orphan plugins

redbot · 2009-04-23 10:30:08

Bloke wrote:

…I’ll open one later …

Maybe you should rename it smd_plugin_composer?
After all you’ve made enough changes to the original.

Bloke · 2009-04-23 12:20:47

redbot wrote:

Maybe you should rename it smd_plugin_composer?

I have considered this on a few occasions but it didn’t feel right given that vast swathes of the code is Yura’s. But perhaps to avoid confusion from this point on I’ll officially rebrand it; as it were. A logical place to do that from is with v0.9. But as it’ll only work with TXP v4.0.9 I’ll hold off creating the new topic. The good thing is that using the new plugin lifecycle system in 4.0.9 I can automatically migrate all your existing prefs over to smd_* prefs when you install the new plugin, so the upgrade path is simpler than trying to switch over right now and have redundant prefs left lying around.

colak · 2009-04-23 13:06:53

wet wrote:

Tagging a plugin’s thread with [ORPHAN] plus eventually opening a plugin request thread if a plugin turns orphaned and has an interested user base would hopefully provide enough exposure.

I started the job and there far more abandoned plugins than anticipated a search in the plugin author support forum for [orphan] will give you a vague idea of how many I marked till now.

With an exception to those who expressly announced that they do not support their plugins any longer I am considering any plugin authors who did not post in the forum for the past year as having abandoned their plugins.

Once the job is finished I will collate all plugin names and post them all in a place where an announcement can be made that these plugins are up for adoption.

I have a problem with adopted plugins (zem_contact and ied_composer are two). Should they be marked as [orphan]ed or should the thread (for zem_contact) just be closed (I already provided a link from there to zcr).

Bloke · 2009-04-23 13:34:44

colak wrote:

there far more abandoned plugins than anticipated

Blimey! Good work there colak. More than I’d expected too.

I will collate all plugin names and post them all in a place where an announcement can be made that these plugins are up for adoption.

Cool, but some of them as I mentioned above are simply just not necessary any more or have been used in favour of other, more recent, plugins. anc_hide is one (replaced by core txp:hide); kgr_safe_excerpt is another which was pretty much dropped in favour of the now also abandoned rss_auto_excerpt. Posting such out-dated plugins up for adoption is probably not really necessary and might cloud the issue somewhat.

I have a problem with adopted plugins (zem_contact and ied_composer are two).

Don’t orphan ied_plugin_composer because it has a Daddy: me! Leave it open and active for now and I’ll do what you/Els/redbot suggested when TXP 4.0.9 is released, then the old thread can simply be closed. I’d vote for closing the old zem_contact thread and providing the forwarding link as you have done. The same will probably become true of sed_sf when gerhard builds it into glz_custom_fields but I think some people will still prefer a section-field-style plugin without extra custom fields so that one should probably be offered for adoption directly as well.

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-23 13:37:33)

els · 2009-04-23 13:56:23

colak wrote:

Once the job is finished I will collate all plugin names and post them all in a place where an announcement can be made that these plugins are up for adoption.

bloke wrote:

some of them as I mentioned above are simply just not necessary any more or have been used in favour of other, more recent, plugins

Can we add [ARCHIVED] instead of [ORPHAN] to those that are superfluous because replaceable by (a combination of) core tags, add a notice referring to those core tag(s) and close the thread? (Hmm… mrdale will never speak to me again if I do that to chh_if_data… ;) ) And just close the threads of those that can be replaced with a more recent plugin (and refer to it)?

wet wrote:

eventually opening a plugin request thread if a plugin turns orphaned and has an interested user base

Looking at the number of recent support request posts in these threads would give us an idea of how desirable adoption would be, can we use that as a guideline?

bloke wrote:

I’d vote for closing the old zem_contact thread and providing the forwarding link as you have done.

Agree.

colak · 2009-04-23 14:41:32

There are some plugins whose functions can be reproduced by core tags but there are some like glx_if whose frontpage function goes far beyond to what txp can do at this time.

Bloke wrote:

Cool, but some of them as I mentioned above are simply just not necessary any more or have been used in favour of other, more recent, plugins. anc_hide is one (replaced by core txp:hide); kgr_safe_excerpt is another which was pretty much dropped in favour of the now also abandoned rss_auto_excerpt. Posting such out-dated plugins up for adoption is probably not really necessary and might cloud the issue somewhat.

