Item723: t.o plugins that use Sandbox calls may not work out-of-the-box (e.g. LatexModePlugin)

background process execution using the Sandbox, and backwards compatibility

Description of the problem

The Sandbox functions changed between Foswiki and TWiki, preventing out-of-the-box backwards compatibility using TWikiCompatibilityPlugin.

The TWiki::Sandbox declared an object, whereas the Foswiki::Sandbox is static.

This affects all TWiki plugins that process data using external background programs.

Examples

In the LatexModePlugin from t.o, in Render.pm :

my $sandbox =  $TWiki::sharedSandbox || $TWiki::sandbox ;

In the BibtexPlugin from t.o, in BibtexPlugin.pm:

$sandbox = new TWiki::Sandbox();

Workaround

Change the locations where the sandbox is declared to use

use Foswiki::Sandbox;
my $sandbox =  $Foswiki::sharedSandbox || $Foswiki::sandbox || 'Foswiki::Sandbox';

Then the static sysCommand method of "Foswiki::Sandbox" gets called.

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Note: Check SVN for a Foswiki version of the above plugins. They are in the process of being ported. In particular, the LatexModePlugin should be released shortly. -- ScottHoge - 10 Jan 2009

We'll need to look into adding a more correct TWiki::Sandbox in T*Compat - shouldn't be too hard to do really.

I see this as a bug in TWikiCompatibilityPlugin - and advice for rebranders

-- SvenDowideit - 10 Jan 2009