Item8021: Debian repo is missing poorly implemented plugins.

TWiki package is lacking at least the globalreplaceplugin.

Why is this? The debian install system precludes manually installed plugins, so this is a blocker for any site that relies on this plugin for successful operation.

extranet:~# apt-cache search twiki
twiki - A Web Based Collaboration Platform
twiki-accessstatsplugin - TWiki Package: AccessStatsPlugin
twiki-aliasplugin - TWiki Package: AliasPlugin
twiki-antiwikispamplugin - TWiki Package: AntiWikiSpamPlugin
twiki-anywikidrawplugin - TWiki Package: AnyWikiDrawPlugin
twiki-approvalplugin - TWiki Package: ApprovalPlugin
twiki-attachcontentplugin - TWiki Package: AttachContentPlugin
twiki-attachmentlistplugin - TWiki Package: AttachmentListPlugin
twiki-authpageplugin - TWiki Package: AuthPagePlugin
twiki-autocompleteaddon - TWiki Package: AutoCompleteAddOn
twiki-autocompleteplugin - TWiki Package: AutoCompletePlugin
twiki-autoviewtemplateplugin - TWiki Package: AutoViewTemplatePlugin
twiki-batchuploadplugin - TWiki Package: BatchUploadPlugin
twiki-beautifierplugin - TWiki Package: BeautifierPlugin
twiki-behaviourcontrib - TWiki Package: BehaviourContrib
twiki-bibtexplugin - TWiki Package: BibtexPlugin
twiki-blogaddon - TWiki Package: BlogAddOn
twiki-blogplugin - TWiki Package: BlogPlugin
twiki-breadcrumbsplugin - TWiki Package: BreadCrumbsPlugin
twiki-browserboosterplugin - TWiki Package: BrowserBoosterPlugin
twiki-bugscontrib - TWiki Package: BugsContrib
twiki-buildcontrib - TWiki Package: BuildContrib
twiki-caslogincontrib - TWiki Package: CasLoginContrib
twiki-chartplugin - TWiki Package: ChartPlugin
twiki-clamavplugin - TWiki Package: ClamAVPlugin
twiki-classicskin - TWiki Package: ClassicSkin
twiki-clirunnercontrib - TWiki Package: CliRunnerContrib
twiki-commentplugin - TWiki Package: CommentPlugin
twiki-comparerevisionsaddon - TWiki Package: CompareRevisionsAddOn
twiki-controlsplugin - TWiki Package: ControlsPlugin
twiki-cortadoplugin - TWiki Package: CortadoPlugin
twiki-dakarcontrib - TWiki Package: DakarContrib
twiki-databaseplugin - TWiki Package: DatabasePlugin
twiki-datefieldplugin - TWiki Package: DateFieldPlugin
twiki-datetimeplugin - TWiki Package: DateTimePlugin
twiki-dbcacheplugin - TWiki Package: DBCachePlugin
twiki-dbicontrib - TWiki Package: DbiContrib
twiki-debuglogplugin - TWiki Package: DebugLogPlugin
twiki-directedgraphplugin - TWiki Package: DirectedGraphPlugin
twiki-directedgraphwebmapplugin - TWiki Package: DirectedGraphWebMapPlugin
twiki-distributioncontrib - TWiki Package: DistributionContrib
twiki-doxygenplugin - TWiki Package: DoxygenPlugin
twiki-dpsyntaxhighlighterplugin - TWiki Package: DpSyntaxHighlighterPlugin
twiki-easytimelineplugin - TWiki Package: EasyTimelinePlugin
twiki-editchapterplugin - TWiki Package: EditChapterPlugin
twiki-editcontrib - TWiki Package: EditContrib
twiki-edithiddentableplugin - TWiki Package: EditHiddenTablePlugin
twiki-editrowplugin - TWiki Package: EditRowPlugin
twiki-edittablerowplugin - TWiki Package: EditTablerowPlugin
twiki-embedflashplugin - TWiki Package: EmbedFlashPlugin
twiki-embedplugin - TWiki Package: EmbedPlugin
twiki-excelimportexportplugin - TWiki Package: ExcelImportExportPlugin
twiki-executercontrib - TWiki Package: ExecuterContrib
