[wp-hackers] 2.3 Features

[jason switzer]

On 5/17/07, Doug Stewart <zamoose at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 5/17/07, Eduardo Gutierrez de Oliveira <eduo at mac.com> wrote:
> > On May 18, 2007, at 1:00 AM, jason switzer wrote:
> >
> > > On 5/16/07, Doug Stewart <zamoose at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Quick spitballing on the updating of plugins - a single link at the
> > >> bottom/top of the plugins page that hits the plugin repo, creates a
> > >> zipfile containing all relevant plugin files and prompting the
> > >> user to
> > >> download it, allowing them to upload/update at their leisure.
> > >
> > > I'm not really trying to "spitball it" because I think it would
> > > definately
> > > be a step in the right direction. I would personally love to see
> > > plugins and
> > > themes be brain-dead simple to upgrade or install (useful if you
> > > make no
> > > changes to them). I would prefer it not simply notify me of the
> > > update but
> > > be able to perform the update as well (perhaps with an "Update Plugin"
> > > button, so I can click on that button at my leisure) when it
> > > detects one is
> > > available. It's not how I would implement said feature, but it
> > > would still
> > > improve the situation.
> >
> > I actually agree here. I really don't need a centralised way to
> > upgrade plug-ins, I just need them to be able to update without me
> > having to go through the check,download,disable,unzip,place,enable.
> >
> > The normal approach people think here is having a central repository
> > and have that be hit. This, to me, is just one of the possible ways.
> >
> > Another way would be to provide the infrastructure for plugins to
> > register themselves to update. the plug-in would just register in the
> > updater engine with a list of places to check for new versions. The
> > updater engine would then periodically check all the plug-ins sites
> > (similar to appcasts for Sparkle in Mac OS X) and let the user know
> > of updates.
> >
> > The update notice sent after the ping would specify the new version,
> > changes and other comments, and would internally specify what needs
> > to be done and where.
> >
> > This would take off the burden of a repository, which I think is
> > great for human browsing but I just don't see for programatic access.
> > I'm not sure if this made any sense, I know I have it clearer in my
> > mind, but it's 1am :)
>
> The problem with automatically updating, and not just notifying, is
> that it is almost GUARANTEED to not work on a large number of sites,
> particularly ones using shared hosting.
>
> What do you do when a host has fsockopen disabled?  What if cURL is
> further disabled? What about PHP's FTP capabilities?  What about
> permissions?  How do you handle that?
>
> Auto-updating is a GREAT feature, when it works.  My experience is
> that it isn't likely to actually work in a good number of situations.



That doesn't mean that at least in the beginning, a few options could be
provided. Then new ways of downloading can be added later as people start
hacking on it and getting clever. Eventually, the user could be able to
choose the method they prefer that works with their hosting service. If
their hosting service has all the available options disabled, then they
could at least do the downloading and let the core/plugin recognize the
downloaded plugin and begin the install/update. There are many ways for it
to possibly download the file, and it sounds reasonable to offer the choice
to the user.

The plugin could contain the necessary code to to install itself. If
wordpress detects the presence of said plugin (say in
wp-content/plugins/downloads/), then it could unzip the plugin, and read the
installation instruction file and perform any updating/installing that is
necessary by the plugin. If any problems arise, then the site admin can
mitigate them manually.

I've already suggested this before and it received mild attention and there
was supposedly some development for a plugin, but I haven't seem much else
(granted, I haven't gone looking either). With the advent of the center
Plugins page on wordpress.org, I don't see any reason why a feed can't be
added to inform all WP installs of the current plugins and their respective
versions/authors/etc.

http://comox.textdrive.com/pipermail/wp-hackers/2006-July/007263.html

You're assuming that nothing is possible because it's difficult.

-Jason