[sosreport,plugin] add --experimental and ExperimentalPlugin tag

Add an ExperimentalPlugin tagging class and an --experimental
command line option. This can be used to encourage testing of
new plugins and plugin ports without indicating full support.

Fixes #470.

Signed-off-by: Bryn M. Reeves <bmr@redhat.com>

3 files changed, 31 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/sos/plugins/__init__.py b/sos/plugins/__init__.py
index 9d126a51..4ddd185d 100644
--- a/sos/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/sos/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -760,6 +760,11 @@ class IndependentPlugin(object):
     pass
 
 
+class ExperimentalPlugin(object):
+    """Tagging class that indicates that this plugin is experimental"""
+    pass
+
+
 def import_plugin(name, superclasses=None):
     """Import name as a module and return a list of all classes defined in that
     module. superclasses should be a tuple of valid superclasses to import,
diff --git a/sos/policies/__init__.py b/sos/policies/__init__.py
index 4c42d024..b3f06230 100644
--- a/sos/policies/__init__.py
+++ b/sos/policies/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from sos.utilities import (ImporterHelper,
                            import_module,
                            get_hash_name,
                            shell_out)
-from sos.plugins import IndependentPlugin
+from sos.plugins import IndependentPlugin, ExperimentalPlugin
 from sos import _sos as _
 import hashlib
 from textwrap import fill
@@ -219,11 +219,13 @@ No changes will be made to system configuration.
                     return p
         return plugin_classes[0]
 
-    def validate_plugin(self, plugin_class):
+    def validate_plugin(self, plugin_class, experimental=False):
         """
         Verifies that the plugin_class should execute under this policy
         """
         valid_subclasses = [IndependentPlugin] + self.valid_subclasses
+        if experimental:
+            valid_subclasses += [ExperimentalPlugin]
         return any(issubclass(plugin_class, class_) for
                    class_ in valid_subclasses)
 
diff --git a/sos/sosreport.py b/sos/sosreport.py
index 2af9907e..5711ab69 100644
--- a/sos/sosreport.py
+++ b/sos/sosreport.py
@@ -287,6 +287,16 @@ class SoSOptions(object):
         self._noplugins = value
 
     @property
+    def experimental(self):
+        if self._options is not None:
+            return self._options.experimental
+
+    @experimental.setter
+    def experimental(self, value):
+        self._check_options_initialized()
+        self._experimental = value
+
+    @property
     def enableplugins(self):
         if self._options is not None:
             return self._options.enableplugins
@@ -539,6 +549,9 @@ class SoSOptions(object):
         parser.add_option("-n", "--skip-plugins", action="extend",
                           dest="noplugins", type="string",
                           help="disable these plugins", default=deque())
+        parser.add_option("--experimental", action="store_true",
+                          dest="experimental", default=False,
+                          help="enable experimental plugins")
         parser.add_option("-e", "--enable-plugins", action="extend",
                           dest="enableplugins", type="string",
                           help="enable these plugins", default=deque())
@@ -850,18 +863,24 @@ class SoSReport(object):
         self.plugin_names = deque()
         self.profiles = set()
         using_profiles = len(self.opts.profiles)
+        policy_classes = self.policy.valid_subclasses
+        extra_classes = []
+        if self.opts.experimental:
+            extra_classes.append(sos.plugins.ExperimentalPlugin)
+        valid_plugin_classes = tuple(policy_classes + extra_classes)
+        validate_plugin = self.policy.validate_plugin
         # validate and load plugins
         for plug in plugins:
             plugbase, ext = os.path.splitext(plug)
             try:
-                plugin_classes = import_plugin(
-                    plugbase, tuple(self.policy.valid_subclasses))
+                plugin_classes = import_plugin(plugbase, valid_plugin_classes)
                 if not len(plugin_classes):
                     # no valid plugin classes for this policy
                     continue
 
                 plugin_class = self.policy.match_plugin(plugin_classes)
-                if not self.policy.validate_plugin(plugin_class):
+                if not validate_plugin(plugin_class,
+                                       experimental=self.opts.experimental):
                     self.soslog.warning(
                         _("plugin %s does not validate, skipping") % plug)
                     if self.opts.verbosity > 0: