added config section in userguide, make note that options->path is gone

docs/userguide/configfiles.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+Configuration Files
+--------------------
+This section describes configuration files that ZoneMinder users beyond the various Web UI options.
+
+.. _replacement_for_options_path:
+
+System Path Configurations
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+At one point of time, ZoneMinder stored various system path configurations under the Web UI (``Options->Paths``). This was removed a few versions ago and now resides in a configuration file. The motivation for this change can be read in `this discussion <https://github.com/ZoneMinder/zoneminder/pull/1908>`__.
+
+Typically, path configurations now reside in ``/etc/zm``.
+
+Here is an example of the file hierarchy:
+
+::
+
+  /etc/zm
+  ├── conf.d
+  │   ├── 01-system-paths.conf
+  │   ├── 02-multiserver.conf
+  |   ├── 03-custom.conf #optional
+  │   └── README
+  ├── objectconfig.ini # optional
+  ├── zm.conf 
+  └── zmeventnotification.ini #optional
+
+The roles of the files are as follows:
+
+* ``zm.conf`` contains various base configuration entries. You should not edit this file as it may be overwritten on an upgrade.
+* ``zmeventnotification.ini`` is only present if you have installed the ZoneMinder Event Server.
+* ``objectconfig.ini`` is only present if you have installed the machine learning hooks for the Event Server.
+* ``conf.d`` contains additional configuration items as follows:
+  
+  * ``01-system-paths.conf`` contains all the paths that were once part of ``Options->Paths`` in the Web UI. You should not edit this file as it may be overwritten on an upgrade
+  * ``02-multiserver.conf`` file consists of custom variables if you are deploying ZoneMinder in a multi-server configuration (see :doc:`/installationguide/multiserver`) 
+  * ``03-custom.conf`` is an  custom config file that I created to override specific variables in the path files. **This is the recommended way to customize entries**. Anything that you want to change should be in a new file inside ``conf.d``
+
+Timezone Configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Earlier versions of ZoneMinder relied on ``php.ini`` to set Date/Time Zone. This is no longer the case. You can (and must) set the Timezone via the Web UI, starting ZoneMinder version 1.34. See :ref:`here <timezone_config>`.
+
+Database specific configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. todo:: do we really need to have this section? Not sure if its generic and not specific to ZM
+
+While the ZoneMinder specific database config entries reside in ``/etc/zm/zm.conf`` and related customizations discussed above, general database configuration items can be tweaked in ``/etc/mysql`` (or whichever path your DB server is installed)

docs/userguide/gettingstarted.rst

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Having followed the :doc:`/installationguide/index` for your distribution you sh
 
 .. image::  ../installationguide/images/zm_first_screen_post_install.png
 
+.. _timezone_config:
 
 Setting Timezone
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

docs/userguide/index.rst

@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ User Guide
    cameracontrol
    mobile
    logging
+   configfiles
 

docs/userguide/options.rst

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ The various options you can specify are displayed in a tabbed dialog with each g
 
 If you have changed the value of an option you should then ‘save’ it. A number of the option groups will then prompt you to let you know that the option(s) you have changed will require a system restart. This is not done automatically in case you will be changing many values in the same session, however once you have made all of your changes you should restart ZoneMinder as soon as possible. The reason for this is that web and some scripts will pick up the new changes immediately but some of the daemons will still be using the old values and this can lead to data inconsistency or loss.
 
+.. note:: If you are looking for ``Options->Paths`` documentation, it was moved to a configuration file starting ZoneMinder 1.32. See :ref:`here <replacement_for_options_path>`.
+
 .. toctree::
 
    options/options_display