rt4-doc-html 4.4.2-2 / usr / share / doc / rt4-doc-html / extensions.html

<ul id="index">
  <li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Finding-extensions">Finding extensions</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Installing-extensions">Installing extensions</a></li>
</ul>

<h1 id="Introduction"><a href="#___top">Introduction</a></h1>

<p>RT has a lot of core features, but sometimes you have a problem to solve that&#39;s beyond the scope of just configuration. The standard way to add features to RT is with an extension, or plugin -- RT uses the terms interchangably.</p>

<h1 id="Finding-extensions"><a href="#___top">Finding extensions</a></h1>

<p>Most of the extensions written by Best Practical (and quite a few contributed by the community) are available from CPAN; a <a href="https://metacpan.org/search?q=RT::Extension::">search for RT::Extension</a> will turn up most of them. The Best Practical website also maintains a list, at <a href="http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/extensions.html">http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/extensions.html</a></p>

<h1 id="Installing-extensions"><a href="#___top">Installing extensions</a></h1>

<p>RT extensions should be installed by downloading the <code>.tar.gz</code> file for the extensions, extracting it (with <code>tar xzf filename.tar.gz</code>), and following the instructions in its included <i><a href="README.html">README</a></i>.</p>

<p>The instructions under <code>INSTALLING</code> in the <i><a href="README.html">README</a></i> always take precedence over those found here. In general, however, the process is as follows:</p>

<ol>

<li><p><b>Run <code>perl Makefile.PL</code></b> to check for dependencies, and minimum versions of RT. If your RT is in an unusual location (not <code>/opt/rt4/</code>), you may need to set the <code>RTHOME</code> environment variable to the root of your RT location.</p>

</li>
<li><p><b>Run <code>make</code></b> to prepare the package for installation.</p>

</li>
<li><p><b>Run <code>make install</code></b>; you may need to run this step as <code>root</code>, or at least a user that has permission to install into RT&#39;s directories.</p>

</li>
<li><p>If the extension contains database changes or new queues, scrips, templates, or the like, you will need to <b>run <code>make initdb</code></b> to install them. Not all extensions have database changes, and most of them only need this step run when they are first installed, and not on later updates. Refer to the <code>INSTALLING</code> section of the module&#39;s documentation.</p>

</li>
<li><p><b>Add the plugin to RT&#39;s configuration.</b> By default, newly installed plugins are not enabled. On RT 4.2 and later, each plugin should be enabled by the <code>Plugin()</code> command:</p>

<pre><code>    Plugin( &#39;RT::Extension::Example&#39; );
    Plugin( &#39;RT::Extension::Sample&#39; );</code></pre>

<p>On RT 4.0, enabling them instead requires adding them to the <code>@Plugins</code> configuration:</p>

<pre><code>    Set( @Plugins, &#39;RT::Extension::Example&#39;, &#39;RT::Extension::Sample&#39; );</code></pre>

</li>
<li><p><b>Configure any additional settings</b> that the extension requires. Many options that must be set before the plugin can be used. Read the documentation carefully.</p>

</li>
<li><p>Next, <b>clear the cache</b>. RT caches the files it serves, and installing a plugin requires clearing this cache to ensure that the changes are served. This is done by removing files in the <i>/opt/rt4/var/mason_data/obj</i> directory:</p>

<pre><code>   rm -rf /opt/rt4/var/mason_data/obj</code></pre>

<p>This step may not be necessary if the extension does not affect RT&#39;s display.</p>

</li>
<li><p>Finally, <b>restart your webserver</b>. The steps for this will vary from webserver to webserver.</p>

</li>
</ol>

<p>Again, the above are generalizations. The <code>README</code> shipped with the extension always takes precedence over the above steps.</p>

<p>We do not suggest using the command-line <code>cpan</code> or <code>cpanm</code> client to install RT extensions, despite them being available from CPAN. Those command-line clients are not aware of steps 4-8 listed above, and may result in an incomplete installation.</p>

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