Improve installation documentation

InvenTree/config_template.yaml

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ database:
   # Example Configuration - MySQL
   #ENGINE: django.db.backends.mysql
   #NAME: inventree
-  #USER: inventree
-  #PASSWORD: password
+  #USER: inventree_username
+  #PASSWORD: inventree_password
   #HOST: ''
   #PORT: ''
 
@@ -52,4 +52,5 @@ log_queries: False
 
 # Backup options
 # Set the backup_dir parameter to store backup files in a specific location
+# If unspecified, the local user's temp directory will be used
 #backup_dir: '/home/inventree/backup/'

Makefile

@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ migrate:
 # Install all required packages
 install:
 	pip3 install -U -r requirements.txt
+	python3 InvenTree/setup.py
 
 # Perform initial database setup
 setup:
-	python3 InvenTree/setup.py
 	$(MAKE) migrate
 	$(MAKE) superuser
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ docreqs:
 	pip3 install -U -r docs/requirements.txt
 
 # Build code docs
-documentation:
+docs:
 	cd docs && make html
 
 # Make database backup
@@ -65,4 +65,4 @@ backup:
 	python3 InvenTree/manage.py dbbackup
 	python3 InvenTree/manage.py mediabackup
 
-.PHONY: clean migrate requirements setup superuser install mysql style test coverage docreqs documentation backup
+.PHONY: clean migrate requirements setup superuser install mysql style test coverage docreqs docs backup

docs/config.rst

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ These requirements can be installed from the base directory with the command ``m
 It is up to the database adminstrator to create a new database to store inventree data, in addition to a username/password to access the data.
 
 .. important:: MySQL Collation: 
-    When creating the database, the adminstrator must ensure that the collation option is set to *utf8_unicode_520_ci* to ensure that InvenTree features function correctly.
+    When creating the MySQL database, the adminstrator must ensure that the collation option is set to *utf8_unicode_520_ci* to ensure that InvenTree features function correctly.
 
 The database options then need to be adjusted to communicate the MySQL backend. Refer to the `Django docs <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/databases/>`_ for further information.
 

docs/start.rst

@@ -11,31 +11,58 @@ To install a complete *development* environment for InvenTree, follow the steps
 
 A makefile in the root directory provides shortcuts for the installation process, and can also be very useful during development.
 
+Requirements
+------------
+
+To install InvenTree you will need the following:
+
+* python3
+* pip3
+* make
+
 Installation
 ------------
 
+First, download the latest InvenTree source code:
+
+``git clone https://github.com/inventree/inventree/``
+
 InvenTree is a Python/Django application and relies on the pip package manager. All packages required to develop and test InvenTree can be installed via pip. Package requirements can be found in ``requirements.txt``.
 
-To setup the InvenTree environment, run the command:
+To setup the InvenTree environment, *cd into the inventree directory* and run the command:
 
 ``make install``
 
-which performs the following actions:
+which installs all required Python packages using pip package manager. It also creates a (default) database configuration file which needs to be edited to meet user needs before proceeding (see next step below).
 
-* Installs all required Python packages using pip package manager
-* Generates a SECREY_KEY file required for the django authentication framework
-* Performs initial database installation and migrations
-* Prompts user to create a superuser account
+Additionally, this step creates a *SECREY_KEY* file which is used for the django authentication framework. 
 
-Install Configuration
----------------------
+.. important:: 
+    The *SECREY_KEY* file should never be shared or made public. 
 
-InvenTree provides a simple default setup which should work *out of the box* for testing and debug purposes. For installation in production environments, further configuration options are available in the ``config.yaml`` configuration file. 
+Database Configuration
+-----------------------
 
-The configuration file provides administrators control over various setup options without digging into the Django ``settings.py`` script. The default setup uses a sqlite database with *DEBUG* mode enabled.
+Once the required packages are installed, the database configuration must be adjusted to suit your particular needs. InvenTree provides a simple default setup which should work *out of the box* for testing and debug purposes.
+
+As part of the previous *install* step, a configuration file (*config.yaml*) is created. The configuration file provides administrators control over various setup options without digging into the Django ``settings.py`` script. The default setup uses a local sqlite database with *DEBUG* mode enabled.
 
 For further information on installation configuration, refer to the `Configuration <config.html>`_ section.
 
+Initialize Database
+-------------------
+
+Once install settings are correctly configured (in *config.yaml*) run the initial setup script:
+
+``make setup``
+
+which performs the following functions:
+
+* Run initial database migrations, creating the required tables, etc
+* Create initial administrator account
+
+The database should now be installed!
+
 Run Development Server
 ----------------------
 
@@ -58,4 +85,5 @@ Other shorthand functions are provided for the development and testing process:
 * ``make test`` - Run all unit tests
 * ``make coverage`` - Run all unit tests and generate code coverage report
 * ``make style`` - Check Python codebase against PEP coding standards (using Flake)
-* ``make documentation`` - Generate this documentation
+* ``make docreqs`` - Install the packages required to generate documentation
+* ``make docs`` - Generate this documentation