[Documentation] Run your own without docker

[PierreR]

The installation section of the 'Run Your Own" implies that it is possible to run docsearch without using docker.

There is nothing that seems to describe how to do so. The only way seems to look at the source of the docker files and write a script to mimic parts of it.

Is that correct ? Could the documentation be improved to make it more explicit ?

Thanks.

[lubos]

I'm running docsearch without Docker. I have a script which runs once a day and updates data in the exact format Docker instance would.

There are only 3 attributes each object needs to be compatible with docsearch

"content": "string",
"hierarchy": {
    "lvl0": "string",
    "lvl1": "string",
    "lvl2": "string"
},
"url": "string"

[s-pace]

👋 PierreR,

Thank you for sharing your concerns. We will try to document the development workflow in a better way.

We highly recommend you to use the docker:run command instead

Cc algolia/docsearch-scraper#403

[pixelastic]

Hello,

It should be possible to run DocSearch without Docker, providing you have the correct python version installed as well as all the needed dependencies (that's actually how I run it).

Considering that dealing with python dependencies can be a hassle, we also provides a Docker version (and because it makes it easier for us to deploy), but you don't have to use it. We recommend that you do though, as it makes things easier to debug for us when issues arise :)

Running pip install -r requirements.txt with python 2 should install all you need, and they you should be able to run the ./docsearch executable.

Let us know if it doesn't work

[PierreR]

@s-pace That is what I ended up doing. My biggest confusion has been that you can't run the docker:run command unless you have python installed with the following requirements:

• future
• python-dotenv
• requests

In retrospect, this is rather obvious but it is a source of confusion when you are using a system such as nixos where you learn to be quite explicit about your dependencies.

[PierreR]

@pixelastic Thanks for the info. As you said,, python dependencies can be quite tricky. Particularly in this case because the requirement.txt file involves a lot of circular dependencies when you try to convert it into a requirement.nix file. I had to use the docker and I am quite happy about it.

[pixelastic]

My biggest confusion has been that you can't run the docker:run command unless you have python installed.

Yes, this is an issue we didn't realized until recently. We will try to make the Docker usage completely stand-alone in the future.

when you are using a system such as nixos where you learn to be quite explicit about your dependencies.

For the record, we are also getting quite frustrated with the setup and are in the process of moving the dependency handling to pipenv. No ETA for that though, but we'll keep you updated and make sure the documentation is updated as well.

[s-pace]

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