docs: improve documentation of flexmeasures (#756)

* updated tutorial

Signed-off-by: Nischay Mamidi <NischayPro@gmail.com>

* added docker-compose steps for postgresql

Signed-off-by: Nischay Mamidi <NischayPro@gmail.com>

---------

Signed-off-by: Nischay Mamidi <NischayPro@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Nicolas Höning <nicolas@seita.nl>
Co-authored-by: Nicolas Höning <nicolas@seita.nl>

documentation/host/data.rst

@@ -28,13 +28,18 @@ Install
 
 We believe FlexMeasures works with Postgres above version 9 and we ourselves have run it with versions up to 14.
 
-On Unix:
+On Linux:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
+   $ # On Ubuntu and Debian, you can install postgres like this:
    $ sudo apt-get install postgresql-12  # replace 12 with the version available in your packages
    $ pip install psycopg2-binary
 
+   $ # On Fedora, you can install postgres like this:
+   $ sudo dnf install postgresql postgresql-server
+   $ sudo postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql
+
 
 On Windows:
 
@@ -45,6 +50,35 @@ On Windows:
 * ``conda install psycopg2``
 
 
+Using Docker Compose:
+
+
+Alternatively, you can use Docker Compose to run a postgres database. Use can use the following ``docker-compose.yml`` as a starting point:
+
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+   version: '3.7'
+
+   services:
+     postgres:
+       image: postgres:latest
+       restart: always
+       environment:
+         POSTGRES_USER: flexmeasures
+         POSTGRES_PASSWORD: this-is-your-secret-choice
+         POSTGRES_DB: flexmeasures
+       ports:
+         - 5432:5432
+       volumes:
+         - ./postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+       network_mode: host
+
+To run this, simply type ``docker-compose up`` in the directory where you saved the ``docker-compose.yml`` file. Pass the ``-d`` flag to run it in the background.
+
+This will create a postgres database in a directory ``postgres-data`` in your current working directory. You can change the password and database name to your liking. You can also change the port mapping to e.g. ``5433:5432`` if you already have a postgres database running on your host machine.
+
+
 Make sure postgres represents datetimes in UTC timezone
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
@@ -66,6 +100,8 @@ Then restart the postgres server.
 
     $ sudo service postgresql restart
 
+.. note:: If you are using Docker to run postgres, the ``timezone`` setting is already set to ``UTC`` by default.
+
 
 Create "flexmeasures" and "flexmeasures_test" databases and users
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

documentation/index.rst

@@ -180,9 +180,9 @@ The platform operator of FlexMeasures can be an Aggregator.
     :caption: Tutorials
     :maxdepth: 1
 
+    tut/installation
     tut/toy-example-from-scratch
     tut/toy-example-expanded
-    tut/installation
     tut/posting_data
     tut/forecasting_scheduling
     tut/building_uis

documentation/tut/toy-example-from-scratch.rst

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Install Flexmeasures and the database
             $ docker run --rm --name flexmeasures-tutorial-fm --env SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI=postgresql://postgres:fm-db-passwd@flexmeasures-tutorial-db:5432/flexmeasures-db --env SECRET_KEY=notsecret --env FLASK_ENV=development --env LOGGING_LEVEL=INFO -d --network=flexmeasures_network -p 5000:5000 lfenergy/flexmeasures
             $ docker exec flexmeasures-tutorial-fm bash -c "flexmeasures db upgrade"
 
-        .. note:: A tip on Linux/macOS ― You might have the ``docker`` command, but need `sudo` rights to execute it. ``alias docker='sudo docker'`` enables you to still run this tutorial.
+        .. note:: A tip on Linux/macOS ― You might have the ``docker`` command, but need `sudo` rights to execute it. ``alias docker='sudo docker'`` enables you to still run this tutorial. Alternatively, you can add yourself to the ``docker`` group. See `here <https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/>`_ for more information.
 
         Now - what's *very important* to remember is this: The rest of this tutorial will happen *inside* the ``flexmeasures-tutorial-fm`` container! This is how you hop inside the container and run a terminal there: