Volumio 3 Plugins store issues and discussion

Plugins
#21

I managed to run volumio plugin submit without errors for my plugins (while logged into MyVolumio), so I think this could be a temporary server issue.

I don’t see how requiring a MyVolumio account will reinforce a “stricter review process”.

The old way:

  1. Submit PR for plugin or update of plugin to repo
  2. Maintainer reviews code, merges PR and packages plugin for inclusion in plugin store

The new way (with presumptions according to what makes sense to me):

  1. Run volumio plugin submit while signed in to MyVolumio
  2. Submit PR for supposedly the same code submitted in step 1
  3. Maintainer checks and matches files posted through volumio plugin submit against those in PR
  4. Maintainer merges PR and then includes plugin (or update of plugin) in the plugin store only when PR has been merged

Either way, the maintainer would have to review code submitted. Only now the maintainer would have to also match the files submitted in step (1) against those in step (2). As @ashthespy observed, this introduces a greater risk of human oversight / error.

I also doubt that after a plugin was published the first time, subsequent updates through volumio plugin submit are reviewed before being made available in the plugin store (i.e. step 4). I am saying this because I updated the YouTube2 plugin to version 0.1.7 yesterday and I can already see it in the store, but the corresponding PR was never merged even for the first submitted version (0.1.4). This is worrying indeed for reasons mentioned by @ashthespy.

#22

Is that true? As I understood it, plugin is available right away in the beta channel after volumio plugin submit (when plugin is already in the store), and the maintainer promotes it to stable in another step?

EDIT: Clarify submit after plugin is already available

#23

Nope, that’s just my presumption, and what should be done to ensure the integrity of submitted plugins - even those in the beta channel.

If you are submitting for the first time through volumio plugin submit, it doesn’t appear right away in the plugin store. It still has to be accepted. But after that, it seems subsequent volumio plugin submit will update the plugin right away (not entirely sure, though).

#24

That’s not happening for me at least. So I am assuming that the first submit of a plugin has to be pushed into the store after review and only following versions get immediately and automatically into the store as beta versions.

#25

Ah right, that confirms my observations. But this would pose a security risk, would it not? IMO, even in the beta channel, plugins should not contain malicious code that harms the unwitting user…

#26

This is how it should work.
Thanks for the great inputs, it’s very apparent that there’s still some stuff to iron things out before release.
For example, as of now, only one author can submit a plugin (which is what ash might have encountered) we need to add a facility to have multiple authors and also multiple reviewers admin in place.
Bear with us as we process your inputs and propose an improved workflow

How can I feed back plugins I migrated for myself?
#27

Possible solution: we create a github action that will promote the plugin to stable channel when the PR is accepted.
This way we have validation and automation and reduce possible human error.
This also means that plugins in alpha channel are not validated, but this should allow developers to get feedbacks from users willing to stay in alpha channel. What do you think?

#28

So when the PR is accepted, will the reviewer actually check whether the plugin in the alpha / beta channel consists of the same files as those in the PR?

#29

IMHO we should check for every submission if the hosted files are the same as the files on the source

#30

I also think that plugins in the beta channel should also be checked against the PRs, but I understand that this has the potential to incur much extra work on your part…

#31

Could we not automate that?

For example the volumio plugin submit could check the latest git commit (eg git log --name-status HEAD^…HEAD) and record the result in the submission. Then the reviewer can check that the PR includes the same commit as head

#32

Currently, the tasks are split across two eco systems volumio plugin submit and github. This isn’t really making the process simpler (at least for me).

@patrickkfkan sums up two processes quite well in #21. I think we should take the bits of the old process that works well, and merge it into the new plugin-store workflow.

My suggestion, don’t ask the developer to run volumio plugin submit (which uploads a ready to run plugin zip to the store). Instead, you could keep things as it was previously – all the review happens directly via github, on the PR, utilising all of github’s normal code review tools.

Finally, when approved (merged), the Volumio maintainer can turn all the magic knobs to make it appear in the plugin store.

This way you again have only a single source of truth, less human errors, and a more transparent process?

#33

:+1:

#34

Thank you for all the feedback. We see that there are things to improve on the publish procedure. Please bear in mind that changing the current procedure, while maintaining the new functionalities of the plugins store is quite complex. We are brainstorming and we will probably find a suiting solution soon. In the mean time, all suggestions are welcome. Keep them coming!

1 Like
#35

Hello,

I guess I got some issues too.
Volusonic have been merged some days ago. The plugin is visible in the store (pi) but not installable, the UI stick @10%. I tryed to download it directly with the link in the detail pan and I got

"Plugin version not found"

The plugin is not present in the store for amd64 build so I couldn’t test it.

Jo

#36

What is the download address for the “autostart” plugin? I want to install it from the command line and I can’t find the correct wget https: // …

#37

Looks like everything is ok now.
It was maybe a temporary glitch or someone did something. Whatever thanks guys

#38

I don’t believe it is available yet. The devs are working towards ensuring all Volumio2 plugins are complaint and work well with Volumio3 before making them available!

EDIT: You can track progress here Pull requests · volumio/volumio-plugins-sources · GitHub

#39

@mervinio According to @pauljwells findings it appears that the plugin store lists the version with the highest number - regardless if it’s a beta and if plugins test mode has been enabled.

So even if the user has plugins test mode disabled the version number of a beta is shown (if it’s higher than the newest stable version) in the list of available plugins. If the user then opens the “Details” page this (beta) version is missing.

#40

Hi,

I’ve just submitted a plugin using ‘volumio plugin submit’. I’m opening this topic because this is my first time and the whole process for plugin submission and approval is unclear. I can’t find any docs specific to Volumio 3, only outdated info for Volumio 2.

So, could, please, someone from the Volumio team confirm if the ‘Minosse DSP’ plugin submission was successful? I can’t see it in GitHub’s volumio-plugins-sources…