Hi,
As both the plugin API and the RC core evolve newer plugins might not work with older versions of RC. Putting this information in the readme or on the website with the plugin is the obvious answer but some people just ignore that and install the wrong version any way. Agreed that is their own fault and they should read the instructions but adding some kind of check into the API for compatible versions seems to be quite easy, using the version_compare function in PHP. I had a little play with it and the idea basically works. There are 2 considerations that I can see:
- It's only a very basic check: "this plugin works with 0.5.2 and later"
- The RC version string needs to be written in the "PHP-standardized" way.
That means it has to be x-dev rather than x-svn and no x-stable just x.0
I'm not sure if this is a waste of time and people should just read instructions, may be it is. If anyone thinks it's a good idea I can make a patch.
Phil
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
I think this should be (partly?) handled in a plugin repository. I know someone is working on one, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Im thinking of developing a plugin repository website that handles things like versions. Ive made an initial email about this some months ago, but I never mailed it because of knowing someone is working on it. But at what point do you consider that project stalled right? And I know their plans work considerably different.
My ideas actually overlap with yours, so maybe this is a good time to get this email from my drafts folder and insert it here. Feel free to comment, good or bad.
==========================================================================================================================
Lately ive been doing a lot of thinking about a better plugin repository. The wiki is not really working for me, and I know others have the same problems. The issue is that it's very difficult to keep up with version changes, especially across rc versions. Since RC is in constant flux, with changes that require plugin modifications regularly, keeping up with newer versions of plugins is kind of important.
Some thoughts about such a system from my point of view, as a plugin developer, plugin user, roundcube installation administrator, and just general views on these things.
I think plugin updates should be visible inside roundcube (like wordpress and others do). There could be a plugin page (created by a plugin even) that would list all your plugins, and their version/update status. Preferably even the front page would show an icon that tells you there are updates. This could be done by allowing a site administrator to configure certain logins as administrators, which would be the only ones to see the plugin information inside RC. (who knows, maybe eventually we could even allow for automated updates like wordpress).
There are 2 sides tho this:
Server side: A website that allows people to upload plugins, set version information (which RC versions is your plugin compatible with) etc. There'd also be an API for RC installations to talk to.
Client side (roundcube installation): Talk to the repository server (xlmrpc or something) and request plugin version information.
Everything could be made completely in plugin code I think. But there is one thing I havent really found a good solution for. How to let plugins communicate their current version, so a plugin-admin plugin can talk to a repository to see if there's newer versions.
Im willing to put some significant amount of time in the server side of a plugin repository.
=============================================================================================================================
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
I think this should be (partly?) handled in a plugin repository. I know someone is working on one, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Im thinking of developing a plugin repository website that handles things
like
versions. Ive made an initial email about this some months ago, but I
never
mailed it because of knowing someone is working on it. But at what point
do
you consider that project stalled right? And I know their plans work considerably different.
The only reason I thought it would be good to handle in inside RC is because we get feedback from people on the forum who either don't know what version of RC they have or decide its ok to simply ignore that. Then they get confused when strange things happen. I'm not suggesting we should do extra work to deal with those people, it's their fault. But a simple check just to give them a very clear error message could probably save some time for everyone.
I think plugin updates should be visible inside roundcube (like wordpress
and
others do). There could be a plugin page (created by a plugin even) that would list all your plugins, and their version/update status. Preferably
even
the front page would show an icon that tells you there are updates. This could be done by allowing a site administrator to configure certain logins
as
administrators, which would be the only ones to see the plugin information inside RC. (who knows, maybe eventually we could even allow for automated updates like wordpress).
There is something about an admin interface on the plan so I guess that could go in there.
Phil
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
Hi,
I'm very happy to see, there are thoughts about minimum requirements for plugins.
My users db table preferences fields are meanwhile a mess. Plugins write preferences which result in dead entries if the plugin is uninstalled.
Writing preferences into this field should be only allowed if the plugin provides informations what's written into this field.
Furthermore a plugin should have an enabled/disabled flag. If disabled, it should remove those dead entries from the database automatically.
Regards, R.
