MaxBlogPress Plugins Removed From WP Repository

[Len]

Without re-hashing the entire GPL/ethics debate I too am glad those plugins have been removed from the repo.

Having said that, I'm not dissing the author. Many people find his plugins useful. If you don't feel comfortable with providing your email then don't use the plugin. Or fork the plugins as Chip has done.

I don't think they belong in the official WordPress repo though.

[Otto]

So, compelling the user to register/"activate" software is a violation of the GPL

You cannot violate your own license in your own copyrighted work.

I can write the most anti-free thing ever, release it under the GPL, and it's not a violation. It's my work, my property, my copyright. I can do anything I want to it because I own it. I have full rights to it.

The GPL only applies to other people. Without some license, other people have no rights to do anything with the work. I have all those rights. The GPL is the conditions under which I grant other people rights.

So while it is certainly a "dick move", it's not a violation of anything.

[chipbennett]

By the way, does anyone have a link to the fully-explained guidelines for inclusion in the wp.org repository?

This list doesn't seem to be complete:

1. Your plugin must be GPL Compatible.
2. The plugin most not do anything illegal, or be morally offensive (that’s subjective, we know).
3. You have to actually use the subversion repository we give you in order for your plugin to show up on this site. The WordPress Plugins Directory is a hosting site, not a listing site.
4. The plugin must not embed external links on the public site (like a "powered by" link) without explicitly asking the user's permission.

I know there are more - or, at least, more thoroughly defined - requirements. Does anyone know where such a list might be?

One thing that hadn't been pointed out (as far as I know) is that all of the MBP plugins circumvent SVN, and check for updates at the MBP website. That seems not to conform to #3 (I know other plugins do the same thing - but those plugins aren't hosted at wp.org).

[Ryan]

I'm not sure there is such a list. The themes requirement list has more restrictions in case that's what you are confused with.

[Ryan]

There's some tips here, but they're not really requirements, just recommendations/tips:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/about/faq/

This in particular is a darn handy little bit of information which I'd been wondering how to do for a while:

Can I specify what version of my plugin the WordPress.org Plugin Directory should use?
Yes, by specifying the Stable Tag field in your trunk directory’s readme file.

I might put that into action tomorrow as I currently have a series of files strewn over my computer as backups of various test versions. I'd be a lot better of uploading them to the repository instead of backing them up the old fashioned way (ie: disorganised chaos).

[chipbennett]

There's some tips here, but they're not really requirements, just recommendations/tips:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/about/faq/

This in particular is a darn handy little bit of information which I'd been wondering how to do for a while:

Can I specify what version of my plugin the WordPress.org Plugin Directory should use?
Yes, by specifying the Stable Tag field in your trunk directory’s readme file.

I might put that into action tomorrow as I currently have a series of files strewn over my computer as backups of various test versions. I'd be a lot better of uploading them to the repository instead of backing them up the old fashioned way (ie: disorganised chaos).

I remember reading that, when I was first trying to figure out SVN.

So, does that mean that "trunk" is the "development" version, and as long as I have the current stable version tagged (e.g. 1.0), and the stable tag in readme.txt in trunk reads "1.0", then I can be working on trunk, and update notifications won't get sent out until I tag trunk again and update the stable tag?

[Otto]

If you want to use branches and tags, here's how to do it.

1. The readme.txt file in the trunk must include the Stable Tag. In fact, you should always include that anyway, and set it to "trunk" if you don't use tags, just for clarity purposes.

2. Make directories under tags with the version numbers for names. Like 1.1, or 2.3.2, or whatever. Put copies of the whole plugin into these.

3. When you want to make a new versioned release, you do the following:
a. Make a new tag directory and put a copy of the versioned release in there.
b. Change the Stable Tag field in the readme.txt to contain that new version number. This should be in both that version and in the trunk directory. Old tagged versions should remain unchanged.

Basically, when the WP automatic parser finds a Stable Tag in the trunk readme.txt, then it switches to that tag and continues processing everything from there. When you have a Stable Tag pointing to a tagged version, *everything else* it reads will be from that tagged directory. Nothing in trunk will matter to the automatic builder. You can continue to modify trunk as you see fit, and nobody will get an update notification. Until you make a new tagged version and change the Stable Tag to point to it, everybody remains oblivious.

Branches are basically not used by the Extend system, but you can use them if you like.

[chipbennett]

If you want to use branches and tags, here's how to do it.

1. The readme.txt file in the trunk must include the Stable Tag. In fact, you should always include that anyway, and set it to "trunk" if you don't use tags, just for clarity purposes.

2. Make directories under tags with the version numbers for names. Like 1.1, or 2.3.2, or whatever. Put copies of the whole plugin into these.

3. When you want to make a new versioned release, you do the following:
a. Make a new tag directory and put a copy of the versioned release in there.
b. Change the Stable Tag field in the readme.txt to contain that new version number. This should be in both that version and in the trunk directory. Old tagged versions should remain unchanged.

Basically, when the WP automatic parser finds a Stable Tag in the trunk readme.txt, then it switches to that tag and continues processing everything from there. When you have a Stable Tag pointing to a tagged version, *everything else* it reads will be from that tagged directory. Nothing in trunk will matter to the automatic builder. You can continue to modify trunk as you see fit, and nobody will get an update notification. Until you make a new tagged version and change the Stable Tag to point to it, everybody remains oblivious.

Branches are basically not used by the Extend system, but you can use them if you like.

Awesome, Otto; thanks!

That's basically what I stumbled upon through trial and error, so I'm glad to see that I managed to get it right. :)

What you wrote is much more clear than what's in the SVN book, by the way.

[Ryan]

Yeah, (good) instructions on SVN are hard to come by. I totally fried my repository once and it was only with some emergency help from Ryan McCue that I got it back into order in a hurry.

I very quickly learned to be darn careful or you end up getting bombed with support requests from confused plugin users wondering why their site broke on upgrading. Explaining that it was due to your own stupidity is not a pleasant thing to do!!!!!

... must include the Stable Tag. In fact, you should always include that anyway

I don't use stable tags. I'll start now though.

[Otto]

Awesome, Otto; thanks!

That's basically what I stumbled upon through trial and error, so I'm glad to see that I managed to get it right. :)

What you wrote is much more clear than what's in the SVN book, by the way.

That probably isn't in the SVN book, it's WordPress specific due to their parsing system for the Extend area.

One useful thing to know. If you want to make a quick release without a lot of copying, then get your trunk happy, set it all up, update the Stable Tag, check it in, then do this:

svn copy http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/example/trunk http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/example/tags/1.1 -m "Release 1.1 version"

Instant copy of trunk to the tag without all the data transfer. Very handy.