Move xwiki-platform-extension-versioncheck to the attic

[surli]

Hello everyone,

I discovered today the presence of this module in xwiki-platform: xwiki-platform/xwiki-platform-core/xwiki-platform-extension/xwiki-platform-extension-versioncheck at master · xwiki/xwiki-platform · GitHub

It has been apparently created by @caubin as part of [XWIKI-14778] Check periodically if a new distribution version is available - XWiki.org JIRA

There is several problems with this module:

• it’s not discoverable: it’s not bundled in XS and it’s documented in Extension Manager Application (XWiki.org) but the extension needs to be installed separately (it’s not in Extension Manager Application (XWiki.org))
• it’s not usable: notifications are targeting a group that is only present in the demo distrib (see: xwiki-platform/NewExtensionVersionAvailableEvent.java at master · xwiki/xwiki-platform · GitHub)
• this event target probably does not work anymore since a few versions (at least 12.x and probably even before that): as @lucaa spotted those targets should be absolute serialized references

Moreover the way for doing it would be probably different with the index of extensions introduced by @tmortagne and note that [XWIKI-14666] Notify administrators when a new version of the platform is available - XWiki.org JIRA is still open today.

So for all those reasons I propose that we just move this module to the attic.
WDYT?

[tmortagne]

+1

[mleduc]

+1 Thanks

[MichaelHamann]

If we fixed the event target, would the extension work? To me this sounds like an easy fix if this is all that’s broken. The fact that it is not discoverable could probably also be easily fixed - if we determine that the extension is working, we could just bundle it. In my opinion an update notification/version check is something important to have so unless not just an implementation detail but the whole implementation needs to be changed, I don’t see why the whole extension should be moved to the attic.

[vmassol]

+1 to move to contrib or attic (depending on whether Clement wants to continue it or not)

+1 to do it right and include the feature in XS at some point (requires some design and discussions).

[surli]

@MichaelHamann

If we fixed the event target, would the extension work?

The short answer is no: it would only work on wikis having an XWikiAdminGroup defined, which is not something we can expect everywhere. So basically the way it’s done is currently wrong.

@MichaelHamann

In my opinion an update notification/version check is something important to have

I agree and as Vincent suggested we should redo it with cleaner design.

[lucaa]

@surli

The short answer is no: it would only work on wikis having an XWikiAdminGroup defined, which is not something we can expect everywhere. So basically the way it’s done is currently wrong.

This assumption is indeed not satisfiable everywhere, but reasonable for a fair percentage of the instances (which keep the standard groups).
This kind of assumptions are reasonable, IMO, for contrib extensions so I would say this should be moved to a contrib extension and the code fixed - it’s just a line, to at least give it a chance of being tested as a contrib extension.

If then, in contrib, it evolves to a solid and very reliable extension, I guess it could come back as a platform, bundled extension.

@MichaelHamann

In my opinion an update notification/version check is something important to have

there is a feature to do version check - in extensions, the extensions updates section - it’s just not automatized and pushed under the nose of the wiki admin. But if an admin wants to keep their wiki up to date it’s easy to do so, so part of that important feature is achieved, it’s just more manual.

[caubin]

+1 ; no need to clog the platform with unused code

Thanks,
Clément