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Mass Upload, Install and Activate all or some mu-plugins – is this possible?

Hello,

Is there a way to do this:

– Upload all the .zip files int the /mu-plugins directory

– "Somehow" have wpmu install all the mu-plugins (mass install), but let them remain inactive

– Then manually Activate mu-plugins as needed

Its taking forever to activate around 60+ plugins manually for multiple sites – unzip, upload, create tables manually, drop files in different folders, etc.

My goal is to have edublog type sites (for various niches) up and running and in Production in less than an hour.

Thanks.

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:34:42
  • Michaela Conley
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Generally once you go to wpmu admin after placing in the mu-plugins folder the install is done. There is nothing to activate. You could just unzip all on your desktop and stick all the plugins in 1 zip file. Upload it into mu-plugins and go to wpmu admin. 5 minutes done. I do it every time.

  • amirbq
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    I have unzipped them all on my local, but moving them all manually one by one for the reasons below: (is there an easier way to do this??)

    – There are plugins with the sql files. All the sql files are called "sql.txt". How do you deal with that?

    – Then there are bunch of plugins that place files in /wp-content as well as /wp-admin. How do you work with this?

    The only other thing that I could be missing is that perhaps I should move the entire unzipped plugin folder into /mu-plugins folder – will it cause it to automatically install and activate the pluign??

    Thanks, hpcareernet.

  • Andrew
    • Champion of Loops

    Hiya,

    – There are plugins with the sql files. All the sql files are called "sql.txt". How do you deal with that?

    If you’re referring to our plugins then please read the instructions at the sql files are explained.

    – Then there are bunch of plugins that place files in /wp-content as well as /wp-admin. How do you work with this?

    You just place the files where the instructions tell you to place.

    The only other thing that I could be missing is that perhaps I should move the entire unzipped plugin folder into /mu-plugins folder – will it cause it to automatically install and activate the pluign??

    No. Please follow the instructions provided with each plugin.

    What you can try to do is place all of the plugin files where they belong and then copy the entire install directory to create new sites.

    Note that this may or may not work and I’m afraid it’s not something we can assist with.

    Thanks,

    Andrew

  • Michaela Conley
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Let me explain again. Say I have two plugins with files going in the wp-content/mu-plugins/ and the wp-content/ and the wp-admin/ directories. What I would do is make three zip files, one for the wp-content/mu-plugins one for wp-content and one for wp-admin/ . Then i upload those zips and unzip them and go to wp-admin. Everything then installs normally.

  • amirbq
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    @hpcareernet:

    I see what you are doing. So the first time around, you probably sat down and separated them all out in 3 folders.

    Now, how do you deal with sql? Do you just manually run sql and create tables that way?

    Thanks.

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    Its taking forever to activate around 60+ plugins manually for multiple sites

    Run one master copy locally as a testbed, export that out to an svn server and run ‘svn up’ from the additional sites. That’s what we do. Makes keeping track of where each site is a lot easier.

    To be honest, you should be installing a single plugin at a time and testing it to make sure it works before moving on. Everybody’s setup is different and what may work for some may not work for others. The recent admin bar is a perfect example of this.

  • amirbq
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Yes, thats what I have been doing precisely – installing one plugin at a time, then testing it.

    (A few days ago I tried to upload a bunch of plugins simultaneously and Activate them, but that broke my site and I had to remove them all)

    One feature that would be Extremely Valuable as a Core Feature to WPMU:

    – Ability to Install / Activate / De-Activate mu-plugins

    The way it would help:

    – We simply upload all the mu plugin zip files (from various sources) into /mu-plugins

    – Install / Activate as necessary from the Dashboard

    – This will keep all the /mu-plugins for that Project in a central location including their zip files for future enhancements, etc.

    – It will be a major blessing for all using wpmu as it will save a lot of manual work and not to mention time!!

    Thanks.

  • Michaela Conley
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    @amirbg:

    Now, how do you deal with sql? Do you just manually run sql and create tables that way?

    You’ve obviously never read the readme.txt file included with every plugin. The sql.txt file only has to be run if the plugin doesn’t automatically install itself. With the setup I mentioned above, it automatically installs perfectly well.

    @amirbq:

    – We simply upload all the mu plugin zip files (from various sources) into /mu-plugins

    – Install / Activate as necessary from the Dashboard

    – This will keep all the /mu-plugins for that Project in a central location including their zip files for future enhancements, etc.

    – It will be a major blessing for all using wpmu as it will save a lot of manual work and not to mention time!!

    Conceptually it sounds great but to make it work would be a nightmare and as such I doubt this is ever going to happen.

    @drmike:

    Run one master copy locally as a testbed, export that out to an svn server and run ‘svn up’ from the additional sites. That’s what we do. Makes keeping track of where each site is a lot easier.

    That’s similar to what we have been doing recently. It was you who actually gave us the idea so we thank you for that!