[QGIS-Developer] Are there any real mandatory rules for publishing a plugin?

Wed Sep 30 11:57:11 PDT 2026

The rating system is about to go:
https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Plugins-Website/pull/445

Decision from
https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-developer/2026-September/068510.html

Le mer. 30 sept. 2026 à 18:26, chris hermansen <clhermansen at gmail.com> a
écrit :

> In case the ideas might be useful:
>
> - is there a way to "age out" reviews / stars? in other words, plugins
> that received a lot of stars when first published in 2003 but none
> since lose that former approval?
> - is there some way to "rate the raters"?  in other words, ratings
> provided by persons without a registration on the mailing list or
> other (semi-) official credentials don't count or appear separately
> (community ratings?)
> - is there some way to associate plugins with verifications of
> functionality by QGIS version, to show the plugin is (or at least has
> been) maintained in the past?
> - is there some way to allow certain types of "negative ratings"? for
> example, I tried this plugin with version 3.44.x and it did not work?
>
> On Wed, Sep 30, 2026 at 9:13 AM Denis Rouzaud via QGIS-Developer
> <qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > My 2 cents:
> >
> > - the ease of publishing plugins is one of QGIS strengths. Anyone can
> push a plugin for his colleagues/friends, no matter how bad it is, it's
> what they use to work. I would keep it that way.
> > - We used to have starred plugins. We could bring back something
> similar: we give community voting members the possibility of flagging
> plugins as "worth it" (without any security warranty).
> > - The rest is wild territory.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Denis
> >
> > Le mer. 30 sept. 2026 à 17:08, Raymond Nijssen via QGIS-Developer <
> qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org> a écrit :
> >>
> >> Hi, I also agree the plugin policies need to be changed. Also check the
> >> email from Stefano earlier today. I'm really feeling sorry for the ones
> >> who are dealing with all the new plugins.
> >>
> >> Just some ideas from my side:
> >>
> >> More plugin metadata:
> >> * description where to find the plugin in QGIS
> >> * plugin language(s)
> >> * code is generated by AI
> >> * plugin needs a (paid) account to function
> >> * plugin has software dependencies
> >> * a category?
> >>
> >> Detect some IMHO real bad quality signs:
> >> * Icon is still the default plugin builder icon (or even missing)
> >> * Dialogs are not responsive
> >>
> >> Some quality constraints for uploading to the plugin repository could
> be:
> >> * Plugin should use as much as possible the QGIS functionality. For
> >> example, the plugin should not read or write a shapefile from disk, but
> >> work on vector layers. QGIS can read and write the shapefile (an many
> more).
> >> * Plugin must be in English, translations can be done by Qt tr()
> function.
> >> * If possible, data manipulations must be through processing algorithms
> >> * All web traffic must be using QgsNetworkAccessManager (to make
> >> debugging possible)
> >>
> >> We could also consider having a paid repo, with paid staff keeping it
> >> clean, high quality and safe. We could also make it easier to add/find
> >> other, less strictly maintained, repos.
> >>
> >> Love to discuss this next week in Laax!
> >>
> >> Raymond
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 9/30/26 13:59, Régis Haubourg via QGIS-Developer wrote:
> >> > Hi, I agree that our community repository is really large now and the
> >> > world has changed. What should be the direction we should take
> according
> >> > to you? Something like an official repo, with a real security triage,
> >> > and a filter of really up to date and active tools?
> >> > And besides this, community repositories, not activated by default ?
> >> > Thanks for your ideas, user conference and community meeting is next
> >> > week and a dedicated session would be wonderful
> >> > Cheers
> >> > Régis
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On 30/09/2026 13:31, Nicolas Godet via QGIS-Developer <qgis-
> >> > developer at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
> >> >> Dear all,
> >> >>
> >> >> I can’t agree more on the fact that the plugin repo has become a wild
> >> >> jungle with less and less interest in digging into it to find an
> >> >> innovative one.
> >> >> A few years ago, I spent a few minutes each week looking at each new
> >> >> plugin (because there were only ten or so). Now, I don’t look at new
> >> >> plugins anymore because there are too many of them and most of them
> >> >> are a duplicate of another plugin or, even worse, of a core feature.
> >> >>
> >> >> I think new rules should be put in place or at least a way to
> >> >> distinguish good, community-approved plugins from the nonsense
> garbage
> >> >> in the quest for likes for their LinkedIn post.
> >> >>
> >> >> Kind regards,
> >> >> Nicolas
> >> >>
> >> >> > Le 29 sept. 2026 à 17:45, Stefano Campus via QGIS-Developer <qgis-
> >
> >> >> developer at lists.osgeo.org> a écrit :
> >> >> >
> >> >> > 
> >> >> > Good morning,
> >> >> > a few days ago, a plugin [1] was released that is a fork of an >
> >> >> existing plugin which had been updated (without the original plugin >
> >> >> author being notified) to QGIS 4.
> >> >> > The GitHub repository has issues disabled, so it is not possible to
> >> >> > report bugs that are present.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > But shouldn’t it be mandatory to have issue reporting enabled?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Furthermore, the proliferation of plugins makes it difficult to
> find
> >> >> > the truly innovative ones.
> >> >> > So we see plugins that replicate core functions, perhaps giving
> them
> >> >> a > more appealing user interface
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Where can I report this to the team that coordinates the plugins?
> >> >> > Do you think we should report these anomalies?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Many thanks
> >> >> >
> >> >> > stefano
> >> >> >
> >> >> > [1] https://github.com/veogeo/go3streetview <https://github.com/ >
> >> >> veogeo/go3streetview>
> >> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> >> > QGIS-Developer mailing list
> >> >> > QGIS-Developer at lists.osgeo.org
> >> >> > List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> >> > Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> >>
> >> >> _______________________________________________
> >> >> QGIS-Developer mailing list
> >> >> QGIS-Developer at lists.osgeo.org
> >> >> List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> >>
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > QGIS-Developer mailing list
> >> > QGIS-Developer at lists.osgeo.org
> >> > List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> QGIS-Developer mailing list
> >> QGIS-Developer at lists.osgeo.org
> >> List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > QGIS-Developer mailing list
> > QGIS-Developer at lists.osgeo.org
> > List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Hermansen · clhermansen "at" gmail "dot" com
>
> C'est ma façon de parler.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-developer/attachments/20260930/68159349/attachment.htm>