Symlinks do work, you see “Missing add-ons” message because add-on id is changed in 4.2, so the add-on has to be re-enabled.
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I don’t expect developers to act like lawyers (or whatever they’re called elsewhere), but I think we all have reason to expect that in their work (which some of our donations have paid for, those who get paid) as developers they’ll do their best to have Blender obey all appropriate/relevant laws and avoid civil litigation (however difficult that can be globally).
Somebody posts that the behavior (even a tiny bit of the behavior) of Blender’s alpha/beta versions is violating law/s, or is lawsuit bait, etc, I don’t expect the devs to immediately voice legal opinions, that’s not their job. I do expect that legit legal advice will be sought out by them and their colleagues as quickly as feasible, and any posts from them will not cast doubt that this is of course being done.
We’re none of us perfect. We’re from different countries, translating from different languages to post here, different cultures, different neurotypes, etc, misunderstandings are inevitable. I would hope that the need for clarifications (for example, of “may need to be re-worded” when the wording cited is dangerous) are taken in good faith.
(IANAL/TINLA again.)
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Thanks for the response, I should probably have clarified; I’ve updated the addon to be an extension, and symlinked it into the new extensions/user_default directory. There is no other version installed, so it’s not to do with the id changing. The addon does not appear in the addon list, so I can’t enable it, it only shows up in the missing warning…
Does it show up if you manually copy add-on directory in extensions/user_default folder?
Ah, I think I see partly what’s happening. I’ve been using the vscode extension to start blender, which automatically enables the addon (prompting the missing message when it can’t find it). However, when I start it normally, there is no missing error, but the addon isn’t in the list either.
I assume there must be some list of addons in a file somewhere that also needs to be modified for it to be visible? It works when I install it from a zip file.
Look for an option to refresh/update the local repo. Here’s how I got it working back in March (might have changed though).
You put add-on dir inside extension folder—that’s how it works.
There are no other files/settings that needs to be modified. Check both Get Extensions and Add-ons preferences tabs for your add-on.
If you still cannot find your add-on in preferences after manually copying add-on dir inside extensions folder, then submit a bug report.
When working in a team it’s not my place to make definitive statements about changes others need to agree on. There is also a limit to how many details should be included in tool-tips.
Personally I appreciate when applications include descriptive text, even a paragraph explaining what’s going on (when called for). The convention Blender tends to use is to keep descriptions short and leave the details for the reference manual. Anyway, I agree with the concern and think this is a case where a more concise description is warranted.
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Referring to this:
Somebody posts that the behavior (even a tiny bit of the behavior) of Blender’s alpha/beta versions is violating law/s, or is lawsuit bait, etc, I don’t expect the devs to immediately voice legal opinions, that’s not their job. I do expect that legit legal advice will be sought out by them and their colleagues as quickly as feasible, and any posts from them will not cast doubt that this is of course being done.
I do not expect developers to seek legal advice in cases like this. They can inform the Foundation board though if they consider it to be a serious topic. In the past I’ve asked for legal advice only a few times, my usual stance is that I stay away from lawyers. Lawyers should talk to other lawyers. We should be able to handle things based on good practices, as a public open source project that follows principles as laid out by the Free Software movement already for over 20 years.
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With the deepest respect for everything you’ve done for the last 20+ years, I’m reminded of the story 'bout the farmer whose old horse dropped dead. “Never did that before!” Variations on “we’ve been doing fine this way for decades, no need to worry” will not protect Blender and its interactions with the new Extensions Platform from running afoul of recent laws (I’m thinking of the anti-disinformation parts of the EU’s Digital Services Act of 2022, but there are others that could apply, and again I am not a lawyer / this is not legal advice ).
I’m profoundly disheartened to learn that Blender’s development teams are not following current best practices in this regard.
My communications deficits may be preventing me from threading the needle between wording this strongly enough and soft-peddling it enough to be palatable, but: THIS SHOULD BE ONE OF THOSE TIMES! If not you, someone in the organization should be getting appropriate legal advice on this implementation. The fix is almost certainly little more than compliant wording on allow-access checkboxes. I must strongly recommend that appropriate legal advice be sought and followed.
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After consulting with the UI module we came up with this tooltip. It is already in 4.2 and will be present on the upcoming daily builds.
Text: Allow Blender to access the internet. Add-ons that follow this setting will only connect to the internet if enabled. However, Blender cannot prevent third-party add-ons from violating this rule.
I have no plans to change this further. It is important to give enough time for translators to work on the new strings in time for the 4.2 release.
Have a great weekend everyone.
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Just one small bit of feedback for the future. Where it says “Addons that adhere to this setting will only connect to the internet when enabled”, it’s not completely clear to me if “when enabled” means this setting or the addon. I’m guessing it means this setting because I’m assuming an addon can’t connect to the internet if the addon itself isn’t enabled, but I’m not 100%.
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If an addon can ignore the checkbox, then it’s not a rule.
It’s more of “This setting will not prevent all addons from connecting to the internet.”
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If an addon can ignore the checkbox, then it’s not a rule.
Sure it is, just because a rule can be violated, doesn’t mean it’s not a rule. The rules of golf say i have to use a club to hit the ball, but nothing on the green will actually prevent me from picking up the ball with my hands and chucking it at the tiny hole in the ground. While some games have enforcers for the rules (ie soccer, tennis) that doesn’t mean other games that don’t (battleship, checkers, sudoku) have no rules.
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The checkbox does not do what it is labelled to do. Within this context, it’s not a rule - it’s at most, a suggestion. Blender - by design - allows code to access online, whether that checkbox is on or off.
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would you agree in saying it’s a guide?
I’m pretty sure most of us agree it’s a bad move, and all the answers given so far show our hesitations are not taken seriously enough by BF imho…
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In the document “Extensions Platform Beta Release”, there is this …
Extensions are add-ons, themes, and potentially anything else that can extend Blender’s native functionality (e.g. key maps, assets)
I would like to create an extension with Geometry Nodes assets. But, how to proceed? It seems, there are only 2 types. Add-ons and themes. I am not sure how to proceed from there.
Just to clarify, i’m disagreeing linguistically saying something is not a rule, when the dictionary defines it as a prescribed guide for conduct or action i’ll argue with you all day long, wither or not “this” is a good thing for blender, the opinions are clearly divided and i’m not inclined to argue in either direction.
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