Plugin Sandboxing
I just finished a feature for WordPress 2.2 that I’m pretty excited about. Not that it’s anything sexy or groundbreaking. It’s just one of those “it just works” features that sits in the background minding its own business and doesn’t reveal itself until you really need it.
Here is the first scenario:
You find (or write) a great new plugin and upload it to your /plugins/ directory. You activate it and — oh no. PHP Fatal Error. Someone missed a curly brace somewhere. No problem, you think, that’s what the back button is for. But guess what, the plugin is active, even on the Plugin management screen. Now your entire blog is down as well as the WordPress administration interface. At this point, your only recourse is to FTP in, find the plugin, and delete or rename it.
While that scenario is aggravating enough, it’s nothing compared to the second scenario:
You’re on the road, checking your mail at a computer that’s not your usual computer. You notice an e-mail from someone saying that one of the plugins on your site is misbehaving. You navigate to the Plugin Editing screen in WordPress and quickly correct the problem. Hurray for in-WP plugin editing! But when you click the save button, you get a fatal error. You must have forgotten a semicolon somewhere. And suddenly you realize that you don’t know your FTP password, so the only method you have of editing your plugin is now blocked. And you won’t have access to your main computer for 3 days, during which time your blog will be broken.
If you’ve ever experienced one of the above, you know how annoying it is. So the feature I’ve put into WordPress 2.2 is what I call plugin sandboxing. Before a plugin is activated or a plugin is edited, it is tested in a temporary fashion (that is, without being permanently activated). If it passes the test, it is activated for real. If it doesn’t pass the test (it’s throwing a fatal error that would normally take down your WordPress install), it is deactivated, and you get a nice error message telling you what went wrong. If the fatal error was caused because you edited an active plugin, the “Update File” button changes to “Update File and Attempt to Reactivate,” so that once you correct your typo, the plugin will go back to being activated, without requiring you to go back and manually activate it.
If you never activate a flawed plugin or never make a typo when editing your plugins, you’ll never know this functionality is there. But some day you just might slip up, and now WordPress will cover for you.
Great functionality, good work Mark!
Lee Kelleher
February 14, 2007 at 5:19 am
Fantastic functionality addition Mark. This may just be a life saver!
But, can it be extended to more than plugins? Maybe themes as well?
Ajay
February 14, 2007 at 7:35 am
Ajay,
Fatal errors in themes don’t prevent you from editing them, so this isn’t really needed.
Mark Jaquith
February 14, 2007 at 7:39 am
I’m excited about this new functionality! I’ve done your first scenario more than I care to admit, and while a sandbox is no replacement for actually thinking things through, it’s going to help me a ton.
Sarah Lewis
February 14, 2007 at 10:57 am
That sounds awesome…it’s almost like your teasing us though because it is a feature many of us would like to have now.
Ryan Wagner
February 14, 2007 at 11:30 am
Sounds like an excellent feature! At the moment I tend to use a “sandbox” installation of WP on a sub-domain to test things out before I install them but this should make things even easier.
Looking forward to seeing what else you guys can come up with.
StevieB
February 14, 2007 at 12:39 pm
[...] at “Mark On WordPress” there is news of an excellent added feature, a plug-in “sandbox” facility: So the feature I’ve put into WordPress 2.2 is what I [...]
Lost in Cyberspace » Blog Archive » News on WordPress 2.2
February 14, 2007 at 12:40 pm
nice work
mozey
February 14, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Nice, I was hoping this would come about sooner than later…
Will
February 15, 2007 at 5:34 am
[...] ik nog altijd aan het thrillseeken ben met versie 2.07 van WordPress, lees ik op de weblog van Mark Jaquith over aardige functionaliteit die in versie 2.2 zal worden ingebouwd. Het betreft een zogenaamde [...]
MarcNext » Blog Archive » Sandbox voor WordPress-plugins
February 15, 2007 at 2:05 pm
[...] instalaron un nuevo plugin. Pues bien, parece que a partir de la versión 2.2 el CMS tendrá una nueva característica (Plugin Sandboxing) a través de la cual nos advertirá antes de la activación, de que el plugin [...]
Bitelia » Instalación de plugins segura en WordPress 2.2
February 15, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Nice.. But i dont know where the link to download it..
Tguh
February 16, 2007 at 9:35 pm
[...] Plugin sandboxing will not allow plugins to activate if they break your wordpress blog or cause fatal PHP errors. “Before a plugin is activated or a plugin is edited, it is tested in a temporary fashion (that is, without being permanently activated). If it passes the test, it is activated for real. If it doesn’t pass the test (it’s throwing a fatal error that would normally take down your WordPress install), it is deactivated, and you get a nice error message telling you what went wrong. If the fatal error was caused because you edited an active plugin, the “Update File” button changes to “Update File and Attempt to Reactivate,” so that once you correct your typo, the plugin will go back to being activated, without requiring you to go back and manually activate it.” [...]
» Plugin Sandboxing in WordPress 2.2 : Safer Activation
February 16, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Mark.. where the link?
Tguh
February 17, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Tguh: WordPress 2.2 isn’t available yet. You’ll have to wait a little while until it is.
Bon
February 18, 2007 at 6:22 pm
[...] Mark Jaquith has noted a cool new feature for WordPress 2.2 that some plugin and theme creators are going to love. So the feature I’ve put into WordPress 2.2 is what I call plugin sandboxing. Before a plugin is activated or a plugin is edited, it is tested in a temporary fashion (that is, without being permanently activated). If it passes the test, it is activated for real. If it doesn’t pass the test (it’s throwing a fatal error that would normally take down your WordPress install), it is deactivated, and you get a nice error message telling you what went wrong. If the fatal error was caused because you edited an active plugin, the “Update File” button changes to “Update File and Attempt to Reactivate,” so that once you correct your typo, the plugin will go back to being activated, without requiring you to go back and manually activate it. [...]
