How to Install a Plugin in Redmine Smoothly

First Step

Copy-paste the directory of your plugin in “# {RAILS_ROOT}/plugins”. If you are using GitHub as the source to directly download the plugin, you can do this by changing the directory of your plugin and executing a command such as a git clone git://github.com/user_name/name_of_the_plugin.git.

Second Step

Install needed gems for plugins with the command: bundle install --without development test

Third Step

The final step in plugin installation is to restart your Redmine application.

You will now be able to observe the plugin list by going to Administration-> Plugins. The next step is to configure this plugin (newly installed) if it needs to be configured before you can use it.

Installing Redmine Plugins on Linux

When it comes to installing Redmine plugins on Linux, most of these plugins are quite simple to install and do not alter the data in the Redmine database. However, it is strongly recommended that you make a complete backup prior to installation. What people usually do is simply copy-paste the plugin (unarchived ) to the Redmine->plugins-> folder. However, some of the plugins might need particular database tables and/or Ruby gems

Here are the common steps for installing any Redmine plugin on Linux. You have to execute all the commands from the Redmine’s root folder (/var /www/redmine). This root folder includes the “config.ru” file.

Step 1: Head Over to Redmine App Root Folder

cd /var/www/redmine

Step 2: Copy and Unarchive the Redmine plugin

cp [plugin_name]-x_x_x-pro.zip plugins/
cd plugins
unzip [plugin_name]-x_x_x-pro.zip

Step 3: Installation of needed gems

cd /var/www/redmine
bundle install --without development test --no-deployment

Step 4: Migrating tables of the plugin

bundle exec rake redmine:plugins NAME=[plugin_name] RAILS_ENV=production

Step 5: Restarting Redmine

touch tmp/restart.txt

You can find a comprehensive list of all the available Redmine Plugins in the Plugin Directory. Presently, there are over 600 plugins in the official Redmine directory.

Upgrading Plugins in Redmine

Our plugin’s light version has a structure of database similar to that of PROs. What this means is that there is no need for you to migrate the database if you have the identical version number of pro and light plugins. However, it is recommended that prior to installation, you create a full backup.

These are the common steps for the upgradation of any plugin (once again, you should execute all the commands from the Redmine root folder/var/www/redmine.

Step 1: Delete the plugin’s light version
cd /var/www/redmine
rm -fr plugins/[plugin_name]
Step 2: Copy and unarchive the pro plugin version
cp [plugin_name]-4_0_0-pro.zip plugins/
cd plugins
unzip [plugin_name]-4_0_0-pro.zip
Step 3: Install the needed gems (same as above)
Step 4: Migrating tables of the plugin (same as above)
Step 5: Restarting Redmine (same as above)