[Geany-devel] [RFC] Plugin Template

[Matthew Brush]

On 05/03/11 05:42, Colomban Wendling wrote:
> I don't think the template is really useful, apart maybe for
> Makefile.ams and wscript_* (though I don't know exactly what's in the
> later), but I think that for the other files a tutorial is just enough
> and probably even better:
>

Maybe I used the wrong word or you misunderstood what I mean by 
template, I don't mean "download this and your good to go", I mean 
"download this, edit the boilerplate files as per the comments/examples 
in them (and described in a tutorial), and you've got a good start".

>   * AUTHORS just contains he author's name, nothing predictable

I predict this file will contain information about the author(s), for 
example:

Your Name <youremail at email.org>

Then the new developer knows she needs to replace the above with real 
information.

>   * COPYING OK, should probably be a GPL, but we already have both v2 and
> v3 (maybe we should fix this BTW...)

Probably a safe bet to include GPLv2 in the template, IMO.  Unless there 
is a license conflict, I don't see a point in not letting the developer 
choose her license.

>   * ChangeLog, maybe required for the build system, not sure, but anyway
> its content is not predictable either

I predict this file will log the changes made the plugins source code, 
for example:

1970-01-01  Your Name	<youremail at email.org>

  * Start counting in seconds until the end of the world (Jan 19, 2038).

Pretty obvious to new developer what to do with this file.

>   * NEWS again, not predictable

I predict this one to contain news about the latest release (or a 
reference to see the ChangeLog), for example:

Your Plugin 0.01 (January 1, 1970)

     * First official release

Then the new developers knows what her ChangeLog should look like and 
it's pretty obvious how to use it.

>   * README same

I predict this one to contain documentation on how to use the plugin.  I 
was thinking for this to make a generic template in restructedtext with 
the sections most commonly used in other geany-plugins (since they are 
mostly the same) and some generic text for the new developer to replace 
with real documentation.

>   * THANKS, again
>   * TODO same, and not even needed

Same as above predictions but for these files.  Like I said at the top, 
I think you misunderstood what I meant by template.

>   * ../build/foo.m4 though it's quite similar from a plugin to another
> should not be put in the real build dir, so where to place it? I think a
> tutorial explaining what to put in it is better

I would probably place it under an examples/ dir or similar and inside 
it would be commented to explain how to use the file (as with the other 
files) so a new developer knows she has to add dependencies there, etc.

>   * src/foo.c though a small part of it will be the same for every
> plugin, most of it's content will not be the same, and we even already
> have a doc/demo for this

Probably just reuse plugins/demoplugin.c for this (or an updated version 
used in the tutorial).

>   * configure.ac is a bit pointless since we talk about geany-plugins
> integration ^^

Not pointless if you want to build your plugin inside the checked-out 
directory, as would be described in the tutorial (before being added to 
the geany-plugins project).

>
> So I think the tutorial is a great idea, but I'm not sure the demo entry is.

*Template*

Thanks for your feedback.

Cheers,
Matthew Brush