[xwiki-devs] [PROPOSAL] New extensions package
Hi devs, I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file. The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it). So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ? For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs WDYT ? -- Thomas Mortagne
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good. Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension. Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository. For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA. XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR: XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex). Thanks -Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
Thanks -Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI… So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip. Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip. Am I missing something? Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:43 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI…
So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip.
Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip.
Am I missing something?
Just using assembly plugin is not enough because you also need get the dependencies, put them in the right sub-folders, generate the extensions descriptors and exclude dependencies that are already part of the WAR (in flavor package use case) so you need a special mojo to take care of all that. also it's still a specific package with a specific format that happen to be based on zip, I find it more clear to give it a specific file extension (it "certify" that you won't get surprise when unzipping it). Double clicking on the file is really not a major use case for me since this is going to be used mostly on servers. When you do "unzip myfile" the file extension does not really matter much.
Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
XIP = XWiki Importable Package :) sounds like ZIP, so I think is funny :) Thanks, Caty On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:02 PM, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:43 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count
on
all
in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI…
So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip.
Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip.
Am I missing something?
Just using assembly plugin is not enough because you also need get the dependencies, put them in the right sub-folders, generate the extensions descriptors and exclude dependencies that are already part of the WAR (in flavor package use case) so you need a special mojo to take care of all that. also it's still a specific package with a specific format that happen to be based on zip, I find it more clear to give it a specific file extension (it "certify" that you won't get surprise when unzipping it).
Double clicking on the file is really not a major use case for me since this is going to be used mostly on servers. When you do "unzip myfile" the file extension does not really matter much.
Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
+1 for XIP :) Best, Krzysiek 2017-05-02 17:32 GMT+02:00 Ecaterina Moraru (Valica) <[email protected]>:
XIP = XWiki Importable Package :) sounds like ZIP, so I think is funny :)
Thanks, Caty
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:02 PM, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]
wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:43 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <
wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't
count on all
in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak ).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI…
So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip.
Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip.
Am I missing something?
Just using assembly plugin is not enough because you also need get the dependencies, put them in the right sub-folders, generate the extensions descriptors and exclude dependencies that are already part of the WAR (in flavor package use case) so you need a special mojo to take care of all that. also it's still a specific package with a specific format that happen to be based on zip, I find it more clear to give it a specific file extension (it "certify" that you won't get surprise when unzipping it).
Double clicking on the file is really not a major use case for me since this is going to be used mostly on servers. When you do "unzip myfile" the file extension does not really matter much.
Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
Users are very bad at reading or following instructions. It's likely that they will download the file, double click it, and expect it to be installed automatically. If the extension is .zip, then the OS will silently unpack it, and the user won't know what to do next. But since at least something happened, they might actually think that the file installed itself, then wonder why it still doesn't work. If the extension is something special, then the OS won't know what to do with it, and present a dialog warning that the file can't be opened, and the user is more likely to search for information about how that file can be installed. The downside of it not being a .zip file is that when the user should unzip it, it's a bit more difficult to do it. +1 for .xip, it seems that nobody else is using it. https://fileinfo.com/extension/xip On 05/02/2017 10:43 AM, Vincent Massol wrote:
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count on all in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI…
So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip.
Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip.
Am I missing something?
Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Sergiu Dumitriu http://purl.org/net/sergiu
On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 6:47 PM, Sergiu Dumitriu <[email protected]> wrote:
Users are very bad at reading or following instructions. It's likely that they will download the file, double click it, and expect it to be installed automatically.
If the extension is .zip, then the OS will silently unpack it, and the user won't know what to do next. But since at least something happened, they might actually think that the file installed itself, then wonder why it still doesn't work.
If the extension is something special, then the OS won't know what to do with it, and present a dialog warning that the file can't be opened, and the user is more likely to search for information about how that file can be installed.
The downside of it not being a .zip file is that when the user should unzip it, it's a bit more difficult to do it.
+1 for .xip, it seems that nobody else is using it.
Indeed I was not sure where to look for this. I checked quickly on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_filename_extensions_(S%E2%80%93Z)#X but it did not felt like the right reference :) So +1 for xip too.
https://fileinfo.com/extension/xip
On 05/02/2017 10:43 AM, Vincent Massol wrote:
On 2 May 2017, at 16:36, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]>
wrote:
On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi,
On 2 May 2017, at 16:05, Thomas Mortagne <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I'm currently working on a new package format to package a bunch of extensions into a single file.
The first use case is to make offline install easier. We can't count
on
all
in one XAR anymore (plus all in one XAR prduces very crappy extensions) so I was thinking about providing a generic package containing all the extensions you need in it. It will simply be a zip containing extensions in the same format than Extension Manager local repository so that you can unzip it it there (or later use some UI to "import" it).
So now I need a name for this new package. Since extension descriptor file extension is "xed" (for "XWiki Extension Descriptor") I was thinking about naming it XEP (for "XWiki Extension Package"). Any better idea ?
For now my plan is to provide the following: * a new Maven handler for <packaging>xep</packaging> * a new Maven mojo "xep" in the existing extension Maven plugin * start using it with the new platform flavor which is supposed to replace XE so that people can have something to use for offline installs
WDYT ?
Sounds good.
Regarding the naming, assuming we need a file extension other than ZIP, "XWiki Extension Package” seems like a package for a single XWiki Extension.
Some ideas. Why not something in the name that suggest it’s a repository.
For example: XWiki Extension Repository Archive or XWiki Repository Archive for short, which, using a 3LA, would translate into XRA.
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XRA = XWiki Repository Archive = a repository of extensions = several extensions
We could also have XWiki Extension Repository, i.e. “XER”, which would also be one letter change from XAR:
XAR = XWiki Archive = a single extension XER = XWiki Extension Repository = a repository of extensions = several extensions
I'm fine with XER.
Now since the users will need to unzip this binary and they won’t import it (as they do for XAR), it would be better for it to be ZIP as otherwise it’ll harder to unzip (no double-clicking on it for ex).
As I said I think we'll have a UI for it at some point. I just don't think I will have time to work on that in the new platform flavor scope (or maybe just a quick tool in http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Extension+Tweak).
I know you said that but IMO the primary usage is for users to unzip into a given directory and the easiest is to provide a ZIP to them. Even if we have an import UI, we can still offer the ZIP to that UI…
So at this point, I don’t fully understand why we’d need something other than zip.
Sounds like we might be overcomplicated things. On the maven side, we could use the maven assembly plugin to generate the zip.
Am I missing something?
Thanks -Vincent
Thanks
-Vincent
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Thomas Mortagne
-- Sergiu Dumitriu http://purl.org/net/sergiu
-- Thomas Mortagne
participants (5)
-
Ecaterina Moraru (Valica) -
Krzysiek Płachno -
Sergiu Dumitriu -
Thomas Mortagne -
Vincent Massol