pluginconf 0.6

Reads meta comment block from source files, pyz/package contents, module locating

Provides plugin basename lookup and meta data extraction functionality. It’s meant for in-application feature and option management. The descriptor format (self-contained in each script) is basically:

# encoding: UTF-8
# api: python
# type: handler
# category: io
# title: Plugin configuration
# description: Read meta data, pyz/package contents, module locating
# version: 0.5
# priority: core
# docs: http://fossil.include-once.org/streamtuner2/wiki/plugin+meta+data
# config: { name: xyz, value: 1, type: bool, description: "Sets..." }
#
# Documentation goes here...

The key: value format is language-agnostic. It’s basically YAML in the topmost script comment. For Python only # hash comments are used. Defaults to rather common field names, encourages a documentation block, and an obvious config: { .. } spec for options and defaults.

What it’s not:

• This is not another config reader/parser/storage class.

• Doesn’t impose a specific plugin API.

• Neither concerns itself with module/package loading. (How boring.)

What for then?

• Separates code from meta data.

• Avoids keeping seldomly used descriptors in variables.

• Does away with cluttering external ini/json files with each module script.

• Prevents hodgepodge and premature module loading just to inspect meta data.

• Simplifies both internal use and meta info accessibility to external tools.

• (pluginconf is less about a concrete implementation/code, but pushing a universal meta data format.)

Sample

See streamtuner2-2.1.7-dev.pyz for the original implementation.

pluginconf doesn’t yet bundle GUI construction (a Gtk handler exists, Tk alternative planned).

API

Configuration is currently just done by injecting:

plugin_base = ["myapp.plugins", "etc.extensions"]
module_base = "pluginconf"

Which declares module and plugin basenames. (Works for literal setups and within PYZ applications.)

plugin_meta( module= | fn= | src= | frame= )

Returns a meta data dictionary for the given module name, file, source code, or caller frame.:

{
  "title": "Compound★",
  "description": "...",
  "version": "0.1",
  "type": "channel",
  "category": "virtual",
  ...
}

And that’s already what it does.

Everything else is implementation-specific feature creep.

module_list()

Returns basenames of available/installed plugins.

add_plugin_defaults()

Populates your config_options{} and plugin_states{} list. Can be a classic dict, or one of the hundreds of config parser/managers.

get_data( fn= )

Is mostly an alias for pkgutil.get_data(). Abstracts usage within PYZ packages a little.

argparse_map()

Provides a simpler way to specify ugly argparse definitions. And allows to amass options from plugins.

Status

It’s currently just an excerpt from streamtuner2.

• Lacks the configuration GUI integration.

• Or the plugin repo JSON loader.

• Definitely needs customization prior use.

• See some format documentation

It’s also not a proper wheel package; just quickly built per xpm:

fpm -s src -t pip pluginconf.py

(Yep, the description fields can double as packaging source. An additional # pack: specifier allows deb/rpm/arch/exe/pyzw/pip generation without tedious duplication of package descriptions.)