[wp-hackers] A plugin repository

[drDave]

Matt,

Sounds like a great idea!

One feature I would really love to see with such a system is a way to 
easily deploy each new version of a plugin. Basically a set of scripts 
that would:
- package all necessary files for a release (possibly handle version 
numbering inside the plugin itself)
- store them or upload them to a place where they can be downloaded
- notify users

Packaging is probably the easiest to do once we got an SVN running and 
only requires a script similar to what you got for WP itself.
Storing the archive on your own server would be nice (provided you have 
the bandwidth) but could possibly be worked out with another server.
Notification is what I really would like to see, and there are a few 
different ways it could do it, depending on developers:
sending a ping to a specific entry on the dev blog (the one containing 
info relative to the plugin) or interface with wp-plugins.net itself.
Wp-plugins.net already provides useful features to let developers 
notify their users, like a Change Log and Update Notification (with 
more on their way), it sounds to me like it could work very nicely in 
complement to SVN: have the deployment script update the plugin's entry 
in wp-plugins DB directly with the new version number, change log and 
other useful data (the new archive URL if necessary, although I am 
personally a fan of static non-version dependent archives for small 
releases like plugins).
Of course, each step could be made optional and no plugins should be 
forced to go through wp-plugins... although I know few plugin authors 
that would mind exposing their plugin seamlessly to a few more hundred 
WP users a day...

All this merely requires a bit of scripting and a small control page 
that can be used by developers to trigger a new deployment.

I don't know about other devs, but I can speak for me and say this 
would make my life a whole lot easier (no longer have to run a whole 
repetitive and error-prone list of task each time I straighten up a 
loose comma or add a small feature in a plugin).
Not to mention help users stay up to date with their plugins...

Anyway, let me know what you think and we can try to figure a way to 
interface these...

Cheers,
-- 
Dave

On Dec 10, 2004, at 1:45 AM, Matthew Mullenweg wrote:

> I just wanted to throw something out there.
>
> Would any plugin authors be interested in putting their work a plugin 
> repository? Not like DrDave's excellent Plugin DB 
> <http://wp-plugins.net/> but rather something just for the plugin 
> devs.  I finally found a high-availability hosting partner I'm 
> comfortable moving development activities to and I've been working a 
> lot with Subversion and Trac over the past few weeks, which would be 
> ideal for this purpose.
>
> Unlike CVS, with Subversion it would be very easy for me to set up 
> granularity of access to the repository, so to say person Y can commit 
> to subfolder X but nothing else. (If CVS has scared you off before 
> don't worry, SvN is much easier.) It would be like our own 
> mini-SourceForge just for themes and plugins.
>
> Here's why I think this would be a good idea:
>
> * Allow real version and quality control of plugin/theme code (just 
> like WP)
> * High availability of source code, not tied to any one site
> * People can update things without going through any bottlenecks
> * More transparancy to the development process
> * A bug database and wiki just for plugins/themes
> * Downloads don't have to drain bandwidth of individual sites
> * All actual plugin info can still live elsewhere like someone's site 
> or wp-plugins.net
> * People could learn the technologies that are going to power 
> WordPress (we're moving to SvN after 1.3)
> * Version control gives you warm fuzzies
>
> Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns?
>
> Would you use it?
>
> Some links:
>
> http://www.edgewall.com/trac/
> http://svnbook.red-bean.com/
> http://subversion.tigris.org/
>
> -- 
> Matt Mullenweg
>  http://photomatt.net | http://wordpress.org
> http://pingomatic.com | http://cnet.com
>
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>
>
>
-- 
Dave / デイヴ
drdave at unknowngenius.com