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docs(first-steps): checksum verification and macOS first-run fixes #3138

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30 changes: 27 additions & 3 deletions docs/introduction/first_steps.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -8,14 +8,36 @@ Welcome to Prometheus! Prometheus is a monitoring platform that collects metrics

## Downloading Prometheus

[Download the latest release](/download) of Prometheus for your platform, then
extract it:
[Download the latest release](/download) of Prometheus for your platform.
Browsers usually save it to your `Downloads` folder, so run the following
commands from there (for example, `cd ~/Downloads`).

Before extracting the archive, check that it wasn't corrupted or tampered with:
compute its SHA256 checksum and compare it with the checksum listed for that file
on the [download page](/download).

```language-bash
# Linux
sha256sum prometheus-*.tar.gz
# macOS
shasum -a 256 prometheus-*.tar.gz
```

On Windows, run `Get-FileHash prometheus-*.zip -Algorithm SHA256` in PowerShell.
If the checksums don't match, delete the file and download it again.

Then extract the archive and change into the extracted directory:

```language-bash
tar xvfz prometheus-*.tar.gz
cd prometheus-*
cd prometheus-*/
```

The trailing `/` makes the wildcard match only the extracted directory. Without
it, `prometheus-*` also matches the `.tar.gz` file and `cd` fails with
`too many arguments` (bash) or `string not in pwd` (zsh). If your shell reports
`no matches found`, you're not in the directory that contains the download.

The Prometheus server is a single binary called `prometheus` (or `prometheus.exe` on Microsoft Windows). We can run the binary and see help on its options by passing the `--help` flag.

```language-bash
Expand All @@ -27,6 +49,8 @@ The Prometheus monitoring server
. . .
```

NOTE: On macOS, binaries downloaded with a web browser are quarantined. Because the Prometheus binaries aren't notarized by Apple, macOS blocks `prometheus` the first time you run it, and the shell reports that the process was killed (for example, `zsh: killed`). After verifying the checksum, either click **Allow Anyway** next to "prometheus" in **System Settings > Privacy & Security** and run the command again, or run `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine .` inside the extracted directory. Downloads made with `curl` or `wget` aren't quarantined.

Before starting Prometheus, let's configure it.

## Configuring Prometheus
Expand Down