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`_   | `/etc/weewx`                    |
| Skins and templates     | _`SKIN_ROOT`_    | `skins/`                        |
| User directory          | _`USER_ROOT`_    | `bin/user/`                     |
| Examples                | _`EXAMPLE_ROOT`_ | `examples/`                     |
| Executables             | _`BIN_ROOT`_     | `/usr/share/weewx/`             |
| SQLite databases        | _`SQLITE_ROOT`_  | `/var/lib/weewx/`               |
| Web pages and images    | _`HTML_ROOT`_    | `/var/www/html/weewx/`          |
| Documentation           |                  | https://weewx.com/docs          |

=== "RedHat"

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

=== "openSUSE"

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

=== "pip"

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

!!! Note In the locations above, relative paths are relative to WEEWX_ROOT. Absolute paths begin with a forward slash (/). The tilde character (~) represents the HOME directory of the user.

Log files

In the default configuration, WeeWX logs to the system logger, called syslog. When WeeWX emits a log message to the system logger, the system puts the WeeWX messages into the system log file, along with messages from the system. The location of the system log file varies, but it is typically either /var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages.

This is where to find the system log:

=== "Debian"

`/var/log/syslog`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the system log on Debian systems.

=== "RedHat"

`/var/log/messages`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the system log on RedHat systems.

=== "openSUSE"

`/var/log/messages`

!!! Note
    You need root permission to view the system log on SUSE systems.

=== "macOS"

`/var/log/syslog`

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

If WeeWX was installed from DEB or RPM package, then the WeeWX log messages still go to the system logger. However, they are saved to files in a directory dedicated to WeeWX, instead of intermingled with the system messages in the system log. For example, messages from weewxd end up in /var/log/weewx/weewxd.log, and messages from weectl end up in files such as /var/log/weewx/weectl-station.log or /var/log/weewx/weectl-database, or /var/log/weectl-import.log

The tools for viewing the logs depend on the operating system version and how it has been configured. For example, the files generated by syslog can be viewed by standard tools such as head or tail, whereas some systems with systemd might require you to use journalctl to view system log messages.

See the wiki article WeeWX logging for more information on how to control logging in WeeWX.

See the wiki article How to view the log for information and examples about how to view and configure system logs.

Location of executables in a pip install

This is something you are not likely to need, but can occasionally be useful. It's included here for completeness. If you use a pip install, the location of the executables will depend on how the 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 (not allowed)	python3 -m venv ~/ve source ~/ve/bin/activate pip3 install weewx --user	N/A

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