Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Martin Greenaway -
Number of replies: 5

Hi there,


I've been evaluating Moodle 3 and wanted to set up a customer satisfaction survey as a test.  In doing so, I was looking for something similar to the Matrix question type (https://moodle.org/plugins/view/qtype_matrix), although there doesn't seem to be anything that's up-to-date.  I thought I would give it a try anyway, but that seems to have been a bad choice.

I was presented with a message stating that I couldn't go ahead as it needed the qtype_calculated plugin, which was not on disk.  I clicked the "cancel installation" link, which removed the qtype_matrix from the list of pending installations, but the system will now not allow admin to log in because it still wants qtype_calculated to be installed.

This appears to be a standard qtype and not a third party plugin, and it seems to be a dependency for two further standard plugins.  Is it possible that there is an issue with the release deployment of Moodle wherein the qtype_calculated plugin is not installed correctly?

The calculated question type does not appear to be on the server, although I can see it in the git repository when I browse here: https://github.com/moodle/moodle/tree/master/question/type

Regards,

Martin

Attachment Still-complaining-about-calculated-even-though-dependent-plugin-install-cancelled.png
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Greenaway

Re: Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Martin Greenaway -

This appears to be a flaw in the plugin - as it deletes the previously-existing [moodle]/question/type/calculated directory when you try to install it.


Can I recommend that this question type plugin be removed from your site immediately or at least a BIG notice telling people that it doesn't work with Moodle 3.0 is added?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Greenaway

Re: Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Simon Rediss-Whitfield -

Hi Martin,

This plugin does display its compatibility which you would have seen when downloading, due to not everyone upgrading to the latest versions of moodle, these plugins are still usable to many users, if you want a version that works on 3.0 you are best contacting the developer and see if they have anything in the pipeline, but looking at how old this plugin now is I doubt they are still working on it. 



Average of ratings: -
In reply to Simon Rediss-Whitfield

Re: Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Martin Greenaway -

Hi Simon,

I appreciate that, and I did do just that before downloading.  I noted that the project github had been committed to 2 months ago and took that to mean that it was indeed in (at least semi-active) maintenance.

Furthermore, when a version is new, like 3.0, there is every expectation that plugins that *do* work will not be marked as compatible yet, and all it takes is for someone to try it and see.  In scenarios where this is the only plugin that does precisely what one requires, then you take it upon yourself to go and test it.

However, I don't think it can ever be reasonable to expect a plugin to delete other plugins off your machine, irrespective of its noted (in)compatibility, can it?

Regards,

Martin

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Greenaway

Re: Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

"However, I don't think it can ever be reasonable to expect a plugin to delete other plugins off your machine, irrespective of its noted compatibility, can it?"

No, that would be very odd

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Greenaway

Re: Adding out of date plugin breaks Moodle 3, needs qtype_calculated

by Simon Rediss-Whitfield -

Overwriting the core is very wrong, I suppose they felt this was a necessity to work... possibly why it hasnt been updated.

Average of ratings: -