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Cactidocumentation/Plugin-Guidelines.md
Thomas Vincent 57b8088e13 docs: comprehensive validation audit, Spine poller overhaul, and technical refactor (#229)
* docs: comprehensive audit, Spine poller overhaul, and technical refactor

- Overhaul Spine documentation (Spine.md) with complete end-to-end guide: architecture, prerequisites for modern distros (EL8/9 CRB, Ubuntu 22/24, Debian 11/12, FreeBSD), SUID root permissions, secure spine.conf setup (0640), Web UI configuration (Paths, Poller type, Data Collectors tuning), MySQL max_connections sizing, and troubleshooting.
- Fix broken links and anchors (Hardening, SNMP data queries, Hook API references).
- Fix broken image reference in Sites.md (add-site.JPG -> add-site.png).
- Fix syntax errors in documentation PHP code blocks, including invalid parenthesization, missing SQL execute quotes, and malformed comments in FAQ.
- Fix DevOps installation commands: use config.php.dist, correct systemctl service names for MySQL/MariaDB/PHP-FPM, remove nonexistent php-json, add missing composer install, and correct Debian/Ubuntu systemd environment path.
- Correct grammatical errors, repeated words, and typos across all markdown documents.
- Remove obsolete unreferenced duplicate installation guides.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>

* docs: correct reviewed examples and guidance

Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>

* docs: correct guidance that disagrees with the Cacti source

Verified each claim against include/global_arrays.php, lib/auth.php,
lib/functions.php, host_templates.php and the Spine config parser. The
notable ones: api_plugin_safe_exec() does not exist on either branch,
Spine reads DB_Pass rather than DB_Password, and the CDEF special data
source table was missing five entries and renamed four others.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>

* docs: wrap Spine prose and fence the connection sizing formula

The formula's bare asterisks rendered as emphasis, dropping the multiplication signs.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>

* chore: refresh copyright year in scripts and issue templates

Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>

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Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>
2026-09-08 09:41:21 -04:00

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Plugin Guidelines

Overview

This section will help the Cacti plugin developer structure their plugins. However, the best way to create a plugin is to borrow someone elses. There are Cacti plugin examples on Cacti's GitHub page and you can find them all over GitHub just by searching.

Plugin Creation

Use the following guidelines for creating your first plugin.

Plugin Namespaces

All plugins must use namespace isolation either through Classes, or using the plugin name in their functions. This prevents name space collisions.

An example plugin is provided here Example Plugin.

Publishing Your Plugin

GitHub is the best place to publish your plugins. Learn to use it.


Copyright (c) 2004-2026 The Cacti Group