Just create a List of Plugins that work with the current Version.
Then as old ones are updated, they get added.
Then when another version of Dokuwiki comes out, Start a new list.
While I like the idea in general, there are a number of minor problems with that approach. Andi already mentioned one -
someone has to do the work, and keep it up to date. Then there's the fact that we are already
supposed to have that, via the "works with" marker in the plugin pages... except that either doesn't really work or is not easily maintainable. I have myself found unable to use the syntax in the pluginrepo page for marking my plugins as compatible with "X version onwards" or with "ALL DW versions" - tried stuff like "
>= Angua[/m]" or "[m]Angua+" without good results, so that makes an extra burden for me or my users because unless
someone is always verifying, there's no programmatic way to know if a plugin works or not.
The idea of keeping an archive of unmaintained plugins makes a good lot of sense mostly because people who have been using those plugins should be able to reach the latest versions,
even if they are chronologically old. That's just good software distribution practice. I am opposed to the idea of
removing plugins just because they are old. I have seen plugins that might be old but still work without issues, and do what one wants of them. In particular if there are no actual "more modern" alternatives to those plugins, then removing them is more harm than good. I mean, if someone wrote a plugin in 2009 that adds two numbers, why would it ever have to be upgraded? Unless
math changes, or unless the
core DokuWiki engine changes and no longer uses
+ to add numbers, or no longer even uses numbers at all, it will work on forever.
Wouldn't it be easy to gather the "activated" flag of the plugin list extending the popularity feedback ?
IMO this has a lot of sense. There are minor gotchas because of using the popularity feedback as a base, which mostly have to do with interpreting the stats and determining what counts as an "active" install, but overall I think the base idea is that if someone went to the extent of installing a plugin, and keeping it activated, it must have been because it works, even if it is only 3 people, or even if those people are still using a DokuWiki (and a version of the plugin) from 2013.
Are you volunteering to maintain that list? Are you volunteering to check if a plugin works with a new release or not?
While I'm not rgleason, I'm interested in knowing if anyone would be interested in setting up or maintaining a live demo site, for I have a live demo set for some old DW versions and their plugins, and I presume the information would be just as valuable as information about a new release, thus worth to pass on if requested to do so.