depending on device permissions, you may need root permissions to communicate with the station hardware. If this is the case, use sudo: shell sudo weewxd

!!! note

If your configuration file is named something other than `weewx.conf`, or
if it is in a non-standard place, then you will have to specify it
explicitly on the command line. For example:

```
weewxd --config=/some/path/to/weewx.conf
```

If your weather station has a data logger, the program will start by downloading any data stored in the logger into the archive database. For some stations, such as the Davis Vantage with a couple of thousand records, this could take a minute or two.

WeeWX will then start monitoring live sensor data (also referred to as 'LOOP' data), printing a short version of the received data on standard output, about once every two seconds for a Vantage station, or considerably longer for some other stations.

Running as a daemon

For unattended operations it is best to have WeeWX run as a daemon, so that it is started automatically when the computer is rebooted.

If you installed WeeWX from DEB or RPM package, this is done automatically; the installer finishes with WeeWX running in the background.

For a pip install, you will have to do this yourself. See the section Run as a daemon in the pip quick start guide.

When weewxd runs in the background, you will not see sensor data or any other indication that it is running. To see what is happening, use your system's init tools, look at the logs, and look at the reports.

Monitoring WeeWX

Whether you run weewxd directly or in the background, weewxd emits messages about its status and generates reports. The status messages will help you diagnose problems.

Status

If WeeWX is running in the background, you can use the system's init tools to check the status. For example, on systems that use systemd, check it like this:

systemctl status weewx

On systems that use sysV init scripts, check it like this:

/etc/init.d/weewx status

Reports

When it is running properly, WeeWX will generate reports, typically every five minutes. The reports are not (re)generated until data have been received and accumulated, so it could be a few minutes before you see a report or a change to a report. The location of the reports depends on the operating system and how WeeWX was installed.

See HTML_ROOT in the Where to find things section.

Depending on the configuration, if WeeWX cannot get data from the sensors, then it will probably not generate any reports. So if you do not see reports, check the log!

Log messages

In the default configuration, WeeWX logs to the system logging facility.

On traditional systems, the system logging facility puts the WeeWX messages into a file, along with other messages from the system. The location of the system log file varies, but it is typically /var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages. On some systems, you will find messages from WeeWX in a separate file /var/log/weewx/weewx.log

You can view the messages using standard tools such as tail, head, more, less, and grep.

For example, to see only the messages from weewxd:

grep weewxd /var/log/syslog

To see only the latest 40 messages from weewxd:

grep weewxd /var/log/syslog | tail -40

To see messages as they come into the log in real time (hit ctrl-c to stop):

tail -f /var/log/syslog

Some systems with systemd use only systemd-journald as the system logging facility. On these systems, you will have to use the journalctl tool to view messages from WeeWX.