plugins update and availability.

[techbuddy]

similiar to the mozilla concept,the plugins should be automatically updated, checked for compatibility, downloaded from the app markt etc.
it is too cumbersome for a normal user to download the plugins everytime from the website and then go to Options-Plugins- select plugin etc.

[MVV]

If you update plugin, you don't need to go to options, just double-click its archive.

[herman5]

how is it time consuming to check totalcmd-net once a week?....

[umbra]

2techbuddy
While I agree that searching and downloading plugins manually is not exactly convenient, TC plugins are, in general, only very rarely updated. A majority of the useful plugins haven't been updated at least for a year.
There are a few active authors and several plugins have been ported for TCx64, but that's just a small fraction.

I don't think it's worth the trouble to create a complete updating framework just for them.

And MVV is right. You can install/update plugins just by double-clicking on their archives in TC. But be careful, this doesn't work properly for all plugins - some of them simply have to be configured manually.

[Sob]

@herman5: Just one question, for how long do you do it yourself? I mean for how many weeks you lasted so far? :) Not mentioning that not all plugins must be on totalcmd.net...

This is exactly the kind of boring waste-of-time task that should be handled by computers, not users. Suppose you have twenty or more plugins installed (and it's not unreasonable, they add up quickly). Do you really want to check for updates manually? No, you don't, nobody does *1.

And I don't mean there must be the other extreme, some super-inteligent, completely automatic updater. Many people don't like those, including myself. But some versioning support would be really nice, e.g. simple extension for pluginst.inf:

Code: Select all

[plugininstall]
...
version=4
versioncheck=http://server/path/script

For simplicity (because there are too many different possible version numbering schemes), version could be just simple incrementing number, independent from official version (1.3.1 and such). E.g. Android packages use the same thing and it works. The versioncheck would be url and the returned value would be another simple number indicating current version.
Then user clicks some Check for plugin updates..., TC checks the urls, compares the numbers and notifies user if there's some new plugin. Don't you think this would be huge help, even if it was all that was done and user would still have to manually download the updated plugins?

--
*1 ok, as with everything, there might be some exceptions, but not too many

[Vochomurka]

2techbuddy
First, many plugins have their own threads on the corresponding page. So, you should check one page only.
Second, there are many apps that watch for changes of specific web sites. This app is configured once, and then informs you about new plugin version releases when they occur.

[herman5]

2Sob
You know that theres a Version Plugin wich allows you too check wich plugins have been updated at totalcmd.net
And apart of some very rarely used pl or ru plugins you find most of them on totalcmd.net....

2. Its not allways good to update as soon as you see an update cause the new version can bring more problems then solving or the update aint worth cause tomorrow there will be a new version
like ADB ie...

[X-Byte]

We're not living in the early 2000s anymore, the internet is available almost everywhere and a program in 2012 should make use of the possibilities to make the handling of plugin updates more convenient for the user.
Almost every program offers an update check, manually or automatically for the prorgam itself and optional components (plugins). This is neither bad, nor evil - it's convenient and sometimes even a security improvement.

I've already outlined some ideas for Plugin management improvements which include update checks and even an option to download/install an updated plugin. No matter where the plugin author hosts the plugin. Rather simple modifications which improve the whole plugin handling a lot.

Feel free to comment on that.

[herman5]

Online Update is needed for a Virenscanner? Yes
Online Update is needed for an OS? Yes

Online Update built in is needed in TC? NO!

[Bluestar]

I don't think that TC should have an internal plugin updater at all. Most of the plugins doesn't even have version info, or if they have, its just left untouched at value "1.0.0.0", even if the actual version is "2.3a", or something else (or the version info is only updated in the readme/help file, etc). I think it would be too time-consuming for Christian to implement such function, while an average user doesn't even uses plugins at all, nor most of TC's capabilities, which we use daily.

TC could have a menu item (e.g. under Help) though, named "Check latest version", which could open a new instance of the default browser with a predefined url on click, e.g. just the way EditPlus does this (example), but thats totally another thing.

___________________

By the way an external TC & plugin updater (with the contribution & permission of totalcmd.net's authors, thanks! - especially for Flint for his serverside scripts & ideas) is under development since a few months - if everything goes well, i will be ready to release a public BETA version much before the end of the year. =) The main things are already implemented, i just need to improve the verinfo-recognizing algorithm a bit, and implement / fix the download & install of the plugins (plus add some filtering / search function).

[fenix_productions]

2Bluestar
I have few gigabytes of TC plugins with probably all versions that ever existed. Maybe I could share them with you somehow…

That way you would be able to build versions database (based on checksums) even if there is 1.0 set in DLL info.