UpdatesPlugin

Checks Foswiki.org for updates

This plugin is used to keep administrators informed of updates to their installed extensions via a pop-up message at the top of the page.

Users can choose to either perform the update immediately using the configure tool, or delay it until later.

Usage

Click below button to force checking foswiki.org for extension updates. A message will be displayed at the top of the page. Normally it is displayed only when updates are required, but clicking this button will always display the banner. Note: The search for updates can take a while, depending upon the responsiveness of Foswiki.org. Please be patient.

Search for updates

The upgrade decision is stored locally, so that the plugin will only check for updates again when this cookie expires (in 7 days).

Note that the plugin requires Javascript and Cookies to be enabled in the browser.

Installation Instructions

You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.

Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. "Extensions Operation and Maintenance" Tab -> "Install, Update or Remove extensions" Tab. Click the "Search for Extensions" button. Enter part of the extension name or description and press search. Select the desired extension(s) and click install. If an extension is already installed, it will not show up in the search results.

You can also install from the shell by running the extension installer as the web server user: (Be sure to run as the webserver user, not as root!)

cd /path/to/foswiki
perl tools/extension_installer <NameOfExtension> install

If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in configure, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See https://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.

Notes

The plugin sends update status requests to the repository server to retrieve the current release information for extensions. If these update status requests are proxied via the local server (the default) then the current status of extensions retrieved from the repository is cached in the working/work_areas/UpdatesPlugin directory for 24 hours (default) before being retrieved again. You can safely clear the cache at any time by deleting all files in this directory.

The plugin defines a REST handler for handling proxy requests. The 'rest' script must be removed from the {AuthScripts} configuration for this to work.

If you are using private extensions on your wiki server that are not available as Open Source on foswiki.org then use the {ExcludeExtensions} parameter in configure to prevent disclosing them to the outside world.

Info

This plugin was initially developed during a collaborative design and coding session at the 2011 Foswiki Camp.

Change History:
2.00 (12 Nov 2019)	Foswikitask:Item14873: rewrite and simplify
1.04 (22 Jan 2018)	Foswikitask:Item14448: fixed broken outdated plugins report Foswikitask:Item14529: UpdatesPlugin should not cookie realm. Foswikitask:Item14605: Fix a compile error on perl <= 5.10.
1.03 (03 May 2017)	Foswikitask:Item13907: Report list of extensions needing update.
1.02 (23 Jan 2017)	Foswikitask:Item14281: Cookie related changes. Inconsistent use of the domain and secure flags.
1.01 (24 Jul 2015)	Foswikitask:Item13555: Compare VERSION not RELEASE strings. Foswikitask:Item13524: Plugin reports "0 extensions need update - too noisy
Dependencies:	Name Version Description JSON >=0 Required. Available from the CPAN archive.