OSPi update: New Plugin Manager & Updated System Updater

Note: This update includes several changes to the way plugins are handled. If you are using one or more plugins it is recommended to copy them to a holding area before updating. Read the information below for more details.

This has been in the works for a while.
After asking for input here on the forum, I received a lot of good ideas about managing plugins.

The growing number of plugins contributed to the project were increasing the size of the software download and not everyone wants to use all the plugins. We also needed an easy method for installing new plugins.

It finally dawned on me that I could write a plugin to manage the plugins. Which is what I’ve been doing the last three weeks.

First off, there is a new GitHub repository just for plugins which I started back in November:
https://github.com/Dan-in-CA/ospi_plugins

Most of the plugins have been removed from the software distribution. The “.gitignore” file has been updated to ignore most plugin files that you might have installed but it will not be in effect until after the update.

It would be a good idea to copy any plugin files you are using to a holding location before updating the software, especially any that you have modified.
For example, from the Pi directory:
cp -R OSPi/plugins/ plugins-temp/

will copy your plugins to a new folder in the Pi directory.
You should do the same for the templates folder.

Any plugin related files in the data directory should not be affected, and if you have not modified the plugin files you can just re-install any missing plugins using the new plugin manager.

The plugin_Manager plugin allows you to enable/disable and uninstall plugins from the integrated web UI.

It also allows you to install plugins from the new GitHub plugins repo. Just select MANAGE PLUGINS from the plugins menu to get started

There has been a plugin for updating the software which was contributed by Martin Pihrt but it only did a “git pull” to do the update and would not work in all situations. It also kept polling the OSPi GitHub repository 24/7 which could be a problem if a lot of installations were doing that all the time. I modified the plugin to only check GitHub when the update page is opened and it now uses git commands which should work in almost all situations. This plugin is enabled by default.

Another new feature in this release is the start of some help documentation. There is a new help button in the footer of the pages. It is linked to the GitHub wiki for the project which allows for adding to the documentation without the need for software updates.

If you have a recent version of the software you should be able to do

git pull

from the OSPi directory then reboot the Pi.

Please check the Rayshobby wiki for additional help:
http://rayshobby.net/mediawiki/index.php/Python_Interval_Program_for_OSPi#Updating_the_program

Dan