[omaha] Plugin Framework/Architecture

[Jeff Rush]

Jeff Hinrichs - DM&T wrote:
> There is an interesting write up on plugin architecture -- "g :: A
> Simple Plugin Framework",
> http://gulopine.gamemusic.org/2008/jan/10/simple-plugin-framework/

Thanks for the reading material!


> A project that I'm working on is going to require a plugin framework
> for a number of things: Logic, Data Storage, Reporting and I've been
> keeping my eyes open for papers/articles on plugin frameworks.  Do you
> know of any resources/articles?

Two options you should consider:

1) The Twisted framework has a very nice plugin-architecture you
   can use, whether you use the rest of Twisted or not.  Google
   for "twisted IPlugin".

   For an example, you can take a peek at the Dallas-Ft. Worth
   Pythoneers' subversion repository - we played with it a bit,
   in relation to providing plugins to the D-BUS architecture.

   https://www.dfwpython.org/repo/Projects/DBUS/

2) Python eggs, using the Setuptools software, have a concept of
   entrypoints, which are named and categorized.  They are an
   upcoming standard way of doing plugins for Python.  There is
   a standard API for querying for entrypoints.

   You can read all about it at:

http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/setuptools#extensible-applications-and-frameworks

   It is also the method used by zc.buildout, a great
   tool for managing development/deployment for repeatability.

And then the third way, of leveraging the interfaces database of the Zope
component system, as described in the article you provided.

-Jeff