=PlugMan: A simple but powerful Ruby plugin framework.
Author: Aaron P (mailto:ruby.plugman@gmail.com)
Copyright: Copyright (c)2008 Aaron P
License: Distributed under the same terms as Ruby.
PlugMan is a simple and effective plugin framework for building dynamic and extensible Ruby applications. If you need plugins/addons/extensions in your application, PlugMan is for you. PlugMan also includes demos to make learning PlugMan very easy.
== Requirements
Ruby! That's all. All the files that comprise PlugMan are in the ./src dir (yes, just those two .rb files.)
In ./src/demos are a couple of demo programmes to show PlugMan in action. They aren't necessary for PlugMan actual (so you can safely delete them if you don't need a leg-up!) To run them, from the ./src dir, execute 'ruby ./demos/GtkDemo.rb' or 'ruby ./demos/Texter.rb' Alternatively, the rake targets "gtk_demo" and "text_demo" can be used.
The GtkDemo makes use of a few *nix type utilities such as df and fortune. It also requires the libgtk2-ruby libraries to be available. The Texter demo is a console application that does not have any external dependencies; it still demonstrates the plugin dependency and extension point processing of PlugMan.
== TODO:
- Gem
- More tests
- More doco
- File headers
- Namespace
- Hardening for real-world use cases (it works find for my needs, perhaps other developers will use it differently, causing breakages.)
Future? Handling cyclic plugin dependencies. Perhaps a plugin query language to make finding plugins more powerful.
== Version History
0.0.1, 29-Feb-2008
- First release, a functional and easy to use plugin architecture that supports plugin dependencies and extension points.
0.0.2, 04-Mar-2008
- Removed PluginMeta.rb and incorporated it into Plugin.rb. Fixed some doco. Added a Rakefile.