I was about to submit feedback for an Gramps-related article on “GenealogySoftware.net” via their Contact page. That article is an exemplar of how confusing that even experienced users of software plug-in systems and Genealogy software find the Gramps plug-in ecology.
Thought I’d pass the draft through the community for comment and expansion. The response to this post will be a suggested re-write by Perplexity.
Last September, I read the “A Note on Gramps Plugins/Addons” article by ChadO with interest. There are a few things tangled a bit… but the confusion is understandable. Gramps has a surprisingly intricate layering of complexity.
(The Gramps-project team tends to use the non-hyphenated variants of the generic “plug-in” and “add-on” terms as a “branding” approach. The team feels that the terms are more distinctive and effective as search-engine parameters.)
The plug-in management is acutally the most superficial after the User Configuration/Preferences. The plug-ins can be part of the core (built-in) or add-on.
The core plug-ins evolve infrequently, updates are only distributed with major releases of Gramps. They are considered to be mature and necessary to the broadest audiences of Genealogiest. But add-on plug-ins can (and do) have more frequent updates. These addons might have wishlist items in active development or have appeal to a more narrow audience. (Some rely on libraries that are not compatible with the Gramps licensing or that would bloat the installation.) And addons can be installed/updated manually or automatically on various timings. (The automation was a Preferences feature up to version 5.1 and moved to a more powerful Addon Manager with the 5.2 release of Gramps.)
The Addon Manager uses a metadata approach provided by a publisher of add-on plug-ins. A Gramps addon (note the lack of a hyphen in the term) can collate multiple plugins, collateral files, and localization/translation files. The provider creates downloadable localized archival packages of addons and localized metadata “addon-xx.json” lists (collated from the Gramps Plugin Registration file for each addon collection) in a structured organization of folder. Gramps calls the provider’s publication a ‘Project’. Users add paths (in the Project tab of the Addon Manager) to the “listings” directory of a Project. The provider reputation determines whether users trust them to vet the addons being published. Projects can be published locally, on a local network, or via Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https) on the net.
Providing a “Project” requires a significant effort. Usually it is a cooperative effort between the contributing addon developer and the provider. But contributing addon developer can also just post the addon components to a hosted server, via eMail or even via sneakernet. One developer created a Gramps addon plugin that will install an addon from a ZIP archive of an addon.
The Plugin Manager (or its upgraded addon: “Plugin Manager enhanced”) allows installed plugins (builtin or addon) to be hidden or removed. It also has a “Wiki” button to help users discover the purpose and use of the plug-in. Hiding builtin plugins will disable its functionality and its interface. As an example, Gramps has 3 builtin variants of its Navigator sidebar. (The Navigator is a GUI for switching between view Categories and the view modes within Categories.) Once you decide which GUI you prefer, hiding the other 2 of the 3 Navigator sidebar plugins will simplify the Navigator sidebar and free up a little screen space.
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