[geeklog-devel] Plugin help --- Package Extractor

[Mark R. Evans]

Joe,

I'll be happy to give it a go in a Unix environment and also a 
WinSrv/IIS setup. 

Thanks!
Mark

Joe Mucchiello wrote:
> I've just about finished a new plugin called Package Extractor for 
> Geeklog. I consider it only Alpha level code at the moment. In a 
> nutshell, it presents an upload form for plugin tarballs. You upload 
> the tarball and it extracts the files to the proper directories (admin 
> to /public_html/admin/plugins/$plugin_name, public_html to 
> /public_html/plugins/$plugin_name, and the rest to 
> /plugins/$plugin_name). Assuming nothing goes wrong it redirects you 
> to the plugin.php where the install link for the new plugin should be 
> available in lower part of the page.
>
> Features (and Limitations):
> * Appears on the Admin menu only to members of Root as "Package 
> Extractor (N/A)".
> * It only works with tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2 and tgz files as it is using 
> PEAR::ARCHIVE::TAR to do the extractions. Plans for zip and rar 
> support as they become available.
> * Likewise, it is pretty strict about the file name being 
> $plugin_$plver_$glver.tar.
> * If there is a file named package.inc in the tarball, it will attempt 
> to execute the function plugin_postpackageupload_$plugin (if it 
> exists) after it moves the files. This is a place where plugins with 
> weird file location requirements can move more stuff around. (Like 
> Blaine's lib-portalparts.php file.) If the function returns false, the 
> upload is aborted (though I still need to make it clean up.
> * Each major step of the process executes in its own request using 
> redirects to avoid long processing time limitations made by some 
> webhosts.
> * Files are placed in /data/packages before extraction. On success 
> they are moved to /data/packages/installed. (Automatic cleanup of 
> installed is a future feature.)
> * If the plugin is already installed, it compares plugin versions. If 
> they match, it aborts the extraction. If they don't match it disables 
> the current plugin, extracts and re-enables. This should activate the 
> "upgrade" button in the plugins.php admin screen.
> * It logs much of its activity to a file called /logs/package.log
>
> Future Ideas:
> * Well, some kind of 
> SOAP/XML-RPC/Web20/whatever-it's-called-these-days interface to a 
> public website which would allow you to download the package from the 
> web rather than uploading from the browser would be really cool. 
> Probably include a support URL API like plugin_support_site_$plugin so 
> plugins can reveal their "official" website to the package extractor 
> (this would go in functions.inc of course).
> * It's called Package Extractor because I expect it to also work with 
> Theme installation someday.
> * package.inc could have lots of cool functions. Like, 
> plugin_final_instructions_$plugin, a function that would display an 
> informative page about last minute things you MUST take care before 
> hitting that install link. It would end on that page instead of 
> plugins.php page if the function returns a string. Or, 
> plugin_home_server_$plugin which, with the web20 interface could allow 
> the plugin to verify it is up to date.
> * Oh, yeah. It needs a good icon.
>
> As I said, it's at the Alpha stage. It works in my test environment 
> for most simple plugins (autotags, nettools, faq, glutil). More 
> complex plugins really need that package.inc file but that's up to the 
> plugin writers to support. And that's why I'm posting here. This thing 
> needs testing in alternate environments (I've only got Win XP, Apache 
> 2, PHP 5, GL 1.4.1). I'm looking for a few testers and for a few 
> plugin writers to support the package.inc extensions.
>
> I'll have a tarball available to those who request it by the end of 
> the week (although originally I was going to post this Sunday so who 
> knows). I just need to test installing the package extractor plugin 
> itself as it's been an active plugin in my test system for a while 
> now. I also need to make a sample package.inc file.
>
>
> ----
> Joe Mucchiello
> Throwing Dice Games
> http://www.throwingdice.com
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