Problem: Running `update()` by default doesn't include not active
plugins, because there was no way to get relevant `version` to get
updates from. This might be a problem in presence of lazy loaded
plugins, i.e. ones that can be "not *yet* active" but still needed to
be updated.
Solution: Include not active plugins by default since their `version` is
tracked via lockfile.
Problem: The revision data is returned behind `opts.info` flag because
it required extra Git calls. With lockfile it is not the case.
Solution: Use lockfile to always set `rev` field in output of `get()`.
Problem: `get()` doesn't return `spec.version` about not-yet-active
plugins (because there was no way to know that without `add()`).
Solution: Use lockfile data to set `spec.version` of non-active plugins.
Problem: Some use cases require or benefit from persistent on disk
storage of plugin data (a.k.a. "lockfile"):
1. Allow `update()` to act on not-yet-active plugins. Currently if
`add()` is not yet called, then plugin's version is unknown
and `update()` can't decide where to look for changes.
2. Efficiently know plugin's dependencies without having to read
'pkg.json' files on every load for every plugin. This is for the
future, after there is `packspec` support (or other declaration of
dependencies on plugin's side).
3. Allow initial install to check out the exact latest "working" state
for a reproducible setup. Currently it pulls the latest available
`version.`
4. Ensure that all declared plugins are installed, even if lazy loaded.
So that later `add()` does not trigger auto-install (when there
might be no Internet connection, for example) and there is no issues
with knowing which plugins are used in the config (so even never
loaded rare plugins are still installed and can be updated).
5. Allow `add()` to detect if plugin's spec has changed between
Nvim sessions and act accordingly. I.e. either set new `src` as
origin or enforce `version.` This is not critical and can be done
during `update()`, but it might be nice to have.
Solution: Add lockfile in JSON format that tracks (adds, updtes,
removes) necessary data for described use cases. Here are the required
data that enables each point:
1. `name` -> `version` map.
2. `name` -> `dependencies` map.
3. `name` -> `rev` map. Probably also requires `name` -> `src` map
to ensure that commit comes from correct origin.
4. `name` -> `src` map. It would be good to also track the order,
but that might be too many complications and redundant together
with point 2.
5. Map from `name` to all relevant spec fields. I.e. `name` -> `src`
and `name` -> `version` for now. Storing data might be too much,
but can be discussed, of course.
This commit only adds lockfile tracking without implementing actual
use cases. It is stored in user's config directory and is suggested to
be tracked via version control.
Example of a lockfile:
```json
{
# Extra nesting to more future proof.
"plugins": {
"plug-a": {
"ref": "abcdef1"
"src": "https://github.com/user/plug-a",
# No `version` means it was `nil` (infer default branch later)
},
"plug-b": {
"dependencies": ["plugin-a", "plug-c"],
"src": "https://github.com/user/plug-b",
"ref": "bcdefg2",
# Enclose string `version` in quotes
"version": "'dev'"
},
"plug-c": {
"src": "https://github.com/user/plug-c",
"ref": "cdefgh3",
# Store `vim.version.Range` via its `tostring()` output
"version": ">=0.0.0",
}
}
}
```
Problem: First clean start with config containing multiple
`vim.pack.add()` calls requires to explicitly confirm each one.
Although usually a rare occurrence, it still might be tedious.
Solution: Add a third choice during installation confirmation that
approves current and all next installs within current session. It is
reset after session restart.
Problem: Some environment variables which are useful when working inside
a bare repository can affect any Git operation.
Solution: Explicitly unset problematic environment variables.
Problem:
Force resolve `spec.version` overrides the information about whether
a user supplied `version` or not. Knowing it might be useful in some use
cases (like comparing to previously set `spec` to detect if it has
changed).
Solution:
Do not resolve `spec.version`. This also improves speed when triggering
events and calling `get()`.
- Place default branch first when listing all branches.
- Use correct terminology in `get_hash` helper.
- Do not return `{ '' }` if there are no tags.
Problem:
There is no way to get more information about installed plugins, like
current revision or default branch (necessary if resolving default
`spec.version` manually). As computing Git data migth take some time,
also allow `get()` to limit output to only necessary set of plugins.
Solution:
- introduce arguments to `get(names, opts)`, which follows other
`vim.pack` functions. Plugin extra info is returned by default and
should be opt-out via `opts.info = false`.
- Examples:
- Get current revision: `get({ 'plug-name' })[1].rev`
- Get default branch: `get({ 'plug_name' })[1].branches[1]`
- `update()` and `del()` act on plugins in the same order their names
are supplied. This is less surprising.
- default `opts.info` to `true` since this simplifies logic for the
common user, while still leaving the door open for a faster `get()` if
needed.
Problem: Progress reports use plain `nvim_echo()` with manually
constructed messages and populate history on every call.
Solution: Use `nvim_echo()` with newly added `kind=progress` which (at
least for now) is meant to be a unified interface for showing progress
report. Also save in history only first and last progress report
messages.
Problem:
The load function in opts was difficult to use if you wished to
customize based on the plugin being loaded.
You could get the name, but without some way to mark a spec, that was of
limited usefulness unless you wanted to hardcode a list of names in the
function, or write a wrapper around the whole thing
Solution:
Allow users to provide an arbitrary data field in plugin specs so that
they may receive info as to how to handle that plugin in load, get() and
events, and act upon it
Co-authored-by: BirdeeHub <birdee@localhost>
Co-authored-by: Evgeni Chasnovski <evgeni.chasnovski@gmail.com>
Problem: No way to skip install confirmation in `add()`. Having install
confirmation by default is a more secure design. However, users are
usually aware of the fact that plugin will be installed and there is
currently no way to skip confirmation.
Plus it can introduce inconvenience on the clean config initialization
if it is modularized with many `vim.pack.add()` calls (leads to
confirming installation many times in a row).
Solution: Add `opts.confirm` option that can skip install confirmation.
Problem: No way to have full control over how plugin is loaded.
Although `:packadd!` has small side effects (only adds plugin
directory to 'runtimepath'; and maybe its 'after/' subdirectory), it
still has side effects. For example, 'plugin/' directories are still
loaded during startup (as part of `:h load-plugins`).
Solution: Allow function `opts.load` that has full control over how
plugin is loaded.
Problem: the `load=true` in `vim.pack.add()` means that `:packadd` is
executed even during startup. This leads to force source of 'plugin/',
which breaks the intended loading order (`:h load-plugins`) and
results into sourcing them twice. This also makes it ignore
`--noplugin` argument.
Using `:packadd!` during startup is more appropriate, while `:packadd`
afterwards is still more favorable to actually force 'plugin/' source
(as there is no pre-defined mechanism that will load them later).
Solution: have `load=false` default during startup, `true` - afterwards.
Problem:
Error when adding a plugin will make all following plugins not
`:packadd`ed
Solution:
- add() should handle errors from :packadd with pcall()
Co-authored-by: Evgeni Chasnovski <evgeni.chasnovski@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Justin M. Keyes <justinkz@gmail.com>
