Openhab manual install vs openhabian

Setup, Configuration and Use Installation
1

I am finally pulling the trigger and upgrading and moving off of 1.8.

Wondering if anyone has any pros/cons for a manual install vs openhabian or vice versa?

I am not opposed to the linux admin piece. Just wondering if there is something specific that you guys might know that have already upgraded that would make it a recommendation to go with openhabian

Thanks!

2

If you are lazy (who of us isnā€™t) or not real great with Linux, the decision is easy, openHABian.

If you want to keep your system modular and easy to move around, Docker.

If you need to spin up your OH 2.2 on the same machine where you are running 1.8, Docker.

Iā€™d only choose manual if you are running on an OS that doesnā€™t support apt or yum.

With Docker or an installed version we are much more able to help support you on the forum. And if you are going to install OH, you may as well take advantage of all the other installations, configurations, and support scripts (e.g. backup and restore) that openHABian provides.

openHABian does not require a RPi. Any apt based Linux can run openHABian. Just see the manual installation for openHABian.

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3

I have my ubuntu server ready to install OH on to. So apt is easy. Just didnā€™t know if I should to the openhabian install on ubuntu or not. I had tried openhabian on ubuntu before and then scrapped it. But I am ready to switch over so I didnā€™t know if i should just go the apt install route or go with openhabian on ubuntu or what others thought. I like the idea of apt just for ease of updates. Very comfortable in linux so i am not opposed at all to going that route.

4

I should probably mention (for others reading the thread too) that thereā€™s essentially three ā€˜tiersā€™ of install (non-container) for Linux provided by the community. openHABian is becoming so popular that some overlook that there is a simple deb/rpm package install that deals with the openHAB stuff only.

  1. Manual, literally unzipping the archive into some directory. Useful if you want all related openHAB files in the same relative path. The runtime contains scripts for backup, restore and updating itself which are independent of operating system.

  2. Package, install with apt or yum/dnf. Useful if you want an installation and service working the same way as all the other programs. In addition to the above, it also installs CLI shortcuts and environment variables which make debugging/settings easier.

  3. openHABian, a set of scripts for debian based distributions. Installs the package above for you and has the option of installing other tools commonly used with openHAB (reverse proxy setup, samba share etc). Has a setup interface that removes the need to learn some Unix niches and automatically applys group membership etc.

I would argue that each case has their own merit, but Iā€™d say that the more ā€œmanualā€ the install, the more reliance you will have on the documentation. Iā€™d recommend the middle ground if youā€™re comfortable enough around Linux to customise it your way, but want the ease of the apt/yum update system once youā€™ve finally had it set up. After all, you can always install openHABian later if you feel youā€™re missing out :wink:.

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5

When I mentioned Manual, with these terms i meant package over manual. I like the apt packages for keeping things updated cleanly.

Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile:

6

Iā€™ll just not that openHABian does use apt to install OH and other tools. So you are not giving anything up to use openHABian. It just does additional stuff as well.

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7

sounds like that is a decent way to go :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the feedback!

8

the next fun step will be trying to get fault tolerance working again like i had in 1.8

hopefully it will be similar.