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README.md

Ding Dong Ditch Client

The client runs on your Raspberry Pi. It handles interfacing with the exisiting hardware, including the doorbell, mechanical chime, and door/gate strike, if present.

Prerequisites

  • This has only been tested on Python 3.6. At the time of writing, this was a pain to install on Raspbian.

  • This has only been tested on a Raspberry Pi B.

  • This has only been tested on the OS Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie).

Installation

  1. Clone this repo on your Raspberry Pi somewhere. For the purposes of this guide, we'll assume it's /home/pi/ding-dong-ditch.

  2. Change into the working directory:

    cd /home/pi/ding-dong-ditch

  3. Setup the python virtual environment:

    make setup

  4. Create your settings file:

    cp env.sh.example env.sh

    Edit this file to specify the settings you need. Look at system_settings.py for more detailed descriptions.

  5. Set up your Firebase credentials. This allows the client to communicate with the server.

    1. Ensure your server is set up.

    2. Log in to the Firebase console and select your project.

    3. Click settings (the gear menu next to the "Overview" tab).

    4. Copy your "Project ID" and set it to the DDD_FIREBASE_APP_NAME variable in env.sh.

    5. Copy the "Web API Key" and set it to the DDD_FIREBASE_API_KEY variable in env.sh.

    6. Click on "Service Accounts" in the tab bar.

    7. Click "Generate New Private Key" and save the file somewhere.

    8. Copy the key file to your Raspberry Pi (scp, rsync, whatever). The default location is /home/pi/.firebasekey.

    9. Ensure the DDD_FIREBASE_KEY_PATH variable in env.sh points to the file.

  6. Run the client:

    make run

    To exit, type ctrl-c.

Running on Startup

To have this program run upon startup of your Raspberry Pi, you'll need to install a systemd service. This is pretty easy:

make install

If you decide it's not for you, uninstalling is equally easy:

make uninstall