twiki-explicitnumberingplugin - TWiki Package: ExplicitNumberingPlugin
twiki-extendedselectplugin - TWiki Package: ExtendedSelectPlugin
twiki-externallinkplugin - TWiki Package: ExternalLinkPlugin
twiki-famfamfamcontrib - TWiki Package: FamFamFamContrib
twiki-familytreeplugin - TWiki Package: FamilyTreePlugin
twiki-filelistplugin - TWiki Package: FileListPlugin
twiki-fileuploadplugin - TWiki Package: FileUploadPlugin
twiki-filterplugin - TWiki Package: FilterPlugin
twiki-findelsewhereplugin - TWiki Package: FindElsewherePlugin
twiki-firebugliteplugin - TWiki Package: FirebugLitePlugin
twiki-flexweblistplugin - TWiki Package: FlexWebListPlugin
twiki-flowchartplugin - TWiki Package: FlowchartPlugin
twiki-formfieldlistplugin - TWiki Package: FormFieldListPlugin
twiki-formplugin - TWiki Package: FormPlugin
twiki-formqueryplugin - TWiki Package: FormQueryPlugin
twiki-formsaddon - TWiki Package: FormsAddOn
twiki-foruserlanguagesplugin - TWiki Package: ForUserLanguagesPlugin
twiki-funcuserscontrib - TWiki Package: FuncUsersContrib
twiki-fundraisingplugin - TWiki Package: FundraisingPlugin
twiki-generatesearchplugin - TWiki Package: GenerateSearchPlugin
twiki-genpdfaddon - TWiki Package: GenPDFAddOn
twiki-genpdflatexaddon - TWiki Package: GenPDFLatexAddOn
twiki-getawebaddon - TWiki Package: GetAWebAddOn
twiki-getawebplugin - TWiki Package: GetAWebPlugin
twiki-glueplugin - TWiki Package: GluePlugin <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Should be here.
twiki-gnuplotplugin - TWiki Package: GnuPlotPlugin
twiki-googleajaxsearchplugin - TWiki Package: GoogleAjaxSearchPlugin
twiki-googleanalyticsplugin - TWiki Package: GoogleAnalyticsPlugin
twiki-headlinesplugin - TWiki Package: HeadlinesPlugin
twiki-historyplugin - TWiki Package: HistoryPlugin
twiki-holidaylistplugin - TWiki Package: HolidaylistPlugin
twiki-hostnameplugin - TWiki Package: HostnamePlugin
twiki-htmlformsplugin - TWiki Package: HtmlFormsPlugin
twiki-httpduseradmincontrib - TWiki Package: HTTPDUserAdminContrib
twiki-httpsredirectplugin - TWiki Package: HttpsRedirectPlugin
twiki-ifdefinedplugin - TWiki Package: IfDefinedPlugin
twiki-imagegalleryplugin - TWiki Package: ImageGalleryPlugin
twiki-imageplugin - TWiki Package: ImagePlugin
twiki-imgplugin - TWiki Package: ImgPlugin
twiki-immediatenotifyplugin - TWiki Package: ImmediateNotifyPlugin
twiki-joomlauserscontrib - TWiki Package: JoomlaUsersContrib
twiki-jquerydevplugin - TWiki Package: JQueryDevPlugin
twiki-jqueryplugin - TWiki Package: JQueryPlugin
twiki-jquerytwistyplugin - TWiki Package: JQueryTwistyPlugin
twiki-jscalendarcontrib - TWiki Package: JSCalendarContrib
twiki-jspopupplugin - TWiki Package: JSPopupPlugin
twiki-jsunitcontrib - TWiki Package: JSUnitContrib
twiki-kupucontrib - TWiki Package: KupuContrib
twiki-kupueditoraddon - TWiki Package: KupuEditorAddOn
twiki-latexmodeplugin - TWiki Package: LatexModePlugin
twiki-ldapcontrib - TWiki Package: LdapContrib
twiki-ldapngplugin - TWiki Package: LdapNgPlugin
twiki-lightboxplugin - TWiki Package: LightboxPlugin
twiki-linkoptionsplugin - TWiki Package: LinkOptionsPlugin
twiki-localtimeplugin - TWiki Package: LocalTimePlugin
twiki-macrosplugin - TWiki Package: MacrosPlugin
twiki-mailercontrib - TWiki Package: MailerContrib
twiki-mailincontrib - TWiki Package: MailInContrib
