users overservations on the plugin handling

[Ian Clatworthy]

Tim Michelsen wrote:

> Here I wanna share my perception of the plugin system. As BZR matzres, I
> think it could receive some improvement:
> 
> The BZR plugin system has some shortcomings from the user point of view:
>     * no common specifications / minimum requirements
>         * plugin help
>         * command help
>         * crossplatform compatibilty & no info if used on wrong platform
>     * the following could be done to improve these:
>         * it should be easy to upgrade (all) plugins
>         * the GUI (Windows) could have a plugin manager that takes
> plugins from
>             online repository (c.f. QGIS)
>         * many plugins have external dependencies on other python modules
>             (e.g. svn relys on subvertpy.py). But these are not tracked.
>         * plugins should be crossplatform or at least state the system
> and show a message if used
>             on the wrong platform
>         * why not use eggs or easy_install?
> 
> I can see that there are 2 blueprints with similar target:

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the constructive feedback! Once 2.0 is released, we'll be
focussing our efforts on improving the user experience. I'm sure plugin
management will get a fair amount of attention during our next major
development cycle (6 months) as a consequence. Your input is therefore
very timely.

At a minimum, it would be great to have your above thoughts recorded in
our bug tracking system. Creating a blueprint would be better still.
(Email is great for kicking off a discussion but we ultimately want the
results recorded somewhere where good ideas don't get lost as easily.)

BTW, qbzr 0.14 has a qplugins commands which I intend to grow to become
the GUI plugin manager you mention. In Bazaar Explorer 0.7, qplugins is
available via the Tools > Plugins menu item.

I've also recently put together a document containing help for the more
popular plugins. See http://doc.bazaar-vcs.org/plugins/en/.

Ian C.