From 57b5e2f2f56a4a98d2ec0da516963bf94c9375e2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ignace <ignace@suy.nl>
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2026 15:57:14 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] install instructions

---
 .gitignore            |  1 +
 README.md             | 31 ++++++++++++++++++-------------
 hue-collector.service |  4 ++--
 requirements.txt      |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a74c64..21351b2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .env
+.venv/
 __pycache__/
 .pytest_cache/
 *.py[cod]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8137b64..1882e20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,11 +15,16 @@ approximately five-minute averages for 90 days, and hourly averages for two year
 
 ## Install on Raspberry Pi OS or Debian
 
-Install the native RRDtool binding and Python dependencies:
+Install Python's virtual-environment support and the native headers needed to build
+the RRDtool package, then install every Python dependency into `.venv`:
 
 ```bash
 sudo apt update
-sudo apt install python3 python3-flask python3-requests python3-rrdtool fonts-dejavu-core
+sudo apt install python3 python3-venv python3-dev build-essential librrd-dev fonts-dejavu-core
+python3 -m venv .venv
+. .venv/bin/activate
+python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
 ```
 
 Create the Hue application key if you do not have one yet. Press the bridge link
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ cp .env.example .env
 set -a
 . ./.env
 set +a
-python3 -m hue_collector
+python -m hue_collector
 ```
 
 Open `http://PI_ADDRESS:8000`. The RRD files are written to `DATA_DIR`, which defaults
@@ -49,13 +54,11 @@ to the project's `data/` directory.
 
 ## Run continuously with systemd
 
-Install the project and environment file:
+The included unit expects this repository at `/srv/service_hue_collector`, including
+its `.venv` and `.env` files:
 
 ```bash
-sudo install -d /opt/hue-collector
-sudo cp -r hue_collector /opt/hue-collector/
-sudo cp .env /etc/hue-collector
-sudo chmod 600 /etc/hue-collector
+sudo chmod 600 /srv/service_hue_collector/.env
 sudo cp hue-collector.service /etc/systemd/system/
 sudo systemctl daemon-reload
 sudo systemctl enable --now hue-collector
@@ -93,11 +96,13 @@ trusted.
 
 ## Development
 
-On a Debian-based machine, install `python3-rrdtool` through apt. Flask and Requests
-can alternatively be installed from `requirements.txt`. When using a virtual
-environment, create it with `--system-site-packages` so it can see the apt-installed
-RRDtool module.
+Create the virtual environment and install all application dependencies from the
+requirements file:
 
 ```bash
-python3 -m unittest discover -s tests
+sudo apt install python3-venv python3-dev build-essential librrd-dev fonts-dejavu-core
+python3 -m venv .venv
+. .venv/bin/activate
+python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
+python -m unittest discover -s tests
 ```
diff --git a/hue-collector.service b/hue-collector.service
index 874ad4c..20ee14a 100644
--- a/hue-collector.service
+++ b/hue-collector.service
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ Type=simple
 DynamicUser=yes
 StateDirectory=hue-collector
 WorkingDirectory=/srv/service_hue_collector
-EnvironmentFile=/srv/service_hue_collector
+EnvironmentFile=/srv/service_hue_collector/.env
 Environment=DATA_DIR=/var/lib/hue-collector
-ExecStart=/var/lib/hue-collector/.venv/bin/python3 -m hue_collector
+ExecStart=/srv/service_hue_collector/.venv/bin/python -m hue_collector
 Restart=on-failure
 RestartSec=5
 PrivateTmp=yes
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7dedeaa..c16a580 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-# Install the native RRDtool binding with: apt install python3-rrdtool
 Flask>=2.2,<4
 requests>=2,<3
+rrdtool>=0.1,<1