twiki-mailpageaddon - TWiki Package: MailPageAddOn
twiki-masonplugin - TWiki Package: MasonPlugin
twiki-mathmodeplugin - TWiki Package: MathModePlugin
twiki-mediawikitableplugin - TWiki Package: MediaWikiTablePlugin
twiki-mediawikitotwikiaddon - TWiki Package: MediaWikiToTWikiAddOn
twiki-meetingbingoplugin - TWiki Package: MeetingBingoPlugin
twiki-metaworkflowplugin - TWiki Package: MetaWorkflowPlugin
twiki-morefunccontrib - TWiki Package: MoreFuncContrib
twiki-moveabletypeskin - TWiki Package: MoveableTypeSkin
twiki-multieditplugin - TWiki Package: MultiEditPlugin
twiki-nateditcontrib - TWiki Package: NatEditContrib
twiki-nativesearchcontrib - TWiki Package: NativeSearchContrib
twiki-natskin - TWiki Package: NatSkin
twiki-natskinplugin - TWiki Package: NatSkinPlugin
twiki-newsplugin - TWiki Package: NewsPlugin
twiki-newuserplugin - TWiki Package: NewUserPlugin
twiki-notificationplugin - TWiki Package: NotificationPlugin
twiki-objectplugin - TWiki Package: ObjectPlugin
twiki-openidusercontrib - TWiki Package: OpenIDUserContrib
twiki-orphansplugin - TWiki Package: OrphansPlugin
twiki-patternskin - TWiki Package: PatternSkin
twiki-perforceplugin - TWiki Package: PerforcePlugin
twiki-personalinfoaddon - TWiki Package: PersonalInfoAddOn
twiki-photoarchiveplugin - TWiki Package: PhotoarchivePlugin
twiki-ploticusplugin - TWiki Package: PloticusPlugin
twiki-pluginbenchmarkaddon - TWiki Package: PluginBenchmarkAddOn
twiki-podplugin - TWiki Package: PodPlugin
twiki-preferencesplugin - TWiki Package: PreferencesPlugin
twiki-publishaddon - TWiki Package: PublishAddOn
twiki-publishcontrib - TWiki Package: PublishContrib
twiki-quickcalendarplugin - TWiki Package: QuickCalendarPlugin
twiki-quickmenuskin - TWiki Package: QuickMenuSkin
twiki-quizplugin - TWiki Package: QuizPlugin
twiki-randomtopicplugin - TWiki Package: RandomTopicPlugin
twiki-ratingcontrib - TWiki Package: RatingContrib
twiki-recursiverenderplugin - TWiki Package: RecursiveRenderPlugin
twiki-reddotplugin - TWiki Package: RedDotPlugin
twiki-redirectplugin - TWiki Package: RedirectPlugin
twiki-renderformplugin - TWiki Package: RenderFormPlugin
twiki-renderlistplugin - TWiki Package: RenderListPlugin
twiki-renderplugin - TWiki Package: RenderPlugin
twiki-rendertabledataplugin - TWiki Package: RenderTableDataPlugin
twiki-restplugin - TWiki Package: RestPlugin
twiki-revcommentplugin - TWiki Package: RevCommentPlugin
twiki-revisionlinkplugin - TWiki Package: RevisionLinkPlugin
twiki-safewikiplugin - TWiki Package: SafeWikiPlugin
twiki-searchenginekinosearchaddon - TWiki Package: SearchEngineKinoSearchAddOn
twiki-searchsummaryplugin - TWiki Package: SearchSummaryPlugin
twiki-sectionaleditplugin - TWiki Package: SectionalEditPlugin
twiki-sendemailplugin - TWiki Package: SendEmailPlugin
twiki-sessionplugin - TWiki Package: SessionPlugin
twiki-signatureplugin - TWiki Package: SignaturePlugin
twiki-skillsplugin - TWiki Package: SkillsPlugin
twiki-slideshowplugin - TWiki Package: SlideShowPlugin
twiki-slidyplugin - TWiki Package: SlidyPlugin
twiki-smarteditplugin - TWiki Package: SmartEditPlugin
twiki-snazzyroundedcornerscontrib - TWiki Package: SnazzyRoundedCornersContrib
twiki-soapclientplugin - TWiki Package: SoapClientPlugin
twiki-spacedwikiwordplugin - TWiki Package: SpacedWikiWordPlugin
