3rd party plugins and 8.0 ?

[erland]

> Would it be preferred to still change the maxTarget to 8.* or 8.0.* with
> the result that a lot of users reports problems with plugins if there is
> some API change ?

I bet you'll have less reports than you got now. More people are asking
"what happened to my favorite plugin?" then there are reports about
issues with LMS8.

I can't guarantee this will be true for your plugins or for ever. But as
of today there's imho no really breaking API change (if there ever was
such a thing as a defined API :-)). The one change which _might_ cause
some issues for your particular plugin is the fact that tracks returned
by CLI queries (and low-level SQL, of course) could be remote using http
urls rather than local files only.

> Or should I keep it as 7.* until 8.0 is getting closer to a release and
> I’ve verified the plugins with 8.0 myself ?

Go for 8. If a user hits a problem, you'll at least know about it :-).

Michael, is your opinion regarding this the same now when 8.0 is officially released ?

Basically, is it preferred that third party plugins are marked with maxTarget=* even if they haven’t been tested on the latest release and no longer is actively supported ?

Or do you prefer that we only have plugins in the standard repository files that is tested or at least is fixed by someone reasonably fast if an issue is found ?

Just asking because putting maxTarget=* in standard repository files might result in that people no longer can trust that plugins that can be installed in Plugins tab actually work. The risk is that someone would have to manage a separate compatibility matrix/list somewhere to give users an indication what works. While keeping it as 7.* instead result in that people are going to miss plugins that might work and have to manually install them or manually add a repository url that contains maxTarget=*.

I think I’ve decided to provide a repository file with maxTarget=* for my plugins since I’ve realized that I won’t find the time to test them or fix any issues myself in the foreseeable future. So I’m just wondering if I should do it in my standard repository file or if I should add a new untested repository people can add manually in their setup.

Any thoughts from you or someone else in the community ?

[mherger]

> Michael, is your opinion regarding this the same now when 8.0 is
> officially released ?

Yes.

> Basically, is it preferred that third party plugins are marked with
> maxTarget=* even if they haven’t been tested on the latest release and
> no longer is actively supported ?

Put a big fat "USE AT YOUR OWN RISK", "YMMV" etc. in the description,
then let them go. From what we've heard so far most users who installed
your plugins manually are happy with them.

> Or do you prefer that we only have plugins in the standard repository
> files that is tested or at least is fixed by someone reasonably fast if
> an issue is found ?

That's really up to you: do you prefer complaints about the lack of the
plugin over complaints about a bug? Tell the user what he's dealing
with, but give him the opportunity to test ride the plugin. With a
little luck there might even be a guy trying to fix an issue if he
encounters one.

--

Michael

[erland]

> Or do you prefer that we only have plugins in the standard repository
> files that is tested or at least is fixed by someone reasonably fast if
> an issue is found ?

That's really up to you: do you prefer complaints about the lack of the
plugin over complaints about a bug? Tell the user what he's dealing
with, but give him the opportunity to test ride the plugin. With a
little luck there might even be a guy trying to fix an issue if he
encounters one.

Thanks for the input.

My preference would be that someone else actively maintained the most important functionality from my plugins in 8.0. Handling patches means that I’d still have to spend time I don’t have on them. The easiest path is likely for someone to implement new simpler plugins with the most important functionality. Alternatively that someone provides a repository file with minTarget=8.0.0 under their name and takes responsibility for testing and maintenance of my existing plugins. If nobody does that it probably means that there aren’t much interest for the functionality.

The reason I’d like someone else to actively maintain the functionality is that this would also mean that I in best case can get new functionality myself without having to spend time on it.

The best way to get the ball rolling regarding this seems to be that the plugins stop working or is as hard as possible to install. This would mean that someone providing something new wouldn’t have to compete with an unsupported plugin.

Based on this I’m now starting to think that I maybe should leave it as it is and see what happens. Will think a bit more about it before I make the final decision.

Is the plugin description from repository file shown in plugin tab for already installed plugins or is it just for plugins that haven’t been installed yet ? Just asking to get a feeling how to easiest inform users that upgrade LMS with plugins already installed that they are using an unsupported version.