How to install plugin for Mibew Messenger 2.0

The process of plugin installation is pretty simple and consists of four steps.

Step 1. Get the archive with the plugin.

If we talk about an officially approved plugin, one should navigate to the appropriate page on the official site and download the latest available package. Don’t forget to check the integrity of the downloaded archive using sha256 checksum.

For example (in case of Mibew:Emoji plugin v.1.0.0 ):

$ wget --content-disposition -q https://sourceforge.net/projects/mibew/files/plugins/emoji-plugin/1.0.0/emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip/download
$ sha256sum emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip
e189f535230d1909c2af73f9b0ba8e63a5dc8f96e8a95c33d615ed05e321b518  emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip

If we talk about some unofficial third party plugin, frankly, we have no idea where you could get it. 🙂

Step 2. Unpack the archive with the plugin.

Put the archive into the plugins/ directory in the root directory of Mibew Messenger and unpack it.

$ mv emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip mibew_root_directory/plugins/
$ cd mibew_root_directory/plugins/
$ unzip -q emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip
$ rm -f emoji-plugin-1.0.0.zip

Step 3. Configure plugin.

Configuration of the plugin should be placed into the appropriate section of the main system configuration (i.e. into the mibew_root_directory/configs/config.yml file).

For example, this is the actual plugins section in the configuration of the official demo installation of Mibew Messenger (one can note configurations of other plugins):

plugins:
    "Mibew:Emoji":
        ignore_emoticons: false
    "Mibew:GeoIp":
        database_path: "/opt/GeoIP/GeoLite2-City.mmdb"
    "Mibew:GoogleMaps":
        api_key: "Google_Maps_Javascript_v3_API_key"
    "Mibew:TitleNotification":
        new_thread: true
        new_message: "both"

Step 4. Enable and install plugin.

Navigate to plugins page in the administrative interface (i.e. http://your_domain/your_mibew_path/operator/plugin) and find the plugin in the list of available plugins.

Click on enable link.

That’s all, the plugin is installed. 🙂

Troubleshooting.

If something gone wrong, don’t worry.

First of all, check your error log. There should be some hints.

If you see the “White Screen of Death”, then most probably you’ve corrupted your system configuration.

If the plugin just doesn’t work and there is nothing in your error log, make sure that the plugin is properly configured. Also, note that some plugins could have some third party requirements.

Additional notes on officially approved plugins.

Each archive with a plugin contains the guide on its installation (usually in README.txt or README.md file).

If nothing helps, one could contact the author of the plugin or (preferably!) open an issue in the bugtracker of the appropriate repository (see the plugin’s details in the list of the officially approved plugins).