WordPress 2.2 Feature: Plugin Sandboxing by Blogging Pro
February 21, 2007 at 4:59 pm
[...] nada que se liberara mañana mismo). Uno de los anuncios más recientes lo realizaba ayer mismo Mark Jaquith, comentando la implementación de una función denominada ‘sandboxing‘, que se [...]
Mangas Verdes » WordPress 2.2 mantendrá los plugins en cuarentena
February 21, 2007 at 10:55 pm
[...] Mark zu einer der neuesten upcoming Features für die 2.2er Version: So the feature I’ve put into WordPress 2.2 is what I call plugin sandboxing. Before a plugin is activated or a plugin is edited, it is tested in a temporary fashion (that is, without being permanently activated). If it passes the test, it is activated for real. If it doesn’t pass the test (it’s throwing a fatal error that would normally take down your WordPress install), it is deactivated, and you get a nice error message telling you what went wrong. If the fatal error was caused because you edited an active plugin, the “Update File” button changes to “Update File and Attempt to Reactivate,” so that once you correct your typo, the plugin will go back to being activated, without requiring you to go back and manually activate it. [...]
Basic Thinking Blog » Wordpress 2.2: nette Plugin-Idee
February 23, 2007 at 7:41 am
[...] One feature I’ve just read about has been written by that nice Mark Jaquith. He calls it Plugin Sandboxing – the idea is that when you activate a new plugin, or edit an existing one, it is first activated [...]
More WordPress goodies to come : Losing it[1]
March 11, 2007 at 10:03 am
[...] Plugin Sandboxing to Test Drive Plugins [...]
WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.2 Due Monday, Sponsored WordPress Themes, WordPress.com Splog Fighter, and More at The Blog Herald
April 18, 2007 at 6:06 pm
[...] Plugin Sandboxing to Test Drive Plugins [...]
WordPress 2.2 Delayed « Lorelle on WordPress
April 18, 2007 at 10:14 pm
[...] caught my eye is Plugin Sandboxing. On more than one occasion I’ve killed my site because a plugin I’ve installed has [...]
Wordpress 2.2 Gets Delayed - The Wrong Advices
April 19, 2007 at 1:45 am
[...] Plugin Sandboxing para poder realizar pruebas de módulos/plugins. [...]
WordPress 2.2 retrasado - Carrero Bitácora de los Hermanos Carrero, David Carrero Fernández-Baillo y Jaime Carrero Fernández-Baillo.
April 19, 2007 at 4:44 am
[...] Plugin Sandboxing. Τι κάνει αυτό; Με λίγα λόγια κατά την ενεργοποίηση ενός plugin γίνεται έλεγχος αν το plugin μπορεί να τρέξει χωρίς να δημιουργήσει προβλήματα (fatal errors κτλ). Αν όχι, τότε γίνεται αυτόματα de-activate μέχρι να διορθωθεί — μία καλή λύση για όσους συνηθίζουν να τροποποιούν τα plugins μέσα από τον plugin editor του WordPress. [...]
WordPress 2.2: Τι να περιμένουμε; | Το WordPress στα Ελληνικά
April 19, 2007 at 5:58 am
great idea!
jez
April 19, 2007 at 8:12 am
[...] implementato phpmailer, formati multipli per feed dei commenti, dall’implementazione del plugin sandboxing, che ci dovrebbe salvare il blog dai plugin mal programmati, tema classico e di default [...]
Wordpress 2.2 posticipato e benvenuta Feisty da Davide Bocci in…
April 19, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Now this should be fantastic! It saves us all the trouble of using FTP just to fix a broken plugin.
Btw, why don’t we offer a direct upload for plugins from the wp-admin itself?
markku
April 20, 2007 at 1:32 am
[...] Plugin Sandboxing untuk uji coba plugins sebelum benar² di install di WordPress [...]
WordPress 2.2 Ditunda « Melodies Of Life
April 21, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Awesome functionality addition Mark!!!
Thanks so much
gidibao
April 25, 2007 at 7:09 pm
[...] Plugin Sandboxing to Test Drive Plugins [...]
» Blog Archive » Lorelle on WP: WordPress 2.2 Delayed
May 1, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Hi Mark,
Can you please help me to disable this Plugin Sandboxing feature in 2.2?
See here; http://wordpress.org/support/topic/118418
Thanks,
Halil
hgurol
May 20, 2007 at 4:55 am
Halil,
In WordPress 2.3, it will show the error message to the user (but still refuse to activate the plugin). I think this is the best of both worlds, because you know why the plugin failed, but it doesn’t take your site down.
Mark Jaquith
June 26, 2007 at 1:03 am
Yeah, but it doesn’t tell you what the fatal error is. This makes it rather hard for ordinary users to report problems.
Michael Hampton
December 6, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Just to clarify what Mark said. In WP 2.3, it WILL show the fatal error message BUT ONLY IF you have PHP display_errors turned on. I guess it’s obvious, but I chased my tail for a while before I finally got it to work.
Shack Dougall
February 18, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This version it was really excited. WordPress is the best!
Gry Logiczne
September 21, 2008 at 11:02 am
Great website! Thx
gry
December 1, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Mark,
I can’t find the WP Plugin Management Screen link. Can you direct me?
Thanks,
Ginger
helendreamseries
January 9, 2009 at 9:41 am