packaging plugin

[txoof]

need a packaging script to bundle up plugin in sensible way that is easily installable

[aaronr8684]

This is an interesting way to handle plugins. Just one approach

https://alysivji.github.io/simple-plugin-system.html

It also lists a few plugin framework modules that we could look at instead of reinventing the wheel

[aaronr8684]

I wonder if a phase 2 of this couldn't be a simple web interface with the ability to enable/disable plugins, set configs, install/uninstall, etc. Pretty big phase 2, but I'm just thinking out loud. Obviously, this would be a pretty big upgrade and I want to focus on the rest of the stuff we have planned (including modularizing the plugins) before even attempting this.

[txoof]

I like this idea. I'll need to put some more work into packaging and managing plugin install/uninstall.

[txoof]

I've started with a basic script to do the plugin install; it's based loosely on the existing install script.

https://github.com/txoof/PaperPi/blob/plugin_installer/utilities/install_plugin.sh

There's not much to it yet, just a basic outline of what it will do:

• stop running instance of PaperPi (daemon)
• decompress plugin tar
• copy the plugin into the PaperPi/plguins/directory
• do some checking that it will not clobber an existing plugin w/out confirmation
• install any debian or python requirements
  • prompt the user to handle the debian reqs first?
  • install the python reqs automatically
• add plugin configuration to user/etc config filesprompt user to edit config files and manage settings
• display a sample of the config so the user knows what to look for
• clean up temp files
• prompt user to restart paperp
  • optionally restart automatically (dubious)