.. -*- mode: rst -*-

.. _unsorted-development_writing_plugins:

===============
Writing Plugins
===============

Server Plugin Types
===================

Generator
---------

Generator plugins contribute to literal client configurations

Structure
---------

Structure Plugins contribute to abstract client configurations

Metadata
--------

Signal metadata capabilities

Connector
---------

Connector Plugins augment client metadata instances

Probing
-------

Signal probe capability

Statistics
----------

Signal statistics handling capability

Decision
--------

Signal decision handling capability

Version
-------

Interact with various version control systems

Writing Server Plugins
======================

Metadata
--------

If you would like to define your own Metadata plugin (to extend/change functionality of the existing Metadata plugin), here are the steps to do so. We will call our new plugin `MyMetadata`.

#. Add MyMetadata.py

   .. code-block:: python

       __revision__ = '$Revision$'

       import Bcfg2.Server.Plugins.Metadata

       class MyMetadata(Bcfg2.Server.Plugins.Metadata.Metadata):
           '''This class contains data for Bcfg2 server metadata'''
           __version__ = '$Id$'
           __author__ = 'bcfg-dev@mcs.anl.gov'

           def __init__(self, core, datastore, watch_clients=True):
               Bcfg2.Server.Plugins.Metadata.Metadata.__init__(self, core, datastore, watch_clients)

#. Add MyMetadata to `src/lib/Server/Plugins/__init__.py`
#. Replace Metadata with MyMetadata in the plugins line of bcfg2.conf