Today I was asked to integrate @anon71687268 plugin updater in one of my plugins
I ended up not doing it because decided to push it to WP repo as well mainly just to use their update mech
Also because if each and every cp developer has to setup server to serve updates, that costs money and also isn’t really safe.
So my thought here, wouldn’t it be possible to integrate @anon71687268 plugin updater in a server managed by classicpress, a central server for all our plugins, and then ship updates from there?
That would allow us to ship our updates now without waiting for (years probably) cp to break version and add its own plugin list in core.
The problem is right now unless you have a dedicated server that you use just to ship cp updates (plugin related) you really can’t ship updates
Unless you go with the plugin to WP, but then you can’t use cp doc links, cp names, and the like because you probably risk the plugin being refused.
Like, I can’t send a “for classicpress” plugin to WP repo and not even test it with 5.8
So, is it possible to integrate said (or similar) update mechanism in cp servers to help our developers push updates to our users from a safe, centralized system without huge efforts?
Just to clarify, I built the plugin originally, but, it’s now maintained by @Simone.
It would need a bit more work to achieve what you’re after, but, it could be used in this way.
It seems reasonable to expect someone at the level of developing plugins will also be at the level of owning a domain. To clarify, there’s no need to have a dedicated domain to serve updates (that’s just how a lot of us prefer to do it) – Update Manager works just fine even if it’s running on an “actual live” CP site.
Directory integration is coming to version 2.0. I assume it includes plugin updates. I hope it does. @wadestriebel is the right person to answer that.
But I think it might be wasted time and effort to build something separate since directory is being worked on. Wade will open source directory soon, so that time and effort should go into directory instead.
Makes sense
My concern was about having each dev his/her Update instance
I could of course set up my own server for this, that wouldn’t be the problem…
What I don’t understand is if I need to set up a server for each plugin I would want to ship updates for - and if I can ship several updates from the same site then why couldn’t we ship all cp plugins updates from a central server with it.
I think you misunderstand how the Update Manager plugin works. You don’t need a server for each plugin. You can install one instance of Update Manager (on your own server) and serve updates for an unlimited number of plugins in which you have added the update client file and pointed the URL to your update server.
But can you tell how long it’ll take until that version 2 will come?
I am ready to wait.
However I think we’ll wait until end of 2021 at least.
Longer
And that wouldn’t be wasted time if We could ship updates by simply spinning up a server with a plugin on it that already exists
Seems that’s not possible, so… I guess we just have to stay in the cumbersome current situation for a considerable time to come.
I had hoped the plugin would allow to ship several plugins updates from one server
Which would mean in less than an hour we’d be able to start shipping updates, as opposed to several months, or more.
That’d be a massive win for a plugin developer, not a loss of time or effort.
Then I don’t understand why we don’t just do this for all our plugins from one cp server
Like, we’d be able to ship updates within the day, if I understand you right?
Why ask 90 developer to make their own server, which each could be a security risk, when we can have an official server, with the plugins and the update plugin on it?
I built the plugin as a solution prior to the directory’s creation…mostly because it is irresponsible to create and release plugins without a way for users to update them (namely for security reasons.) It has been talked about that the code in Update Manager will eventually be incorporated into the directory to achieve exactly what you’re saying: a single source to update plugins.
I don’t see a reason to not do it, other than “someone will need to put in the time and effort to create it and to manage it.” I’d guess that’s the biggest hurdle. Perhaps a petition?
It should also be noted that once the directory gets a lot of plugins in it, the Update Manager would not be as performant as it is in a environment where it’s only serving updates for, say, 100 plugins. It would still host an unlimited number of plugins, though. It was designed more for dev-use and the vast majority of us have <20 plugins, so performance wasn’t necessarily an issue. I only tested it with up to 50 plugins.
Yeah, not quite possible… yet. The plugin was built in a real hurry (not to say sloppily!) as the need was immediate and I didn’t feel there was time to go through a petition or democratic process…so I just wrote it on my own to ensure it wasn’t held up in any way.
If anyone has questions about the plugin’s performance or suitability for large plugin shops, you’re definitely the expert! How are you finding it with that many plugins?