Els wrote:

Can we add [ARCHIVED] instead of [ORPHAN] to those that are superfluous because replaceable by (a combination of) core tags, add a notice referring to those core tag(s) and close the thread? (Hmm… mrdale will never speak to me again if I do that to chh_if_data… ;) ) And just close the threads of those that can be replaced with a more recent plugin (and refer to it)?

I guess this decision will also depend on whether the plugin is still compatible with the latest txp.

Some old plugins which I would include Dean’s first plugin (was that the first ever?) somehow still works just fine or it was anyway until a couple of txp versions ago at which time I deactivated and deleted it.

any help in identifying long dead and (more importently) incompatible plugins would be appreciated.

ps>. what are we are going to do with Sencer’s plugins?

els · 2009-04-23 15:25:33

colak wrote:

any help in identifying long dead and (more importently) incompatible plugins would be appreciated.

I’ll have time later tonight and tomorrow.

what are we are going to do with Sencer’s plugins?

Mmm… asy_wondertag is one example of a plugin that is definitely superfluous since 4.0.7, but there are still users who for whatever reason are using an older version, and therefore still need asy_wondertag. So it’s probably a bit harsh to close the thread ;) Regarding Sencer’s plugins, maybe we can make an exception for him and ask him if he’d mind if we label his plugins ‘orphaned’?

some like glx_if whose frontpage function goes far beyond to what txp can do at this time.

I doubt that ;)

maniqui · 2009-04-23 15:29:55

Don’t forget to mark Postmaster (or any other plugin by Ben Bruce) as orphaned!

els · 2009-04-23 15:35:10

Thanks :) I wish there was a way to search for plugins by author… But wait, maybe we can search on txp.org!

Edit: yeah, I think that could be useful: http://textpattern.org/?q=mdn_ and then search the forum for the plugin names.

Last edited by els (2009-04-23 15:38:47)

Bloke · 2009-04-23 15:45:33

How’s this for a start? Amend/update that page please and let’s get a status update on them all (i.e. which are definitely supported, unsupported, adopted by, superceded by, replaced by, etc). Shouldn’t take long between us to work out which ones are in common use. Then, we can delete the ones that are in active duty and do not replace any other plugin.

What’s left are the orphans. The list can then be used as a place for people to find which plugins are old, which should be used instead, and which ones are available for adoption. If we eventually use it in the wiki docs, fine. If the page ultimately gets deleted, it doesn’t matter because it’s not linked from anywhere except this thread.

EDIT: It might be a good reference for people that find a plugin is no longer supported and want to find out what is similar or can do a similar job?!

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-23 15:49:16)

els · 2009-04-23 15:48:58

Wow, that’s great! How did you get them all??? And oh boy there are many… did you count them? :)

Bloke · 2009-04-23 15:50:17

Els wrote:

Wow, that’s great! How did you get them all??? And oh boy there are many… did you count them? :)

Screen-scraped from textpattern.org, run thru Excel and then into a text editor with a macro. 598 in total. Yowzers!

els · 2009-04-23 15:55:33

You did a wonderful job!

598 in total.

I bet we can find two more that are not on .org to round it off ;)

Bloke · 2009-04-23 15:58:44

Ta. Of course, if it’s going to be a useful document in the wiki, it’ll need formatting a lot better than currently. A fixed width list was the quickest solution so we could get something going now and chip away at the list to find the ones people either a) use/no longer use or b) are true orphans.

Oh, and I added asy_wondertag manually because it’s not in the .org list. But I forgot MLP. Suppose it should be in there :-) That’s 599…

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-23 15:59:58)

MattD · 2009-04-23 16:01:53

Is that a list of EVERY plugin?

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#16 2009-04-23 10:30:08

Re: orphan plugins

#17 2009-04-23 12:20:47

Re: orphan plugins

#18 2009-04-23 13:06:53

Re: orphan plugins

#19 2009-04-23 13:34:44

Re: orphan plugins

#20 2009-04-23 13:56:23

Re: orphan plugins

#21 2009-04-23 14:41:32

Re: orphan plugins

#22 2009-04-23 15:25:33

Re: orphan plugins

#23 2009-04-23 15:29:55

Re: orphan plugins

#24 2009-04-23 15:35:10

Re: orphan plugins

#25 2009-04-23 15:45:33

Re: orphan plugins

#26 2009-04-23 15:48:58

Re: orphan plugins

#27 2009-04-23 15:50:17

Re: orphan plugins

#28 2009-04-23 15:55:33

Re: orphan plugins

#29 2009-04-23 15:58:44

Re: orphan plugins

#30 2009-04-23 16:01:53

Re: orphan plugins

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