[QGIS-Developer] Windows only version of a QGIS 2.18x plugin

[Richard Duivenvoorde]

On 2/6/19 7:28 AM, Christina.Ratcliff at csiro.au wrote:
> Hi QGIS dev list,
>  
> I have just uploaded a new QGIS 2.18.x plugin called PAT - Precision
> Agriculture Tools.  It relies on VESPER,  a Windows only bit of software
> so therefore I went ahead writing a Windows only plugin using QGIS
> 2.18.x and  the non-QGIS Python dependencies of rasterio, Fiona,
> geopandas and our pyprecag package.
>  
> The majority of our users are Windows users and are the likes of Farmers
> and Ag consultants with no programming experience and very little QGIS
> experience which also led to the decision of making PAT a Windows only
> plugin. I have developed a series of dependency checks based on the
> Windows environment and create a Windows batchfile that the user can
> launch to install the Python dependencies correctly for use with QGIS.

Hi Cristina,

Personally I would be OK with it, though I hope that with most other
plugins people try to run the extra mile and make a plugin work on all
platforms (or ask for help) if possible, so we will not end up with more
'linux/windows/mac only'-plugins.

Another option for you would be to just create your own repo at the same
server where people download VESPER from. While you are busy doing the
bat files, you can even install the plugin for the user maybe?
It would mean an extra step to the user to add an extra repo url though.
Or you forget about the whole repo, can do the plugin installation (is
unzipping in the right directory) in your Setup.exe of Vesper?

If you prefer to put it in QGIS repo: just add a big note in the
metadata.txt description that this plugin is only usable with vesper and
windows. And maybe do an OS check in the __init__ for illiterate users ;-)

Also: as 2.18 (and python2) is not to be maintained anymore in near
future... why not port to 3 now you are busy with it.

Regards,

Richard Duivenvoorde