Add the docs for plugins approval process

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Plugin approval process

The approval of plugins is primarily carried out by contributors. Currently, the primary contributor is Admire Nyakudya ([email protected]). Do not hesitate to get in touch with him if you have any questions about the plugin approval process.

The approval process involves the following steps.

New Plugins

All new plugins follow the rough guidelines outlined below:

• Plugin metadata.txt should be properly populated with working links i.e.:
  • Plugin home page - This link should direct users to a page on a website that describes the plugin functionality. If you do not have a dedicated page on your website that describes plugin usage, please use the README in the repository or use the code repository as the link. Any other links will result in the plugin being rejected.
  • Tracker - This should link to the issue tracker in your code repository.
  • Code repository - This should link to the code repository. It is expected that the code in the repository is accessible and not a zip file. The repository should also be publicly accessible. Plugins that utilize binaries will not be approved. If you feel that there is no way to provide your plugin without binaries, please reach out to the QGIS Developers mailing list to motivate your case or the QGIS PSC for further discussions.

Note: Plugins cover a whole range of domains which the person doing the approval might not be versed with. With such an expectation, we will try to do random tests (random plugins will be selected) to see if the plugin installs and runs without crashing QGIS. We also expect plugins to be cross-platform, working on Unix systems and Windows. In the list of published plugins, we have a diverse range of plugins offering different functionality. We encourage plugin developers to collaborate on plugins offering the same functionality as developing plugins with functionality that is almost similar. If you need to enhance a particular plugin, we are able to facilitate this with an existing author. For issues relating to the transfer of ownership, or updating any other metadata about existing plugins, please do not hesitate to contact us through the QGIS Developer mailing lists.

Existing Plugins (New updates)

These are plugins that are already in use and being enhanced by new versions being uploaded. During the approval process, we expect the following:

• Properly update metadata to include a changelog. This will be beneficial for users to understand what has changed between versions.
• Properly annotate versions with new version numbers.
• We will also check the metadata.txt links i.e. plugin homepage, tracker, etc. to see if they are still working.

Note: Testing will also be done randomly to see if the plugin still works and does not crash QGIS.

We try to publish/approve plugins daily with the exception of weekends. If you have uploaded a plugin on Friday-Sunday, it will most likely be approved on Monday. During extended holiday periods, the timelines might be even longer. We also take into consideration that contributors live in different parts of the world with different public holidays. This might also impact the timelines for approval.