170 Plugin Release and Promotion

Using Subversion (Svn)

To access your repository, you need to use a Subversion client. There are various SVN frontends available such as:

• TortoiseSVN [http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org]
• SmartSVN [http://www.smartsvn.com/]
• EasySVN [http://svn-ref.assembla.com/easysvn.html]
• RapidSVN [http://rapidsvn.tigris.org/]
• SyncoSVN [http://www.syncrosvnclient.com/]

and many more, but no matter which one you use, the procedure for setting up your plugin for the first time is the same.

Repository Checkout

Perform the action, checkout from the repository. This will create a folder, using the plugin name, where your copy of the plugin will be stored. It will also initialise the braches, tags and trunk folders.

Copy Your Plugin to the Repository

You can now begin working out of the repository. As this is your first time working with the repository, your trunk directory will be empty. Copy your plugin files into the trunk folder.

Add Files to Source Control

Once your plugin files are in the repository you will need to add the files to source control. To do this, execute the add command. This will instruct subversion to begin tracking these files.

Submit the Plugin’s Codebase

Next, run the SVN Commit command. This will submit the plugin’s codebase to the WordPress plugin repository. It is a good idea at this point to check your plugin’s header and readme.txt files are current and valid. In particular make sure the version number in the plugin’s header is correct and check the Stable tag version number is correct in the readme.txt file.

Tag and Release

With the plugin complete, it’s time to release a version of your plugin to the public. Execute the Branch/Tag command on the trunk folder.

• Subversion will ask you into which folder you want to tag the version. IMPORTANT: Make sure you update the path of the plugin to the tags path.

You’re plugin has been checked into source control. Within 20 minutes, your plugin will show in the WordPress Plugin repository.

WordPress Plugin Release and Promotion Conclusion

Hopefully you now have a reasonable understanding of what it takes to document and publish your plugin through the WordPress plugin repository.

Well, I hope you found something useful and enjoyed this article Plugin Release and Promotion.