twiki-spreadsheetplugin - TWiki Package: SpreadSheetPlugin
twiki-styleplugin - TWiki Package: StylePlugin
twiki-subscribeplugin - TWiki Package: SubscribePlugin
twiki-syntaxhighlightingplugin - TWiki Package: SyntaxHighlightingPlugin
twiki-tableplugin - TWiki Package: TablePlugin
twiki-tagcloudplugin - TWiki Package: TagCloudPlugin
twiki-talkcontrib - TWiki Package: TalkContrib
twiki-taskexecontrib - TWiki Package: TaskExeContrib
twiki-taskexeplugin - TWiki Package: TaskExePlugin
twiki-taskplugin - TWiki Package: TaskPlugin
twiki-tdbcontrib - TWiki Package: TdbContrib
twiki-templatetoolkitplugin - TWiki Package: TemplateToolkitPlugin
twiki-timelineplugin - TWiki Package: TimelinePlugin
twiki-timesinceplugin - TWiki Package: TimeSincePlugin
twiki-tinymcecontrib - TWiki Package: TinyMCEContrib
twiki-tinymceplugin - TWiki Package: TinyMCEPlugin
twiki-tipscontrib - TWiki Package: TipsContrib
twiki-tooltipplugin - TWiki Package: ToolTipPlugin
twiki-topicclassificationaddon - TWiki Package: TopicClassificationAddOn
twiki-topiccreateplugin - TWiki Package: TopicCreatePlugin
twiki-topicdatahelperplugin - TWiki Package: TopicDataHelperPlugin
twiki-topicreadersplugin - TWiki Package: TopicReadersPlugin
twiki-topicreferenceplugin - TWiki Package: TopicReferencePlugin
twiki-tracontwikicontrib - TWiki Package: TracOnTWikiContrib
twiki-tracqueryplugin - TWiki Package: TracQueryPlugin
twiki-treebrowserplugin - TWiki Package: TreeBrowserPlugin
twiki-treeplugin - TWiki Package: TreePlugin
twiki-twikiajaxcontrib - TWiki Package: TWikiAjaxContrib
twiki-twikiajaxplugin - TWiki Package: TWikiAjaxPlugin
twiki-twikidrawplugin - TWiki Package: TWikiDrawPlugin
twiki-twikinetskin - TWiki Package: TWikiNetSkin
twiki-twikinetskinplugin - TWiki Package: TWikiNetSkinPlugin
twiki-twikireleasetrackerplugin - TWiki Package: TWikiReleaseTrackerPlugin
twiki-twikishellcontrib - TWiki Package: TWikiShellContrib
twiki-twistycontrib - TWiki Package: TwistyContrib
twiki-twistyplugin - TWiki Package: TwistyPlugin
twiki-updateattachmentsplugin - TWiki Package: UpdateAttachmentsPlugin
twiki-updateinfoplugin - TWiki Package: UpdateInfoPlugin
twiki-uploadtotwikiaddon - TWiki Package: UploadToTWikiAddOn
twiki-userinfoplugin - TWiki Package: UserInfoPlugin
twiki-validateurlsplugin - TWiki Package: ValidateUrlsPlugin
twiki-voteplugin - TWiki Package: VotePlugin
twiki-webdavplugin - TWiki Package: WebDAVPlugin
twiki-webpermissionsplugin - TWiki Package: WebPermissionsPlugin
twiki-widgetsskin - TWiki Package: WidgetsSkin
twiki-wikiringcontrib - TWiki Package: WikiRingContrib
twiki-wikiwygcontrib - TWiki Package: WikiwygContrib
twiki-workflowplugin - TWiki Package: WorkflowPlugin
twiki-workflowreportscontrib - TWiki Package: WorkflowReportsContrib
twiki-wysiwygplugin - TWiki Package: WysiwygPlugin
twiki-xmlrpccontrib - TWiki Package: XmlRpcContrib
twiki-xmlxslplugin - TWiki Package: XmlXslPlugin
twiki-xptrackerplugin - TWiki Package: XpTrackerPlugin
twiki-yahoouserinterfacecontrib - TWiki Package: YahooUserInterfaceContrib
twiki-yetanotherdbcachecontrib - TWiki Package: YetAnotherDBCacheContrib
twiki-yetanotherformqueryplugin - TWiki Package: YetAnotherFormQueryPlugin
twiki-yetanotherxptrackerplugin - TWiki Package: YetAnotherXpTrackerPlugin
ewiki - ErfurtWiki: an implementation of the WikiWikiWeb hypertext system

