In Part 2 of "Princess and the ClearOS", we managed to drink our way into oblivion after getting Philesight installed and displaying the disk usage graph for our ClearOS server.

Before we move on, let's make sure we give credit where credit is due and extend the customary "I'll buy you a beer if I'm ever in..." traditions.

Zevv...thank you for your contribution to ClearOS and OSS in general!

Today's goal is relatively straightforward...we're going to create all the necessary files to have Philesight update the summary database once per day and display as a menu item in ClearOS's webconfig interface.

In Part 1, we found an ideal solution in Philesight for determining where our disk space usage is being consumed.  In part 2, we'll get this software installed on our ClearOS server and functioning.

Put on your developer hat (no, not that kind of developer), and let's get started. Unfortunately, due to this being a 4 part blog, at some point, I'm going to have to assume a base level of technical knowledge.  Accessing the Unix command line, basic shell commands and using a text editor falls into that 'required knowledge' category.  If you're really new to Linux and have yet to jump into to the command line, you'll find some useful resources here, here and here.

Most software for Linux will have dependencies.  A dependency means the software you are intent on installing requires (or is dependent on) other software having been installed correctly, and of a compatible version.  Rather than re-writing a library to perform some task that's already been written, developers are naturally lazy beings and will jump through hoops not to create work for themselves.  Hence, they rely on other software libraries, applications or even languages to be installed, in order for their 'widget' to function properly.

Installing software on a Linux distribution can really be a quick turn-off to a new user coming from the Windows world when one gets into dependency hell.  In part 4 of this series, our goal will be to make installing this module simple (i.e. one click on a page in Webconfig). For now, because we're breaking new ground on this module, we need to follow the installation requirements listed on the Philesight website so that it will function correctly.