Those of you are running 1.25, is it worth the upgrade?

[skyking]

I know all upgrades are "worth" it, but in the case of Debian, it will do 1.24.2-8 fine, and has a lot of dependency problems with 1.25
I have a strong handle on the operating system, like the file system, etc.
So what so those of you who have had both?

[defacto7]

My 2 cents worth...

I'm not on Debian but have been using Ubuntu server since zm 1.1? something. I found 1.24 to be more problematic than 1.25. 1.25 was the most uneventful install of zm I have had so far. I would say the log appliance is a real plus. But I know how you feel about being with a stable install of something. You never know what your machines ins and outs are when it comes to a new version of anything, so you just have to decide whether you want to jump in. PHP5 upgrade can kill a 1.24> as it has done with many of my main server progs due to deprecated functions, so you might as well get the newest PHP5 before you install 1.25.

One thing I have found though, with any zoneminder version... don't try to upgrade; in that lies madness . Backup and start over from scratch.

[skyking]

thanks defacto. This a fresh install to replace an aging server.

[knight-of-ni]

My experience with Zoneminder has been on CentOS and Ubuntu platforms. I can't speak to any dependency issues specific to Debian, but I do know the kind of a challange that can be.

I agree with defacto7. The earliest versions of zm 1.24.x had Ajax problems, erroneous events from 1969 that messed up the timeline, and various buttons & widgets not working quite right on the playback window. To get around the various issues, I found myself patching the source and/or downloading newer svn builds.

My Zoneminder 1.25 install on the other hand, has gone by far the smoothest when compared to previous versions. It built right the first time for me (a first), and off the top of my head I can only think of 1 issue that, in my opinion, I'd call a bug that required patching (previous version had the same issue). As defacto7 stated, the ability to view the log file directly from the web page (and filter events) is a huge plus.

I do have to say that I have had never had any issues with an upgrade to a newer version of zoneminder. Once the newer version is installed, I simply run the appropriate database script to update the schema, and then I start up zoneminder. That has always gone smoothly for me.

[skyking]

OK, I'm going to give ubuntu a try. Any tips for getting my repositories right?

[Flasheart]

Being a Debian owner, I'm still stuck with 1.24.2 packages, but they work fine. I'm familiar with most of the peculiarities by now and run several zm servers with quite a few ip cameras.

I have tried building 1.25 on a sandbox debian server, but there were so many dependancy issues I gave up after an hour.

[knight-of-ni]

OK, I'm going to give ubuntu a try. Any tips for getting my repositories right?

If using Ubuntu 12.04, one should not have to edit your repositories to install zoneminder. In principle, installing zoneminder 1.25 is as simple as running an apt-get install. I believe there is a guide in Wiki called "the easy way" or something like that if you want to review the exact steps.

[defacto7]

Yep, it's pretty much just apt-get install, set the sysctl.conf memory according to your needs, link to apache, put sleep 15 in /etc/init.d/zoneminder just before zmfix -a .... and your off.

[skyking]

OK, I'm going to give ubuntu a try. Any tips for getting my repositories right?

If using Ubuntu 12.04, one should not have to edit your repositories to install zoneminder. In principle, installing zoneminder 1.25 is as simple as running an apt-get install. I believe there is a guide in Wiki called "the easy way" or something like that if you want to review the exact steps.

that is what I did, and it was too easy.
Sorry I ever posted the topic, folks. I preconfigured it doing the stare-and-compare method, the only questions are video for linux version 2 or version 1 in the source tab, capture method, and it balks on setting rgb24 on the pair of color analog cams I have.
If I set that, I get errors ,
'zmc -d /dev/video5' exited abnormally, exit status 255 zmdc.pl
Failed to set video format: Invalid argument zm_local_camera.cpp
zmc_dvideo5 9226 FAT Failed to get picture attributes: Inappropriate ioctl for device
Please note that the server is still 160 miles from the site, so I can only test it with my IP cams. It works great with those and I really love the green light on the log button.