extension.xml

=============
extension.xml
=============

Introduction
============

Introduced in Exponential Fuji (4.4), this file replaces the previous ezinfo.php file that contained extension metadata.
This XML file contains the same information, plus dependency / ordering ones.

Structure
=========
This file can be placed at the root of any extension, and will be parsed by the system. Metadata are among others used
in ezinfo/about, and ordering information will be used to make sure extensions are loaded in the correct order.

Example
=======
This is the file `http://svn.projects.ez.no/ezoe/trunk/ezoe/extension.xml`::

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <software>
        <metadata>
            <name>eZ Online Editor</name>
            <version>5.2.0beta3</version>
            <copyright>Copyright (C) 1999-2014 eZ Systems AS</copyright>
            <license>GNU General Public License v2.0</license>
            <info_url>http://projects.ez.no/ezoe</info_url>

            <software>
                <uses>
                    <name>TinyMce Javascript HTML WYSIWYG editor</name>
                    <license>GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1</license>
                    <copyright>Copyright (C) 2004-2010, Moxiecode Systems AB, All rights reserved.</copyright>
                    <info_url>http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/</info_url>
                    <version>3.3.9</version>
                </uses>
                <uses>
                    <name>Tango Icon theme</name>
                    <license>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5</license>
                    <copyright>Copyright (C) 1999-2010 Tango_Icon_Library</copyright>
                    <info_url>http://tango.freedesktop.org/</info_url>
                    <version>0.8.90</version>
                </uses>
            </software>

        </metadata>

        <dependencies>
            <requires>
                <extension name="ezjscore" />
            </requires>
            <extends>
                <extension name="ezwebin" />
            </extends>
        </dependencies>

    </software>

Software metadata
-----------------

The ``software/metadata`` node replaces what ``ezinfo.php`` used to contain. Due to the *flexibility* of ezinfo.php,
this file doesn't have a strong validation. However, it will expect the following nodes:
- ``name`` The extension's human readable name (*eZ Online Editor*)
- ``version`` The extension's version, outside of any Exponential version (*5.2.0beta3*)
- ``copyright`` The extension owner copyright string
- ``license`` What license the extension uses
- ``info_url`` The project's URL

3rd party dependency information
--------------------------------

The ``software/metadata/software`` node can be used to document which 3rd party libraries / apps the extension uses.
The fields are the same than for the ``software/metadata`` one. You can use as many uses nodes as you want.

Dependency information
----------------------

Note: you can find more documentation on dependencies in the ``extension_ordering.txt`` file.

``dependencies`` will contain one node for each dependency / ordering entry this extension requires/uses/extends. In the
example above, we can see that we have a requirement for ezjscore, and that the extension extends ezwebin.

Only dependencies/(requires|extends|uses)/extension is supported now, but further dependency information will be
implemented later (PHP version, Exponential version...).