I have a stock Rockstor install and wanted to try out some small changes without installing a complete development version.
After changing a Python source file I tried this:
/opt/rockstor/bin/buildout -N -c /opt/rockstor/buildout.cfg
(following http://rockstor.com/docs/contribute.html)
Whew! It removed my complete installation and deleted (!) the database directory without even asking 
. It would be nice if there was at least a hint that this blows up any existing stock installation.
@maxhq Welcome to the Rockstor community. Yes this could do with being clarified in the docs 
. Sorry about that. I have opened an issue for this in the rockstor-doc repository so that it might get addressed. I see that you have already made a pull request on rockstor-core which is most welcome so I’m assuming you made it out the other side OK. Well done.
The dev procedure has undergone some marked changes in the last few months and the docs on the same as well but yes this should at least be indicted in the docs.
You are also most welcome to tend to this or any doc anomaly if the fancy takes you. 
But at least there is now an issue for it.
Thanks for pointing this out.
By the way sometime one can get away with just restarting rockstor after simple python source file changes. Although it’s best to make sure everything builds from scratch of course.
@suman is really the fellow to advise on such things though.
@phillxnet Thank you very much for your response and actions you took concerning documentation!
Is it possible to include a terminal input, i.e. ask the user if she wants to continue and delete the existing installation?
@maxhq Yes this might well be a good idea however I’m not sure how this might interfere or otherwise with the buildout implementation details. This one is clearly in the @suman realm I’m afraid.
If a terminal user warning was implemented requiring a user confirmation this should also have an option to be disabled so that automated builds might still be possible.
My initial reaction is to remove any buildout related files from the rpm packaging/deployment. With the way it’s setup right now, one cannot have both a production instance and a dev instance of Rockstor run on the same box.
Secondly, the prompt before removing the rpm during buildout also makes sense. I’ll look into it.
Sounds reasonable, although I currently modify JavaScript files directly on my storage server (no time for a dev environment) and therefore use the task collectstatic ;-):
/opt/rockstor/bin/buildout -c /opt/rockstor/buildout.cfg install collectstatic@maxhq Hello again. Just a notification that the issue opened in the rockstor-doc repository as a result of your contributions in this thread has finally been addressed by way of additional warnings specifying the db and settings element. Sorry it took so long but at least it’s sorted now.
Thanks.
@phillxnet Hello and thank you for sorting this out! You are doing a good job with all your contributions. Do you belong to the Rockstor team or are you a community contributor?
@maxhq Thanks. I guess I see myself as a bit of both ie a community team member contributor as I have a Rockstor organisation badge on my GitHub profile and also like to think of myself as a community member. I have chosen to focus on Rockstor for my OS contributions as I think it’s an important technology that I would like to see a continued success in so any part I can play in that success seems like time well spent. How I am seen by the other team members / contributors, such as yourself, is rather out of my hands. And I expect that varies depending on how eye to eye we see from time to time 
. Oh and I’m listed as you are in the Company - About - Contributors section of the web page so I guess we are official.