Hi everyone, I just started and have so far done 5-6 fresh Linux installs and erpnext installs. I have learned a lot and still come to a lot of problems. Sry to ask some repeated questions, I have checked the guides and answers, most were outdated or i have not found the right ones.
1- Should i use dev or pro? current pro is on v12 and dev on v13.8?(read main branch is obsolete on another posts)
2- should I use pos awesome with 13.8 it has a pos by itself? (tried it somehow everything changed and it didn’t open)
3- what is about the warning about bench in editable mode?
4- Is there a 0 to 100 guide somewhere that i missed? should I make one as I go along from 0? would some one help and check it as I write? I mean I’m learning everything from server security to networking and DNSs to how different tax systems work. But everything is scattered and not everything works or is uptodate.
ERPNext Versions
The current Live/Production version of ERPNext is v13.8.
- The name of the GitHub branch is
'version-13'(see GitHub link here)
The current Development branch of ERPNext is always named 'develop'.
- See GitHub link here
- Unfortunately, the maintainers have chosen to make
developthe -default- GitHub branch. During installation, make sure you choose the branch you really want. - As a newcomer, I recommend staying away from here, as it’s inherently unstable.
POS
Choosing between official ERPNext POS, or POSAwesome, is entirely up to you. I recommend you define your requirements. Then try both, and see which one is the better fit.
Regarding Bench and “editable` mode”.
Originally (and for the first 10 years) people would install Bench manually use Python pip’s ‘editable mode’. It’s a very-common way of installing Python packages. You can read about that here.
In March of 2020, the maintainers decided that Bench was largely “in production”, and no longer receiving continuous development. So, they uploaded it to PyPI. And today, that’s how we’re intended to install Bench: from PyPi.
If you choose to install it the traditional way, by downloading the GitHub repo and installing with pip? Then you will see the Warning Message.
But it’s fine, and you can safely ignore it. It’s perfectly okay to install and run Bench manually. I always do it this way (and many older guides will still reference this method). The Warning is just encouraging you to use PyPi instead.
0 to 100 Guide
You are correct. Most information and articles are scattered, broken, outdated, or missing. That’s just how things are here. The ERPNext community is lightly-managed, loose collection of individuals. There are no global User Groups, community projects. No drive to collaborate and communicate. If you’ve previously worked in different Open Source project (or had different expectations coming in), this might feel strange. I certainly felt that way when I started here.
I am reluctant to point you to any particular guide, because I don’t read/know them anymore. I don’t know what’s good or bad, accurate or inaccurate. Long ago, I resigned myself to just maintaining my own documentation. If something is missing, I have no one to blame but myself. 
In my personal opinion, ERPNext is easy to learn, but extraordinarily difficult to master. It took me years to feel “competent”. It has over a dozen core components. If you want 100% control and confidence, the ability to handle every scenario that life throws at you? Then you’ll need to know how they all work and integrate.
Like most software, it has some amazing features, as well as some questionable ones. But overall it’s rather nice. Hopefully it encourages others to follow its footsteps, and create more open-source ERP systems.
I would be interested in working with you for the 0-100 guide. I am also at 0 by the way. 
We could stumble across it together! What I am going for is multiple erpnext instances (2) in docker in conjunction with websites and other apps, like portainer, using nginx as webserver and traefix for reverse proxy. And all this on a VPS.
Finally, I have 0 sysadmin knowledge, but 14 years of working with Unix and immense confidence in my ability to make sense of sensible documentation.
Ask questions about containerized installation on forum, I’ll answer.
Docker docs stay in the repo. If they’re not clear enough, make changes to them and I’ll merge. All the docs for docker are contributed by community.
Also whenever you say installation here, most of the people assume it is easy install ansible script or manual install.
I recommend docker because at least you can understand the container technology that helps you install software beyond ERPNext.
After all for a beginner it’s a choice:
“22 steps ritual using easy and manual install”
“Understand 1 ritual called docker”
@revant_one, your posts on forum regarding installing via docker are what I am mostly referring to while attempting my install. In particular could you address my query on this one:
The traefik related labels for erpnext-nginx are required for that?
Thanks for your help so far.
Ummmm… as a business major with little dev knowledge i must say that you are probably way higher than 0 I am just learning what docker is and a minimal ssh ban,fail2ban and ufw just to do minimal security.
your help would be much appreciated but we need the top guys/girls to check our work as we progress otherwise it would be another not very accurate and incomplete guide.
I have already started and will send you how far I’ve come and what are my ideas to go forward.
Thanks man.
First I must say that i never have worked on any open source project. As a business and engineering major with little dev knowledge I am lost here.
well the installed version was 13.0.0 bv14 i think then i a branch change and went to 13.8. so easy install didn’t result in latest production version, but am not sure. will double check.
As for the pos awesome question, installed it resulted in some crashes>fixed>all the software modules came out of hiding and things got very wierd but in the end it did not open. Does it work on 13.8?
Would you be kind enough to check on my yet to be guide once in a blue moon and give us some pointers? Should i put it in the forum or git-hub or anything else so people can contribute and use it?
Thanks man, so you are saying that the docker is easier than the easyinstall?
Do you think we should include that for absolute beginners?
The benefits I find using containers.
- With docker it is easy to get started with low spec of 2GB RAM and 1CPU for the VPS.
- Install multiple applications on large servers along with ERPNext.
- Faster setup time. Only time taken to download images and start containers.
If beginner is following some commands for the first time, I’ll recommend docker. Less commands to follow, less scope for error.
what about the local server?
the road I’m imaging people should take is:
test with VM > make a local server and learn> make your local server go online> VPS.
Use frappe_docker/development at main · frappe/frappe_docker · GitHub to try things locally. This works well with VS Code devcontainers.
For local server / LAN based production setup explore GitHub - frappe/frappe_docker: Docker images for production and development setups of the Frappe framework and ERPNext
I love docker and understand tremendous benefits in building service offering around Frappe and ERP Next.
If you’re going to write a guide, definitely create on your own GitHub repo, not the forums. Sure, I’ll be happy to review and provide feedback/edits.
Generally speaking, there are 4 methods of ERPNext installation:
- The
'easy-install'script. - Download and run a pre-made VPS image.
- Docker images and containers.
- Manual installation.
For a beginner (especially if you’re unfamiliar with Linux and Python web frameworks), I recommend one of the first 3 options. Get ERPNext online and running, so you can start using/testing.
@revant_one is definitely the community’s ERPNext+Docker expert. He’s a guru when it comes to Docker. But please be respectful of his time. Like everyone else here, he’s just a volunteer. While the answers are indeed scattered, search the forums or web, and try to find solutions. Many people have walked the same path as you, and left footprints.
I really love Docker, and leverage it everywhere. It’s incredibly useful. However, while I sometimes host individual components of ERPNext via Docker, I’ve never used it for running the entire suite. I prefer manual installations.
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