Extension New Release Notification

bugsmi0

not to beat a dead horse (grabs my stick) but we REALLY NEED a notification system that lets us know when the extensions we are using have been updated, the more extensions we add the more difficult it is to keep track of updated versions,
the only way currently is to go to vanilla add-ons and sift through every single one,
has any one thought up something along these lines ?

TomTester

bump, ditto, etc. priority 2 IMHO

Mark

It will be in the next minor release.

Mark

I don't know when that will be.

TomTester

I just need an easy way to check or find out what's new. #1 (easy/quick/short term?) Copy-pasting the names in a text field (one add-on per line) and getting back some version response (matching names/plugins) would help tremendously. #2 (easy/less quick/medium term?) Alternatively, how about tracking my downloads and notifying me of relevant uploads via a forum notifier? (assign each add-on its own discussion?) #3 (cumbersome/slow/long-term?) Finally, a PULL option like Firefox? (how strict are the default.php header formats?) Check for updates (could be manual for every plugin in extensions dir) -> checks installed plugins and retrieves versions -> sends 'update' request to Lussumo Add-On site -> if newer versions available update location(s) are sent back -> user downloads and installs

bjrn

I think the whole pull system has been discussed before and discarded. Something with security issues iirc.

TomTester

Can someone implement #1 then ('perty' please)?

Ben

I think the best way would be for the extensions page (on your forum) to check Lussumo, and then alert you by way of a small icon that there is a new version for you to download.

You'd then be able to download it yourself from the Add-Ons site. Perhaps even make the icon link directly to the download.

Minisweeper

This would need to be cached daily or weekly though. I'm sure mark is shifting plenty of bandwidth on here as it is without having thousands of forums calling home whenever someone clicks the extensions page.

russlipton

I'd be content if an extension version field helped generate a (looong) single-page doc that listed extensions by name; date of most recent revision; version number. It's not so hard, even running multiple forums, to match up my extensions occasionally against a doc page here. Adding an optional sticky announcement to the Vanilla front that lists extensions updated within the past 'x' days or weeks would be a helpful reminder to synch up.

(Automagic would be way better for me but ...).

Krak

He said it will be in the next minor release. I am content with that. I imagine he will just modify the system used to check for Vanilla updates. I think that would be the less taxing route. Check for updates when you want to, instead of pounding a server constantly. Edit: Thats not a bad idea. A list of all the extensions (themes and everything else on the add on site, separated of course) in plain text so to speak. With the name version and date. So one could look and easily see a mass list and the versions/dates. I imagine that would be very easy to do. But, Mark would have to be the one to do it me thinks.

TomTester

How about this implementation? First we create a whole bunch of standard 'version' images (v0.1) - (v9.9) Whomever makes an add-on selects the appropriate 'version' image and includes it with their add-on ZIP archive as version.jpg. Once uploaded the receiving site extracts the version.jpg file from the ZIP archive and puts it in the download directory )this can be done manually if not hosted on Mark's site) Once installed on the server the extensions overview shows TWO images. #1 is the LOCAL version.jpg image (stored in the extentions directory) which came from the installed module #2 links to the REMOTE version image (extracted from the most recent ZIP archive, and stored in the download directory) We display both. A visual inspection will reveal there's an update... (color variations for increase versions would help, e.g. 0.1-0.9 increasing green, etc.) Works? Or too complicated?

Minisweeper

What's the point in making it so complex?

MySchizoBuddy

Serendipity weblog engine has Spartacus. Its automatic plugin installer (please don't discuss this) and updater.
Serendipity hosts its update information about its plugin on sourceforge. So that takes care of bandwidth issue.
Plus the extension update information is updated daily and its done automatically. Its just a simple xml file that has all the version numbers.
It doesn't give u update info automatically. U have to tell it to check it though

TomTester

@Mini I want the onus of bandwidth and version notification/management
to be on the developer, not Mark/Lussumo. My images solution would
allow remote hosting as well as a centralized repository etc.

That said: add-on 'owner' registration and some XML would also work.