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

[Matthias Kuhn]

Hi

On 2/6/19 12:47 PM, Nathan Woodrow wrote:
> QGIS is for the users in the end, if this opens a new world of users,
> and note this is government funded, I don't think we should avoid
> allowing these kinds of things in.  This isn't a core feature of QGIS
> and more of an exception than a rule.  I don't see most plugins going
> this route but the few that do because of X reasons they have no
> control over should still be part of the community I think.
>
> I really don't see the harm here as it's not something that most
> people will know or care about in the end.  Getting plugins to work
> cross-platform is a lot of work and I don't really like pushing people
> away because they can't do it for whatever reason.  If this was going
> to be a core feature I would be on your side for it but the plugins
> are for the users.
>
> I would also note we have some features of QGIS that only work on some
> platforms and not others and we are fine with that because it makes it
> better for those users, so this is the same here IMO.  Pushing them
> out to a self-hosted plugin repo just adds extra overhead and limits
> user base and visibility of well-funded work that we should embrace.


I am tempted to think in the same direction. Most plugins will be
cross-platform anyway because Python and because Qt and because QGIS.

If they are not and it's trivial to solve (e.g. someone is using \ as
path separator instead of os.path.join...) than things can go through an
issue report. If it's more complex it's a question of effort vs.
benefit. If it's a single-purpose use-case specific plugin which is
intended to be run inside a specific organization / scenario, then I
don't see the benefit of investing a lot of effort into something that
will never be used.

IMO we should be open to anyone and in parallel encourage people to
support as many platforms as possible. E.g. adding metadata with
supported platforms might help to be more transparent about supported
platform, filter plugins in the plugin manager and offer specific help
to make plugins cross-platform down the road.

Bests

Matthias