[wp-hackers] Plugin metadata

[Owen Winkler]

Kyle VanderBeek wrote:
> What about those of us that only use a single file?  My little plugin is 
> just a single little file, no .zip or distribution.  Is there a "simple" 
> variation on this, or should I plan on building a "distro" for my stuff?

I've learned a couple of semi-important things from writing all these 
plugins:

Even if your plugin is just one file, at least half of your users won't 
bother to read the contents of that file before copying it into every 
WordPress directory, enabling every copy the've installed from the 
Plugins tab, and then sending you email wondering why it doesn't dice 
tomatoes.  Even if your readme.txt says "Go read my post [here]", that's 
better than distributing just one file.

I think Matt's plan is to have the repository generate a list of plugins 
for the common man (not the list that appears in Trac) that displays 
these basic instructions with a screenshot.  Whatever this page is, 
it'll likely take all of the files for your plugin (even if there is 
only one plus your readme.txt) and zip them so that users can download a 
plugin that way instead of sifting their way through Trac or SVN.  You 
shouldn't need to create a zip file at all.

Owen