Docs: Add info about dependencies for local development

[josmperez]

Add info about working with dependencies for local development

Note: I'm aware that there are some ambiguities in the text that need to be resolved.

• First, where are the environment variables added?
• Second, for GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=dependency and GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=your-plugin-zip-via-url can we provide an example? Or use placeholder syntax for placeholders?

Fixes # #952

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[academo]

First, where are the environment variables added?

Environment variables are defined in your terminal environment, usually in your profile file, which can be bashrc, zshrc, and many others, or by exporting them before running commands export FOO=bar but it is much different if you are defining environment variables for a production server for example.

Working with environment variables is a well-known thing in development and IMO we should not be explaining that concept to developers, it'd be close to tell them how to install an editor or IDE, or how to install and open a terminal.

Furthermore, there are so many possible variations of how to do it that whatever we write most likely won't fit the case of the person reading, so it is simpler to say "set an environment variable" and let the developer do it its own way.

[academo]

I am not sure i understand the idea behind this document, my main problem is that I don't know what do we mean by "dependency". can you maybe clarify that?

[sympatheticmoose]

I am not sure i understand the idea behind this document, my main problem is that I don't know what do we mean by "dependency". can you maybe clarify that?

@academo Does the issue help or is it still unclear? #952

[academo]

I am not sure i understand the idea behind this document, my main problem is that I don't know what do we mean by "dependency". can you maybe clarify that?

@academo Does the issue help or is it still unclear? #952

yes, that makes sense! I was almost sure we were talking about plugin depending on other plugins but in the current docs I could not see where it says that. If I skipped it and didn't read it, then maybe we should repeat it a couple times to not put things out of context?

It is easy to think of a plugin dependency as a library dependency, or grafana version dependency only

[sympatheticmoose]

It is easy to think of a plugin dependency as a library dependency, or grafana version dependency only

💯

[josmperez]

I am not sure i understand the idea behind this document, my main problem is that I don't know what do we mean by "dependency". can you maybe clarify that?

@academo Does the issue help or is it still unclear? #952

yes, that makes sense! I was almost sure we were talking about plugin depending on other plugins but in the current docs I could not see where it says that. If I skipped it and didn't read it, then maybe we should repeat it a couple times to not put things out of context?

It is easy to think of a plugin dependency as a library dependency, or grafana version dependency only

I've made a commit that clarifies that this additional section pertains specifically to plugins that depend on other plugins. Does this address your concerns? Do you see any other changes necessary?

[academo]

I am not sure i understand the idea behind this document, my main problem is that I don't know what do we mean by "dependency". can you maybe clarify that?

@academo Does the issue help or is it still unclear? #952

yes, that makes sense! I was almost sure we were talking about plugin depending on other plugins but in the current docs I could not see where it says that. If I skipped it and didn't read it, then maybe we should repeat it a couple times to not put things out of context?
It is easy to think of a plugin dependency as a library dependency, or grafana version dependency only

I've made a commit that clarifies that this additional section pertains specifically to plugins that depend on other plugins. Does this address your concerns? Do you see any other changes necessary?

I left other comments that also require some changes or clarification.

[josmperez]

First, where are the environment variables added?

Environment variables are defined in your terminal environment, usually in your profile file, which can be bashrc, zshrc, and many others, or by exporting them before running commands export FOO=bar but it is much different if you are defining environment variables for a production server for example.

Working with environment variables is a well-known thing in development and IMO we should not be explaining that concept to developers, it'd be close to tell them how to install an editor or IDE, or how to install and open a terminal.

Furthermore, there are so many possible variations of how to do it that whatever we write most likely won't fit the case of the person reading, so it is simpler to say "set an environment variable" and let the developer do it its own way.

Thanks for the thorough review. I've made corrections/changes in response to your comments. Please re-review.

[academo]

Suggested change

	## Add a dependency for local development
	## Add a plugin as a dependency for local development

[academo]

Suggested change

	Plugin distribution path:
	Plugins location directory:

[academo]

This sentence is not clear, I don't really understand what is trying to tell me.

Is it telling me I am responsible of installing the plugin dependencies myself? or is it telling me that I am responsible of putting the dependencies in the correct path? or something else?

[academo]

This looks better but, are we somewhere actually putting how to define the dependency in the plugin.json?

So far what we have tells the user they can define a dependency and (maybe?) they have to install it themselves, but how do they define the dependency?

[josmperez]

This looks better but, are we somewhere actually putting how to define the dependency in the plugin.json?

So far what we have tells the user they can define a dependency and (maybe?) they have to install it themselves, but how do they define the dependency?

What's the fix for this? Can you make a suggestion that gives an example please?