Manage your eXo Platform add-ons with the Add-ons Manager, now in version 1.0.0-RC2!

A few months ago we created a prototype of a new command line tool to manage add-ons in your eXo platform instance.

Based upon this experiment we created some specifications that we began to implement a few weeks ago.

Today, I am pleased to announce that this project is landing with the release of a second Release Candidate (RC2).

This RC2 implements 99.99% of the specifications and various bug fixes reported by our QA team.

Now it’s time for you to give it a try. As we explained in our previous post, this tool will be useful for all platform 4+ developers and administrators.

Simply download the archive and extract its contents into the root directory of your platform instance and you’re ready to go!

(Note that it includes an auto-update feature, which will allow you to upgrade transparently to the latest version)

The tool offers various commands. Let’s take a tour of them.

List of available add-ons

The list command allows you to list add-ons from the catalog.

addon list [--unstable] [--snapshots] [--installed] [--outdated] [--catalog=URL] [--no-cache] [--offline] [--verbose]

Few comments about these parameters :

• --unstable allows you to list unstable versions of add-ons (alpha, beta, RC, etc.).
• --snapshots allows you to list development versions of add-ons.
• --installed allows you to list add-ons that you’ve already deployed in your platform instance.
• --outdated allows you to list add-ons that you’ve already deployed in your platform instance that have a newer version available.

(You can find more details about parameters in the specifications)

Let’s list all stable add-ons with:

addon list

Describe an add-on

The describe command allows you to display information about a specific catalog entry.

addon describe addonId[:addonVersion] [--catalog=URL] [--no-cache] [--offline]

(You can find more details about parameters in the specifications)

Let’s describe our PagesJaunes add-on.

addon describe exo-pagesjaunes

Install an add-on

The install command controls the installation of add-ons

addon install addonId:addonVersion [--force] [--no-compat] [--conflict=skip|overwrite] [--catalog=URL] [--no-cache] [--offline] [--verbose]

or

addon install addonId [--unstable] [--snapshots] [--force] [--no-compat] [--conflict=skip|overwrite] [--catalog=URL] [--no-cache] [--offline] [--verbose]

A few comments about these parameters:

• --unstable allows you to install the newest version of the add-on (unstable included) if no version is specified.
• --snapshots allows you to install the newest version of the add-on (development version included) if no version is specified.
• --force allows you to reinstall an add-on already installed.
• --no-compat allows you to bypass compatibility controls with your platform version, distribution, or application server type.
• --conflict=skip|overwrite allows you to skip or overwrite existing files in your platform instance that are also provided by the add-on.

(You can find all the details about parameters with --help or by looking at the specifications)

Let’s install our PagesJaunes add-on:

addon install exo-pagesjaunes

Uninstall an add-on

The uninstall command is used to uninstall installed add-ons.

addon uninstall addonId [--verbose]

Let’s uninstall our PagesJaunes add-on:

addon uninstall exo-pagesjaunes

There are a few improvements to make in a third release candidate, but nothing that may prevent you from using the current second release candidate.

Please do not hesitate to give it a try and provide us with your feedback (good or bad).

You may also directly report any issues or ideas for improvement through our tracker.

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