Feature to provide 'unsupported' plugins

Volumio Development Suggest a feature
1

It would be good, if there was an ‘unsupported’ plugin channel where it is clear that these plugins will be installed at your own risk.
That way users who want or need a ceretain plugin that is stuck in the slow vetting process would be able to easily install a plugin without the need to ssh etc.

Also devs could more easily make their plugin available to a larger group and receive faster feedback and test results from users with other hardware onfig then themselves.

In addition the volumio devs could be sure that the plugins that reach the official channel this way have already been tested in the wild, so that would make their lives easier and increase quality of the stable channel overall.

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2

Perhaps I am mistaken, but this is the idea behind the “beta” aka plugin test mode available in the /dev page?

3

How do people get it into the /dev section?

4

I could imagine @SomethingGood had in mind that plugins in an “unsupported” channel would be available immediately. Currently a first version of a plugin has to be approved before the developer can publish new versions in the beta channel (Edit: found the source). So if no first version has already been approved one can’t publish a beta version.

5

Darn @gvolt , you’re fast. You already answered it while i was still pressing Reply

6

<volumio.local/IP>/dev the same page for logs/SSH and other things…

Ah, understood. I guess this was not how it was previously, as I you can see the youtube2 plugin in the list, but the sources aren’t in the repo (i.e PR is still pending)

7

Sorry, my bad. I meant how do DEV’s get the plugin available in the plugin DEV section (If i enable it). But it was answered by gvolt.

8

Well, I have my plugins pre packaged on github, and use an alternative (self) hosted plugin store for my non myVolumio devices…

9

The “youtube2” plugin seems to be an exception. At least all plugins I have submitted did not appear in the beta channel before approval… consequently the IR Controller plugin is not available through the beta channel :wink: - oh no, not the dreaded IR Controller plugin again :grimacing:

10

Schade – if only there was a time machine

  • Go ahead to <01.xx.202x> when all plugins are approved
  • Go back to when all plugins automagically showed up in beta :smiley:

EDIT:
I kid, but count me unimpressed with the current store situation. I’ve been quite vocal, but I strongly feel it was/is a bad decision to force the pluginstore if Volumio doesn’t have the developer resources to support it. Especially when it’s clearly got things to iron out.

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11

Guys, you are so quick :wink:
I aimed exactly in the direction @gvolt described:

I could image @SomethingGood had in mind that plugins in an “unsupported” channel would be available immediately. Currently a first version of a plugin has to be approved before the developer can publish new version in the beta channel. So if no first version has already been approved one can’t publish a beta version.

So, I would like it to be possible to have a plugin that is submitted or available as a PR for users that activate an ‘unsupported’ channel. It is obvious that the Devs from volumio cannot support the vetting process and the plugin store is a bottleneck.

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12

@ashthespy I see it the same way.

The new plugin store concept is not working well at the moment from my point of view. You can already see in the forum posts that users are increasingly going back to installing plugins by hand.

Besides the long vetting time, the process to release a plugin also seems too cumbersome and not transparent enough for the developers. I can imagine that especially (but not only) new developers are deterred by this.

On top of that, the prospect of paid plugins at some point in the future is unlikely to motivate the release of new (free) plugins.

I also believe that the need to register to access the plugin store does not help Volumio. IMHO this practice gives the impression that data is to be grabbed, whether that is true or not. At least for me personally, I can say that the registration requirement would have most likely prevented me from even trying Volumio as an interested party.

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13

I guess we aren’t alone with our views, other plugin authors have expressed similar concerns in the various other threads.

And also not to mention insecure. This for me is my main concern. Especially since the motivation for the login wall is attributed to all the extra infrastructuur cost and resources that go into securing plugins.

Someone could easily make a volAudioEnhancer PR, and meanwhile upload a volCryptoMiner to the store, and see if it slips through. :dizzy_face:
I’d be very surprised if the vetting process involves code review of the uploaded zips to the store.

But at the end of the day, got to realise that Volumio SRL is a company, and they probably have a different vision and see the current situation differently.

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14

This was similar to how it was in the good ole days… Authors would first release test versions from their github/plugin threads, and then once it was beta tested by a few people and deemed stable enough, a PR was submitted to get it into the official store…

What you propose would be a more streamlined extension of that.
Let’s see if your voice is heard and if this aligns with their vission and (more importantly) dev resources.

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