Hi Erin, On Oct 4, 2007, at 3:23 AM, Erin Schnabel wrote:
> I had a thought,as I sit here pulling up 1.1.1(finally), is there a > reason we have so many plugins enabled by default? Yes, that's because they are core plugins. Now some of them shouldn't be core and should be moved out inside the xwiki-platform/plugins directory. > I'm not even sure > anyone knows how to use most of the ones that are enabled. AND, as > they're plugins, they shouldn't be on or enabled unless they're > actually needed. I don't agree here for 2 reasons: 1) enabling a plugin isn't currently straightforward 2) you're talking about the standalone distribution which has an already made xwiki.cfg and that's fine since it's meant to work as is with a default choice of plugins and a default config in general. If you're talking about the WAR distribution, the xwiki.cfg is just an example and is expected to be modified by the user. > I propose a space: XWikiPluginGuide. > > Each plugin would have a page in the guide describing: a) how to > enable the plugin, b) what options are used by the plugin, c) how to > invoke and use the plugin, and optionally d) who wrote the plugin and > the version information (which that document could retrieve via a > getVersion, getAuthor, or whatever call back to the plugin). I'm not sure I understand. We already have this on xwiki.org on Code.Plugins. Are you suggesting that this should be bundled inside the default wiki? If so we need to revisit the whole area of bundling documentation in the default wiki XAR since right now we're not bundling any and instead pointing users online at xwiki.org. > A lot of plugins have a place where they check to make sure that > document artifacts that they need exist. I don't understand that. Could you explain it more? > One of the things they would > check is if "PluginGuide.pluginname" exists, where pluginname is what > they return in response to getName(). If "PluginGuide.pluginname" > doesn't exist, they'll create one, setting the title, etc. They > *could*, in theory, either add a field to that document or use the > document's inherent version to decide whether or not the document > should be all out replaced at some later point, so that when the > plugin is updated/loaded, the page is updated. > > The plugin code itself is the repository of all knowledge as far as > what xwiki properties it understands, how the methods should be > invoked, etc. That way, if I want to know how to use the feed plugin, > I can just go to PluginGuide.feed, and find out. > > THEN... > > Since we have options documented in the plugin guide, we can remove > blocks like this from xwiki.cfg: > > # To enable it, add "com.xpn.xwiki.plugin.graphviz.GraphVizPlugin" to > the list of plugins > # in the xwiki.plugins property. > # Uncomment and set the locations of the Dot and Neato executables > #xwiki.plugin.graphviz.dotpath=c:/Program Files/ATT/GraphViz/bin/ > dot.exe > #xwiki.plugin.graphviz.neatopath=c:/Program Files/ATT/GraphViz/bin/ > neato.exe > This should be removed anyway. The only reason it's not yet is because nobody has documented the graphiz plugin on http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Code/Plugins > Same with lazlo, captcha, LDAP, etc. Anything that can be turned off > should be removed from xwiki.cfg w/ appropriate PluginGuide docs > describing how to turn it back on. Yes we all agree but it needs to be documented first on http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Code/Plugins > If we *can't* turn it off, meaning that the default skin needs it, > then we should note that, eh? I think the calendar plugin, for > example, is used by more than just the EventCalendar pages (though I > forget exactly where at the moment.. but it's in the code, not in the > templates). > > If the plugins become too central to wiki function, like the Packager > plugin, for instance.. it isn't a plugin anymore, and shouldn't be in > the xwiki.plugins list in xwiki.cfg. Yes I also agree with this. For me it should simply become a component located in the core. The core must not depend on any plugin. > To steal an acronym from Vincent, WDYT? I'm just not understanding the first part of this email about the PluginGuide stuff. The rest matches my thinking too. We're just missing tech writers to do the job. -Vincent _______________________________________________ devs mailing list [email protected] http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
