WordPress plugins and svn annoyances!

Small things in programming have been annoying me the last couple of days.

WordPress has started using svn (Subversion) as a method of version control for plugins. What this does, is allow the developer to upload version of the plugin to a database and then the plugin will automatically be updated on the download page. Also, it will alert anyone who has the plugin that there is an update to the plugin. From there, the user of the plugin can easily install/update it through the Admin panel. It’s actually very useful.

Well, I just recently updated my WP-People plugin to be compatible with WordPress 2.7.1 and also use the XFN database used in WordPress. As part of this update, I submitted the plugin to the svn database. After trying to find some easy instructions on how to use Subversion, I found some instructions on Designpraxis. The first time through was easy. But, the display on the download page was not exactly 100%. Only a short description was showing, even though I added the information for the other areas in the readme file. However, I didn’t have the readme file named correctly. So, I changed the name of the readme file and tried to up the versions to 3.01. Well, I did something wrong and ended up with a sub-folder of my plugin under the plugin directly. This caused errors, because it tried to load the plugin twice. After trying a few ways to update it to 3.02 without the sub-folder, I finally got it to work with version 3.03.

I think I have the steps for updating:

1. Create a folder under the tags with the version number.
2. Update your plugin in the Trunk directory. Make sure to update Version information in the main php file and the Stable Tag in the readme file.
3. Copy the files into new folder under the tags directory and commit the changes.

After a bit, the updates will pass through on the download page. I guess after I make some updates, I can determine if these are the correct steps. The trunk folder lost it’s green check mark symbol, that’s probably not a good thing. Also, I am still not sure where I put the version release notes, I guess I can put them at the end of the main description. I add them to the log when I do the commit, but they don’t show on the download page.

I plan on including the relationship values from the XFN and a better layout on the WP People Admin page of those who are part of WP People. I might eventually include an easy way to edit the XFN data from the WP People Admin page.