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Topic: How to keep track of your preferred plugins (Read 8243 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to keep track of your preferred plugins

For me:
If I had to reinstall from scratch, I wouldn't even know which extensions I had installed. And to find them would cost a lot of time.
Secondly, I don't know if I have the newest/most stable/best version of that plugin but don't have the time to check regularly!


So members:
How do you manage to keep up2date about your beloved plugins for Foobar.
What if you need to redownload them?
Or you want to have the recent version?


JD

/typo

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #1 –
You can copy your entire components folder as a backup.  That is what I do.  Plus, I keep a back up of all plugins, just in case of bugs, etc.

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #2 –
What about updates then?

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #3 –
I don't have a method for this, but the question suggests some interesting resolves.

Firstly, Firefox's extension system is pretty cool.  There is obviously the option for foobar to make a similar check and allow you to download and update.  I can't see this happening though.

A more achievable option would be for the plugin site to allow you as a user to register your interest in various plugins.  You could be sent an email every time the author updates the component, or, seeing as they are quite small files, even be emailed the compressed file.

I really don't think this is too much work.  However, it would rely on all components being available on the plugin site, which I don't believe they are.

I don't really understand the link between http://www.foobar2000.org/ and http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/.  If everyone uploaded their plugins to the plugins site then it would be a very useful base for users to be able to maintain their components.
I'm on a horse.

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #4 –
shit i deleted my post!  ...and again:
Quote
I don't really understand the link between http://www.foobar2000.org/ and http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/.

I guess there we see the difference between official components and 3rd party plugins. They are only affiliated by this forum.
Quote
You could be sent an email every time the author updates the component, or, seeing as they are quite small files, even be emailed the compressed file.

Sounds great, but there might be a problem cause I guess not even rudimantry all plugins are to be found there, or are they?
Still...that would be an improvement!

Thank you Synthetic Soul for your post, that was exactly what my thread intended to point out to! 

So, any other way to track down your plugins?

Anyone who has a bunch of links to the extensions? But again - what about the updates?
Or what about the forum funktion Track this topic? But not everyone wants to spend his/her time with reading hundreds of posts just to be up2date with the plugin!

My concept was at fist to backup my plugins...in many different folders somehow...newer and older versions; never knew which one I had.
Now I just hope my HD never crashes on me and I never put a fresh install over my old one!
I don't even know which plugin is an official component and which one is 3rd party. Would help to know that at least, so one could make a list or something!


JD

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #5 –
There are programs which can visit web-sites to check if there are new versions of your software. Like C4U, or WebMon.

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #6 –
Mh never heard of it.
I'm trying it right now.

Con's:
It's still kind of difficult to handle...copy n paste the right passages on the webpage.
And the worst thing: One process more running in the background!
Needs quite some time for checking: Linked eight addresses and it needs about nine second.

Pro's:
Don't know if it works, but when you had it set up it would make your life easier!

But still, I don't like the idea to use another program to keep me up-to-date.


JD


/edit: added Con

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #7 –
Quote
It's still kind of difficult to handle...copy n paste the right passages on the webpage.

I guess you're talking about WebMon? Try C4U (no longer developed, no web-page, but you can get the newest version on Tucows), you don't need to paste anything to it except the URL, and tell it to look for text changes (and links eventually). It surely has cons too (it has its own outdated HTML parser, 100% CPU utilization while checking, etc.) but I somehow prefer it over WebMon.
Quote
Don't know if it works, but when you had it set up it would make your life easier!

But still, I don't like the idea to use another program to keep me up-to-date.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=360027"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yeah it does make life easier, I have tens of sites on C4U list, I launch it once a day and thanks to that all my soft is always up to date.

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #8 –
I'll try WebMon for a couple of days. We'll see, how it works.

But I guess, there should be a different solution to this! Maybe something in the forum like a locked thread for each plugin, so one can use the Track this topic function with email notification.


JD


PS: But what about people not registered to this forum but still want to use fresh plugins?


/edit: PS:

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #9 –
I would simply like to see the support from the foobar community to make the plugins website the place to post components.

If, every time a new component was created, the author was encouraged to distribute their component from the plugins website, we could ensure that the site held the importance that it needs for such a system to succeed.

The site could easily be adapted to allow users to register and receive alerts. If I knew PHP I would volunteer to help.  If the plugins site wasn't already there I would volunteer to create a site, but I use ASP(.NET) (my employer's choice).  I could just create my own, but I don't think confusing the issue by creating multiple plugin sites is a good idea at all.

I completely understand that the foobar development team wouldn't want this hassle, but such a system does seem to make a lot of sense.  At least to me.

There is the possibility that Case will no longer maintain his "Special Installer", which will make it harder for people to keep their installation up-to-date.

I guess this all comes down to a few key points:
  • Are the major players like foosion; case; kode54; musicmusic; etc. prepared to distribute via the plugins site?  After a quick check I see that all those listed except kode54 do.
  • Are the plugins site developers happy to make the required changes?
  • Would new developers easily be persuaded to post the the plugins site, and not their own? I think the increased exposure of an official plugins site should encourage them.
Re-reading the above it all sounds a bit demanding, but I don't mean it as such.  John Doe's request simply fired my imagination, and the above details the way in which I believe it could work.  It would take co-operation, work from the site developers, and perhaps less freedom for the developers.  If that's not acceptable, then I won't lose sleep over it.
I'm on a horse.

How to keep track of your preferred plugins

Reply #10 –
Quote
I'll try WebMon for a couple of days. We'll see, how it works.


Have to say: Doesn't work. I set it up to check for text changes on the http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/general.php page . I marked the version number as reference and it told me that something changed...but false!

So this is not a userfriendly option!


JD