On Sun, 17 Jul 2011 10:41:53 +0100, Phil Weir wrote:
I think this should be (partly?) handled in a plugin repository. I know someone is working on one, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Im thinking of developing a plugin repository website that handles things
like
versions. Ive made an initial email about this some months ago, but I
never
mailed it because of knowing someone is working on it. But at what point
do
you consider that project stalled right? And I know their plans work considerably different.
The only reason I thought it would be good to handle in inside RC is because we get feedback from people on the forum who either don't know what version of RC they have or decide its ok to simply ignore that. Then they get confused when strange things happen. I'm not suggesting we should do extra work to deal with those people, it's their fault. But a simple check just to give them a very clear error message could probably save some time for everyone.
I think plugin updates should be visible inside roundcube (like wordpress
and
others do). There could be a plugin page (created by a plugin even) that would list all your plugins, and their version/update status. Preferably
even
the front page would show an icon that tells you there are updates. This could be done by allowing a site administrator to configure certain logins
as
administrators, which would be the only ones to see the plugin information inside RC. (who knows, maybe eventually we could even allow for automated updates like wordpress).
There is something about an admin interface on the plan so I guess that could go in there.
Phil
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/8d1870bd
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
Hi Cor
Any effort towards a working plugin repository would be highly appreciated. It's already years ago since we started working on such a repository based on PEAR packages and installer. This would allow version control and dependencies amongst plugins. I just asked Till whether he will finish that yet stalled project or not. Once we get an answer from him, we can move forward.
I'll certainly be available for some architectural discussion and decisions if necessary.
Thanks so far! Thomas
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 13:00, Cor Bosman cor@xs4all.nl wrote:
I think this should be (partly?) handled in a plugin repository. I know someone is working on one, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Im thinking of developing a plugin repository website that handles things like versions. Ive made an initial email about this some months ago, but I never mailed it because of knowing someone is working on it. But at what point do you consider that project stalled right? And I know their plans work considerably different.
My ideas actually overlap with yours, so maybe this is a good time to get this email from my drafts folder and insert it here. Feel free to comment, good or bad.
==========================================================================================================================
Lately ive been doing a lot of thinking about a better plugin repository. The wiki is not really working for me, and I know others have the same problems. The issue is that it's very difficult to keep up with version changes, especially across rc versions. Since RC is in constant flux, with changes that require plugin modifications regularly, keeping up with newer versions of plugins is kind of important.
Some thoughts about such a system from my point of view, as a plugin developer, plugin user, roundcube installation administrator, and just general views on these things.
I think plugin updates should be visible inside roundcube (like wordpress and others do). There could be a plugin page (created by a plugin even) that would list all your plugins, and their version/update status. Preferably even the front page would show an icon that tells you there are updates. This could be done by allowing a site administrator to configure certain logins as administrators, which would be the only ones to see the plugin information inside RC. (who knows, maybe eventually we could even allow for automated updates like wordpress).
There are 2 sides tho this:
Server side: A website that allows people to upload plugins, set version information (which RC versions is your plugin compatible with) etc. There'd also be an API for RC installations to talk to.
Client side (roundcube installation): Talk to the repository server (xlmrpc or something) and request plugin version information.
Everything could be made completely in plugin code I think. But there is one thing I havent really found a good solution for. How to let plugins communicate their current version, so a plugin-admin plugin can talk to a repository to see if there's newer versions.
Im willing to put some significant amount of time in the server side of a plugin repository.
=============================================================================================================================
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/0ddf6350
List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 10:32, Thomas Bruederli thomas@roundcube.net wrote:
Any effort towards a working plugin repository would be highly appreciated. It's already years ago since we started working on such a repository based on PEAR packages and installer. This would allow version control and dependencies amongst plugins. I just asked Till whether he will finish that yet stalled project or not. Once we get an answer from him, we can move forward.
I'll certainly be available for some architectural discussion and decisions if necessary.
Hello again,
Since I never got an answer from Till, I guess we no longer wanna wait for something that never happens. Any efforts to get a working plugin repository up and running are very appreciated. I think the approach to use some existing packaging software such as PEAR is still good.
Cor, would you like to continue with that (it's already on your server) or do you have anything else in mind?
~Thomas _______________________________________________ List info: http://lists.roundcube.net/dev/ BT/aba52c80
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Cor Bosman -
Phil Weir -
Roland Liebl -
Thomas Bruederli