Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 17-03-2022, 16:59   #1
Registered User

Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 385
Can number of plugins be reduced?

It seems even for small things which can be part of OpenCPN people write separate plugins.

NMEA debugger, Current plugins for different areas, NMEA converters, etc

At the end it just increases maintenance for everyone.

Just brainstorming…
Thanks
mgrouch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-03-2022, 18:17   #2
Senior Cruiser
 
StuM's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
Re: Can number of plugins be reduced?

Alternatively, none of those plugins are essential to the core functionality of OpenCPN. Different people require different capabilities and many of those plugins are only needed ocassionally (such as NMEA deugger!).


Putting them all into a single monolithic application would result in a bloated application containing many unneeded functions, leading to more resource consumption and slower loading.



I'd much rather have a "mean and lean" OpenCPN with the ability to enable specific plugins as required. It's not as though occasionally enabling or disabling plugins is a major chore.
StuM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-03-2022, 18:21   #3
Registered User

Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 385
Can number of plugins be reduced?

Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM View Post
Alternatively, none of those plugins are essential to the core functionality of OpenCPN. Different people require different capabilities and many of those plugins are only needed ocassionally (such as NMEA deugger!).


Putting them all into a single monolithic application would result in a bloated application containing many unneeded functions, leading to more resource consumption and slower loading.



I'd much rather have a "mean and lean" OpenCPN with the ability to enable specific plugins as required. It's not as though occasionally enabling or disabling plugins is a major chore.


I’d say tides and currents is essential.
Shouldn’t take much resources either.
And if plugin is disabled it’s not taking resources much.
mgrouch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-03-2022, 18:48   #4
Senior Cruiser
 
StuM's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
Re: Can number of plugins be reduced?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mgrouch View Post
I’d say tides and currents is essential.
Not necessarily.
No current stations in this part of the world.
Many parts of the world have minimal tides.
More accurate tide tables are frequently available from hydrological sources.



Quote:
And if plugin is disabled it’s not taking resources much.
You make my point for me. If the capability were incorporated in a monolithic application instead of being a plugin, how would you prevent them from taking up resources?


Another point being that plugins are developed and maintained by different people. Having all of them committing changes to the core OpenCPN application would make source control much harder for the primary developers.
StuM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-03-2022, 19:26   #5
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Tierra del Fuego
Boat: Phantom 19
Posts: 6,197
Re: Can number of plugins be reduced?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mgrouch View Post
It seems even for small things which can be part of OpenCPN people write separate plugins.

NMEA debugger, Current plugins for different areas, NMEA converters, etc

At the end it just increases maintenance for everyone.

Just brainstorming…
Thanks
Can you define "everyone", please? OpenCPN core devs have zero maintanence work with the plugins, which I consider to be a good thing.

I, as author of (or contributor to) quite a few plugins, do not see any difference in fixing the functionality of plugins out of OpenCPN core or in it, but I certainly like having the flexibility of being able to release them whenever I (or the maintainer) want or need instead of having to wait and coordinate for the next OpenCPN release.

I, as a frequent contributor to the OpenCPN core, do not want to deal with users expecting me or anybody else in similar position to address local issues with stuff like changes to individual tide API endpoints (As you probably know I am also the maintainer of the worldwide freely downloadable chart catalog data, which suffers the same volatility, for years, so I believe I am kind of qualified to have an oppinion here.)

The plugin system exists to make the plugin development feasible, that's it's purpose. If you consider some plugin is so universally beneficial that it should be included in the core application, simply submit a pull request doing it. If it makes sense it will be accepted as it was with WMM and the chart downloader in the past.

Pavel
nohal is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 18-03-2022, 07:17   #6
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,102
Re: Can number of plugins be reduced?

Keep it the way it is. If someone does not want to us a plugin, just uncheck it.
Or just rmoved it.
Thanks.
P_Dub is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
plug, plugin

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
can wet exhaust be reduced Paul Klein Engines and Propulsion Systems 30 02-10-2017 16:24
Can You Decipher what the boat is by VIN number? Ballenxj Our Community 14 08-02-2015 07:52
Installateur de plugins, Install software for plugins. Gilletarom OpenCPN 3 30-04-2013 05:57
Can't find the hull number on my Cal 20. Sailor Tom Construction, Maintenance & Refit 12 30-05-2012 12:34
Lying to a Sea Anchor, Lying A-Hull, and Heaving-to Under Reduced Sail GordMay Seamanship & Boat Handling 46 21-05-2010 16:40

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 13:41.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.