Docs: Debian 11.2 compile Patch Release OpenFOAM-9-20211122
Hello, maintaining documentation is challenging as code and host infrastructure advances, so you might appreciate feedback from someone looking at the documentation with fresh eyes. Here are some documentation issues I encountered while compiling Patch Release OpenFOAM-9-20211122 on current Debian stable 11.2.
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Good news -- currently Debian stable repository provides paraview 5.9.0-2 and libscotch 6.1 and libptscotch-6.1, so this might simplify the Third Party install process and instructions. In particular the Debian comments in https://openfoam.org/download/source/third-party-software/ appear to be obsolete.
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The documentation leaves me wondering whether compiling the third party tools are essential if newer libscotch and paraview are installed. Running ./Allwmake does compile libscotch, perhaps an older version 6.0.9. It's possible that one wants exactly that version; if so it would be helpful to say so.
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In the case that the user uses the repository paraview, it's not clear a) Whether it is a concern that the following environment variables are set incorrectly, b) Whether they are needed c) Where (in/by which script) they are being created:
ParaView_GL=mesa ParaView_MAJOR=5.6 ParaView_VERSION=5.6.3 ParaView_DIR=/.../openfoam/ThirdParty-9/platforms/linux64Gcc/ParaView-5.6.3
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The documentation is clear about how to compile the official release. It is clear about compiling the dev version. It is not as clear about the patch releases. It appears to me that compiling the patch releases is most similar to compiling the dev version, with changes to directory names. No doubt this is perfectly clear for all to whom it is obvious.
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In some projects, non-experts might be recommended to use the better tested official release unless a patch release addresses their problems. In other projects, the patch release is considered better than the first release. The OpenFOAM.org website structurally appears to favor the official release, guiding one to https://openfoam.org/download/9-source/ , and not clearly referring to the patch release, which appears like a news item in a link in the right margin. This together with (4) may give the impression that the patch releases are of lesser interest.
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This might be out of scope here, but the documentation at openfoam.com, https://develop.openfoam.com/Development/openfoam/-/wikis/modules/visualization#do-i-really-need-the-paraview-plugins suggests using "paraFoam -vtk"; the openfoam.org release of paraFoam does not appear to have that option -vtk; perhaps the .com release has that option.