Github user ctubbsii commented on a diff in the pull request:
https://github.com/apache/accumulo/pull/184#discussion_r88328518
--- Diff: _posts/blog/2016-11-16-simpler-scripts-and-config.md ---
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+---
+title: "Simpler scripts and configuration coming in Accumulo 2.0.0"
+author: Mike Walch
+reviewers: Josh Elser, Chistopher Tubbs
+---
+
+For the upcoming 2.0.0 release, Accumulo's scripts and configuration were
refactored (in
+[ACCUMULO-4490]) to make Accumulo easier to use. While Accumulo's
documentation (i.e. the user
+manual and [INSTALL.md]) were updated with any changes that were made,
this blog post provides
+a summary of the changes.
+
+### Fewer scripts
+
+Before 2.0.0, the `bin/` directory of Accumulo's distribution contained
about 20 scripts:
+
+```bash
+$ ls accumulo-1.8.0/bin/
+accumulo build_native_library.sh
generate_monitor_certificate.sh start-here.sh stop-server.sh
+accumulo_watcher.sh check-slaves LogForwarder.sh
start-server.sh tdown.sh
+bootstrap_config.sh config-server.sh start-all.sh
stop-all.sh tool.sh
+bootstrap_hdfs.sh config.sh start-daemon.sh
stop-here.sh tup.sh
+```
+
+The number of scripts made it difficult to know which scripts to use. If
you added the `bin/` directory to your
+`PATH`, it could add unecessary commands to your PATH or cause commands to
be overriden due generic names
+(like 'start-all.sh'). The number of scripts were reduced using the
following methods:
+
+* Scripts that are only called by other scripts were moved to a new
`libexec/` directory in the Accumulo distribution
+* Scripts with similiar functionality were combined
+* Extra/optional scripts were move to a new `contrib/` directory in the
distribution
+
+Starting with 2.0.0, Accumulo will only have 3 scripts in its `bin/`
directory:
+
+```bash
+$ ls accumulo-2.0.0/bin/
+accumulo accumulo-cluster accumulo-service
+```
+
+Below are some notes on this change:
+
+* The 'accumulo' script was left alone except for improved usage and the
addition of 'create-config' and 'build-native'
+ commands to replace 'bootstrap_config.sh' and 'build_native_library.sh'.
+* The 'accumulo-service' script was created to manage Accumulo processes
as services
+* The 'accumulo-cluster' command was created to manage Accumulo on cluster
and replaces 'start-all.sh' and 'stop-all.sh'.
+* All optional scripts in `bin/` were moved to `contrib/`:
+
+ $ ls accumulo-2.0.0/contrib/
+ bootstrap-hdfs.sh check-tservers gen-monitor-cert.sh tool.sh
+
+### Less configuration
+
+Before 2.0.0, Accumulo's `conf/` directory looked like the following
(after creating initial config files
+using 'bootstrap_config.sh'):
+
+```bash
+$ ls accumulo-1.8.0/conf/
+accumulo-env.sh auditLog.xml generic_logger.properties
masters slaves
+accumulo-metrics.xml client.conf generic_logger.xml
monitor templates
+accumulo.policy.example examples hadoop-metrics2-accumulo.properties
monitor_logger.properties tracers
+accumulo-site.xml gc log4j.properties
monitor_logger.xml
+```
+
+While all of these files have a purpose, many are only used in rare
situations. Therefore, the
+'accumulo create-config' (which replaces 'bootstrap_config.sh') now only
generates a minimum
+set of configuration files needed to run Accumulo.
+
+```bash
+$ cd accumulo-2.0.0
+$ ./bin/accumulo create-config
+$ ls conf/
+accumulo-env.sh accumulo-site.xml client.conf examples
+```
+
+The 'accumulo create-config' command does not generate host files (i.e
'tservers', 'monitor', etc) to run processes locally.
+These files are only required by the 'accumulo-cluster' command which has
a command to generate them.
+
+```bash
+$ cd accumulo-2.0.0/
+$ ./bin/accumulo-cluster create-config
+$ ls conf/
+accumulo-env.sh accumulo-site.xml client.conf examples gc masters
monitor tracers tservers
+```
+
+Any less common configuration files that were not generated above can
still be found in `conf/examples`.
+
+### Better usage
+
+Before 2.0.0, the 'accumulo' command had a limited usage:
+
+```
+$ ./accumulo-1.8.0/bin/accumulo
+accumulo admin | check-server-config | classpath | create-token | gc |
help | info | init | jar <jar> [<main class>] args |
+ login-info | master | minicluster | monitor | proxy | rfile-info | shell
| tracer | tserver | version | zookeeper | <accumulo class> args
+```
+
+For 2.0.0, all 'accumulo' commands were given a short description and
organized into the groups.
+
+```
+$ ./accumulo-2.0.0/bin/accumulo help
+
+Usage: accumulo <command> (<argument> ...)
+
+Core Commands:
+ create-config Create Accumulo configuration
+ build-native Build Accumulo native libraries
+ init Initializes Accumulo
--- End diff --
Descriptions [should use][1] third-person, active voice, indicative mood,
while instructions should use second-person, active voice, imperative mood.
[1]:
http://www.technicalauthoring.com/wiki/index.php/Using_the_correct_language
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