Allow multiple plugin registries to be added to che

[l0rd]

Is your enhancement related to a problem?

We already have an issue to support multiple devfile registries (#13961). This is about supporting multiple plugin registries.

Currently referring to alternative plugin registries is possible with the registryUrl field in a devfile chePlugin specification. But that is limited. For example it would not work for the following scenario

I have already deployed Che and I want to add a devfile registry (for example the z/OS team devfiles). These devfiles refer to plugins of a distinct registry (the z/OS team plugins). When the image of the devfile registry is built we do not know yet the plugin registry URL and therefore we we cannot add the registryUrl field in the devfiles.

Describe the solution you'd like

So we need to be able to specify multiple default che.workspace.plugin_registry_urls as a wsmaster property, to display all of them on the dashboard and in che-theia plugins view.

[tolusha]

@l0rd
pls set the priority

[nickboldt]

Assuming this won't be done in time for 7.11, so setting milestone 7.12. P1 SEV1.

[ericwill]

Assuming this won't be done in time for 7.11, so setting milestone 7.12. P1 SEV1.

Yes, this is a priority for 7.12.

[ericwill]

I did some preliminary investigation and this is what I found -- please correct me if I am wrong.

The relevant code lives in che-theia, specifically ./extensions/eclipse-che-theia-plugin-ext/src/browser/plugin. There actually is support for adding other registries as a user setting (or via the plugins view). The issue is that none of the plugins in these registries are visible in the list, or even installable -- though Che does recognize them on some level as the "count" of plugins does increase when adding a second registry. The only plugins that seem to be visible in the list or installable are the ones available in the default registry. This registry is stored in the CHE_WORKSPACE_PLUGIN__REGISTRY__URL environment variable.

In theory all that's needed to enable multiple registries is to switch from using only the environment variable defined registry, to using all the plugins available from the list of registries in the user settings.

[nickboldt]

So... I guess it's safe to say this isn't happening in 7.14 / CRW 2.2. :(

[nickboldt]

Contribution from external teams will be needed if this is to be done in the 2.3 timeframe.

[nickboldt]

@cwsolee is this something your team might want to contribute? Or is this something for Jasper Chui to look at?

[cwsolee]

@nickboldt , I'm not clear what this PR is all about, safe for me to say it's not on my radar.

[nickboldt]

This isn't a PR, it's a feature request... but thanks for the reply.

@elsony any input here?

[elsony]

The original team that does the implementation of the multiple devfile registry #13961 has moved on to work on some other projects. Therefore, there is no resource on the Codewind side to work on this feature.

[che-bot]

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