How to get notified about plugin updates?

#1

Is there a mechanism inside TiddlyWiki that notifies you that an updated version is available for the plugin?

A plugin library is a collection of plugins. That’s it? Is this the only advantage of installing a plugin library? Does the library also handle plugin updates for you?

So far, I have been installing plugins by copying their source to the plugins folder in my NodeJS powered setup. Every few months, I copy the updates from their GitHub repositories manually.

I also installed a few plugins by the traditional drag and drop. But never got any notice for an available update.

Which plugin library has "edit-comptext" and "editor-autolist" plugins
#2

I vaguely remember that TiddlyWIki Classic had this feature, which made me wonder about the update notification mechanism in TW5.

#3

The main benefit for me is the plugin dependency management.

#4

Plugin Libaries (plugins in libraries only) will indicate if an update is available. Though you have to navigate to “Get More Plugins” to see them as there is no auto-alert system on plugin updates.

TT

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#5

Thanks. Your post spurred me to dig into the kookma library to understand the flow.

TW checks the plugin library index file, which in Kookma’s case is

https://kookma.github.io/TW-PluginLibrary/library/index.html

It has an entry like this for every plugin.

{
        "title": "$:/plugins/kookma/commander",
        "description": "batch processing tiddlers",
        "name": "Tiddler Commander",
        "author": "Mohammad Rahmani",
        "version": "2.1.3",
        "core-version": ">=5.1.22",
        "source": "https://github.com/kookma/TW-Commander",
        "list": "readme history license authors",
        "dependents": "",
        "plugin-type": "plugin",
        "type": "application/json",
        "readme": "; Tiddler Commander\nTiddler Commander, in short ''Commander'' is a unique tool for batch operations on tiddlers. Commander has the below features\n\n* Bulk tiddler creation/deletion\n* Combo search to filter and select tiddlers\n* Title operation: add, remove prefixes and suffixes, also remove cahras form begining and end of title (on renaming tiddlers, [[relink|$:/plugins/kookma/commander/help/uicomp/relink]] can be used to update title in other tiddlers)\n* Tag operation: add, remove, replace\n* Field operation: add, remove, rename, and set field value\n* SNR, search and replace in all fields including text, tags, //title//, and common fields\n* Inspect, to review and inspect tiddlers in one place, scroll among them and edit all fields (including common fields), tags, text (title is an exception!)\n* Log, create logs of all operations\n* Search, //save and load// any combination of filter search\n\n; Start Commander\n* Normally Commander adds its icon: <span class=\"cmd-doc\">{{$:/plugins/kookma/commander/images/commander.svg}}</span> to page controls.\n* Open the right sidebar and click on the  <span class=\"cmd-doc\">{{$:/plugins/kookma/commander/images/commander.svg}}</span> Commander is started\n*  In standard Tiddlywiki, control buttons are shown on the right sidebar under site title.\n\n; Code and demo\nFor learning plugin features, syntax, tutorial and examples see the plugin demo and code pages\n\n* Demo: https://kookma.github.io/TW-Commander/\n* Code: https://github.com/kookma/TW-Commander\n\n<style>\n.cmd-doc svg{\nwidth: 1.2em;\nheight: 1.2em;\nvertical-align: middle;}\n</style>",
        "requires-reload": "yes"
    }

If the version field has a newer entry than the present in TW, then TW shows an update available message.

If the library maintainer is not diligent in updating the version field, you will never know about the update.

Still, it is better than nothing.
Though, looking into the GitHub repository for release tags might be better.

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#6

For plugin authors it’s close to impossible to maintain a plugin if they don’t update the version number. Users give feedback using this number. So you can be pretty sure that authors do update the version if it is needed.

#7

True! But the library maintainer and plugin author are two separate roles.

I can create my library with selected Kookma plugins, for example, and then ignore updating versions in my library entries, while Muhammad can keep releasing updates. Users of my library will be oblivious to the updates because I’m not doing a responsible job of maintaining the library.

#8

This should be avoided, and is naturally. The main motivation to publish a library is to bungle plugins that version upgrades are visible to the users. Users need only have the library tiddlers installed https://plugins.tiddlyhost.com/ and when they go for a plugin the latest version is installable.

  • A plugin writer can publish an update through a library without communicating the fact.

A smart user will install plugins from a Library thus getting the latest and when using to replying on a plugin check if they have the latest version via the library.

  • When I install a plugin in a wiki not in a library, I usually check to see if there is a new version available.

In your reply you seem to be taking on an intermediate role, this is not necessary.

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#9

If users use plugins from libraries other than from the author it’s their own fault. Nothing more to say about that.

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