[jme]

I was planing on converting the screensaver/music visualizer Plane9 from OpenGL to DirectX so it would work in XBMC. However before I got into it I was wondering how it could be distributed. I noticed that now addon repositories exists and they do seem very nice. But to add an addon in the official repositories you need to release the source code (according to the wiki) and this is not something I intend to do so I need to find another way to distribute the visualizer.

Setting up a unofficial repository seems to be one way to go but then comes the question of how people will find the repository.

Would it be possible to distribute a unofficial repository point as an addon in the official repositories so users can find it?
Since very, very few will find the Unofficial Add on Repositories wiki page and download the zip from there then manually add it to xbmc, then go and find the actual addon in xbmc. I know the repositories are created as addons. The question is if they can/are allowed to be distributed though the official repository.

My other possibility is to distribute it as a download on my own webpage with its own installer but then we are back to the problem that no one will find it.

[ppic]

I was planing on converting the screensaver/music visualizer Plane9 from OpenGL to DirectX so it would work in XBMC. However before I got into it I was wondering how it could be distributed. I noticed that now addon repositories exists and they do seem very nice. But to add an addon in the official repositories you need to release the source code (according to the wiki) and this is not something I intend to do so I need to find another way to distribute the visualizer.

why ?

Setting up a unofficial repository seems to be one way to go but then comes the question of how people will find the repository.

need to point it in your topic

Would it be possible to distribute a unofficial repository point as an addon in the official repositories so users can find it?
Since very, very few will find the Unofficial Add on Repositories wiki page and download the zip from there then manually add it to xbmc, then go and find the actual addon in xbmc. I know the repositories are created as addons. The question is if they can/are allowed to be distributed though the official repository.

pretty sure it can't

My other possibility is to distribute it as a download on my own webpage with its own installer but then we are back to the problem that no one will find it.

that a way, yes.

How do you release closed source addons?

we do not in official repository

[jmarshall]

Note that no binary addons will be accepted until we have the framework for building and distributing them in place. You can appreciate that this is non-trivial, given the dependencies required and the multiple distributions and OSes we support.

And we'd definitely not accept closed-source addons in the official repository either way.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[jme]

Note that no binary addons will be accepted until we have the framework for building and distributing them in place. You can appreciate that this is non-trivial, given the dependencies required and the multiple distributions and OSes we support.

So the current addon system doesn't support binary addons at all official or otherwise? Seems like a binary addon should be like any other addon since its just a list of files in a zip and each addon is already marked with the platform (win/linux/..). Even though it isn't very fine grained (ie 32bit/64bit/linux dist and so forth).

One possible solution that might be worth looking into for the future is a official binary repository that comes with xbmc but carries a large warning before the user is allowed to download any addons from it.

I'm probably not the only one looking for a solution to this however I understand that it is of very low priority.

But now I know the option. Since it's just one. To release it on my own web page and hope xbmc users will somehow find their way there.

Cheers,
Joakim E.

[jmarshall]

Binary addons will be worked on for Eden (we need them for the PVR stuff). Until then, yes, you can setup your own repo so that folk can find your addon.

[moonwhaler]

I do really like the preview-videos on your official site. It seems to be a very sophisticated plugin-visualizer which XBMC badly needs IMO. Publishing it as a "Closed source app" is sad, but due to all the work you invested until this point, understandable...

Two questions: Will this be a "free" plugin (even if it's closed) or do one have to pay for it? Will it be working on Linux (Ubuntu / LIVE), since it's already OpenGL...?

Thank you!

[jme]

Two questions: Will this be a "free" plugin (even if it's closed) or do one have to pay for it? Will it be working on Linux (Ubuntu / LIVE), since it's already OpenGL...?

It would be free and most likely only for windows since my HTPC machine is a windows box.
However since there isn't a good way to distribute a closed source screensaver/visualizer yet so will these plans be put on hold. I'm not using XBMC on a daily basis so if I where to get it working on XBMC I would do it for the community. But if I then still can't get out out to people the point of it seems limited and I'll just rather continue to improve the screensaver/winamp/wmp versions I have. Of course when the time comes when I do make a XBMC version it will be so much better

[moonwhaler]

Thanks a lot for your reply! Great "plugin" anyway. You have at least one fan (if it's available for (XBMC) Linux)!

[pecinko]

I was planing on converting the screensaver/music visualizer Plane9 from OpenGL to DirectX so it would work in

They look very,very nice. Since they are OpenGL, how hard would it be to make them work on Mac and Linux?