Plugin Security addin

If a Manila plugin is installed on a Frontier server, it is potentially available to every Manila website. All the Managing Editor has to do is to the plugins submenu of the advanced menu and check the corresponding box. In many situations this is not what a server administrator wants, he might consider the plug-in inappropriately technical, or too resource consumptive for the MEs of some Manila websites he manages. Or, he might have preferred to charge for the use of extra features.

In August 2000 I proposed a simple change to the plugin architecture that would allow this level of control. It would require a small change in one of Userlands scripts within manilaSuite and a slight change to the initialconfig table passed to manila when a plugin is installed. Although a few developers commented favourably, Userland did not react and the proposal sank into obscurity.

I persisted because the idea addressed a problem for some of my clients. The proposal had 3 elements

• A required, but unsupported patch to manilaSuite.plugins.getList
• A controlpanel addIn to manage plugin visibilty by website, which I have placed in the public domain.
• That plug-in developers make small changes to their plug-ins.

Important note; plugins with the suggested changes will run exactly as before on servers that do not choose to install the change to getList.