Compile error but the plugin was marked "Approved"?

This discussion is related to the Gravity Insights addon.

UPDATE: This addon is not longer marked "Approved".

After getting the "YOU ARE USING AN INVALID INSIGHTS PLUGIN SITE GUID, PLEASE VIEW THE README.txt FILE FOR INSTRUCTIONS" error and figuring out that I had to sign up for an account, then go to http://insights.gravity.com/plugins/download (even though they don't list a Vanilla plugin) to get the Site GUID and paste it in insightsconfig.php, I'm getting this:

Fatal error: Class 'Gdn_CategoryModel' not found in /var/www/qsforum/plugins/GravityInsights/default.php on line 309

This plugin was listed as "Approved", but it didn't even seem to compile.

ddumont

It may have worked at some point but the integrating site disabled its functionality.

Approved plugins mean that the plugin has been reviewed and it will likely not misbehave, not that it's monitored and still works with the integrating sights unfortunately. Have you tried contacting the author?

dandv

The plugin was posted just 5 days ago. The compilation error happens before the plugin even has a chance to output the Gravity Insights beacon, so anyone reviewing the current version of the plugin could easily see that it's broken.

In general, does "Approved" mean that some past version of the plugin has been reviewed, and the current version may or may not work, and may or may not be malicious or break functionality?

My expectation was that the current version of an "Approved" plugin is what's being vetted.

luc

Well, it's not.
It stays approved until proven otherwise apparently.

As vanilla2 moved around quite a lot since 2.0.0, even approved stuff might not work with current version of v2.

Which version are you running?
Because, it a new version was just uploaded, it was surely to be working with the newest stuff. But the newest could either be 2.0.17.10 or 2.0.18beta.

dandv

luc said:

Well, it's not.
It stays approved until proven otherwise apparently.

If that is the case, then the practice creates a false sense of security. IMO, an "approved" badge should clearly mention which version of an addon it refers to.

luc said:

Which version are you running?
Because, it a new version was just uploaded, it was surely to be working with the newest stuff. But the newest could either be 2.0.17.10 or 2.0.18beta.

Vanilla 2.0.18 (beta 2). The latest version of the addon is from June 15. It's not very clear from the beta 2 announcement on what date it was released.

luc

2.0.18b2: 6th of june.

Try installing 2.0.17.10 and check if it works. I guess, the plugin author wanted to support only released stuff.

And I agree with you for the approved badge.

dandv

I just got a reply from Todd:

Approved plugins are unapproved when new versions are uploaded.

The addon error is an interpreter error and has nothing to do with whether Gravity Insights still interoperates with the beacon that the addon is supposed to output to forum pages. This means that the "Approved" status for this plugin is plain bogus, which as I said, casts a pretty bad light on the approval process and badge.

luc

Did you try with the 2.0.17.10? Because it does make sense to be compatible with that one.

UnderDog

@dandv : you're taking a pretty agressive approach to simple things like a plugin status. Sure there might be better ways to handle the plugin status, but let's just work with what we have now, ok.
Maybe you can even volunteer to go over all the plugins and make a comment whether they work or not with the latest stable version and with the beta version. That will help the community instead of just saying things are wrong.
Just my opinion.

ddumont

I dunno that I would necessarily expect all plugins, approved or not, to work flawlessly with a beta version of the forum software.

That's what the beta process is for...

dandv

UPDATE: Now the plugin page displays "Warning! This community-contributed addon has not been tested or code-reviewed. Use at your own risk." I guess it was just reviewed by someone from the Vanilla Forums staff who confirmed my report. Thanks!

dandv

luc said:

Did you try with the 2.0.17.10? Because it does make sense to be compatible with that one.

I just tried with the stable version and I get a similar error after I create a new discussion:

Fatal error: Class 'Gdn_DiscussionModel' not found in /var/www/vanilla-stable/plugins/GravityInsights/default.php on line 302

dandv

@UnderDog, @ddumont: I'm sorry for being so vocal. There are two reasons for that:
1. I got frustrated by being told that the plugin fails with a compilation error ("Class 'Gdn_DiscussionModel' not found") because Gravity Insights changed something on their side, or because I used Vanilla beta and not stable.
2. For security-minded people, the fact that an addon has been approved by the core developers is very important. I'm coming from phpBB, which has very strict MOD approval standards.

olhippie

Does it work yet ? Don't want to install it if I just have to turn around and delete it.