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Simple - my build bot takes all the plugins it can find, and then uses the BuildContrib info to create a debian package. If there the package is not built with BuildContrib, it is skipped.

If the build bot has any other issues with it, it also skips it.

• SvenDowideit - 03 Dec 2008

Hi Sven,

Can you please send the output of the bot to a web-accessible address?

I'd like to be able to dig on this a bit more.

Thanks, M.

• MartinCleaver - 03 Dec 2008

Maybe we should create a TaskTeam for this? So that Sven is not the only one dealing with these Debian packages. There has to be one build server, but there can be several people who fix bugs or plugins so they can be packaged automagically by the bot on the build server.

Just my 2 cts.

-- OlivierRaginel - 04 Dec 2008

I'd be interested in helping package for Debian too.

-- OlivierBerger - 07 Jan 2009

there are a number of massive things that will make the debian packages more up to date:

1. update any plugins you want as debian packages to use the current BuildContrib - globalreplaceplugin for example does not, and so the deb_builder script will just ignore it.
2. test & fix bugs, especially security related. I've stopped doing the twiki debian package only because twiki 4.2.4 has at least 4 different security vectors that they didn't make any attempts to fix, and I don't have the time to do that work for them.
3. for those of you that really want to spend the weeks reading all the debian documentation, and arguing about really annoying minutiea, see http://svn.nextwiki.org/trunk/core/tools/pkg - thats where the foswiki debian pkg source has always been, even for twiki. But please realise that 99% of the things that you think will work, won't, because you didn't read page XX paragraph YY of debian policy manual ZZ - where everything changed compared to ZZ-1 due to blah. Correct Debian packaging is quite different from makeing a package that just works - its frustrating, very time consuming, and requires alot more discussion - I think I spent 3 months discussing what eventuated to be a one line change, which we reverted a few years later.

1&2 are major things that stop me - the actual building is cronjobbed on my build server already, has been for years.

-- SvenDowideit - 08 Jan 2009

For the records, the Debian RFP (Request for Package) is at : http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=509864 . Also, maybe a mention to http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=462560 would help, once a package is available.

Sven, about your feelings about Debian packageing, I think this is unfortunately some generally met opinion, but still, that's a burden one (or more) has to carry. In general, Debian tends to suggest that maintaining a Debian package may not be done by upstream developers, but instead by Debian "specialists" instead, for these very reasons, I think. Maybe it would be better for you to concentrate on "upstream" foswiki developement, and not be the main packager who has to deal with all the intricacies of the Debian policy and such ? ... still we need to find some motivated folk to do the dirty work and willing to invest a lot in Debian details

In any case, there's a collaborative maintenance possibility in Debian, which may hopefully ease the job maybe ? One requirement would be to make sure that all Debian maintainers of foswiki would be able to commit to the tools/pkg part in SVN.

In any case, packaging a web app, and a complex one as foswiki will definitely be a pain, but worth it, IMHO, if it helps widespread useage and spotting security issues and likes. I'm quite sure that the positive athmosphere and openness (I hope I have the good impression right around the foswiki project will help have a positive impact on its advanced users willing to help having a Debian package in better shape that it was for twiki.

Now, about the plugins/contribs, etc., I'm not sure they may all be packaged automatically to the extent they could qualify for an official Debian package, and I'm tending to think that they will need separate packaging, having tried and package twiki-ldapcontrib and the CasLogin contrib. Still if such packaging helps improve the automated process, that would be great, I suppose... I'll have to think about that.

-- OlivierBerger - 09 Jan 2009

Note that I've just created DebianPackagingTaskTeam as a proposal to further that discussion and move on. Feel free to followup there or in its related pages.

-- OlivierBerger - 09 Jan 2009

we should refactor this discussion somewhere else in the wiki, cos i think its important longer term.

I dislike and dissagree with the Debian 'suggestion' that packaging not be done by upstream. I started the twiki debian package, and subsequently the osx, rpm, and windows installers because they are the only way for the upstream developers to learn how to make things easier, and as an architectural touchstone. The endgoal being that the upstream package definition information is rich enough to automatically build installation packages for all platforms.

Having successfully built debs for over 200 of twiki's plugins (including LdapContrib and CasLogin), I cannot see any sensible reason for building them manually, rather than improving BuildContrib to plugin the information holes, and then fixing the scripts (and EPM) to make it acceptable for Debian - to me, this is another case of Debian's shortsighted snobbery - which they are currently learning to undo - see the rather good developments with respect to CPAN fallbacks to dpkg.

And so I re-iterate. The most significant thing anyone can do, is to work on making the core and the plugins here as reliable, bug free and security correct as possible. Everything else is a Build issue, and so should be automated (and in many cases is).

Not to say I don't want your help, just that Debian is not as big a deal to support as Debian makes out, and that right now, we'd get much more benefit from your porting the plugins you use from twiki to foswiki, for all users to enjoy. - in a few hours http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian should contain both foswiki-1.0.0 and the ~100 Extensions in the Extensions - again, auto built on a cronjob once a day.

-- SvenDowideit - 10 Jan 2009