WordPress MU

I've been working with WPMU for over a year and I still don't understand this especially after installing the WPMU Plugin Manager (perhaps I don't need?). Plus WPMU now has the 'Activate plugin sitewide' option... so what is the easiest way to have granular control over what plugins are auto-activated for a new blog vs. having certain plugins active site-wide, but not visible to blog admins?

Basically, I would like to have plugins like Login Lockdown or Audit Trail available to me (site admin) throughout my WPMU installation, but not necessarily modifiable or viewable by blog admins. What is the best way to achieve this?

Thanks for your time!
Damon

I use Plugin Commander to do what you're looking for.

I was initially excited by WPMU Plugin Manager as it claimed to be a rewrite of Plugin Commander to support the actual plugins menu, but it missed some functionality that Plugin Commander has.

Also, the new built in sitewide activation of plugins is a new feature anticipating the merged wp/mu codebases. I've even heard the MU folder referred to as deprecated. So we'll see how sitewide plugin management all shakes out.

hmmm... good to know kgraeme. I was not aware that there was a discussion to merge wp/mu. Should be interesting. I just assumed that WPMU Plugin Manager was better than Plugin Commander, because it "replaced" it, but I will test now. Thanks!

I guess my next logical question is how to modify WP plugins so that the ones that add extra items to the admin menus don't show up for all users? For example, if I install Audit Trail it adds a menu item under Tools for 'Audit Trail'. I don't want my blog admins to see this, but I want them to be able to use the Tools menu, so how do I hide it to everyone but site admin?

You'll need to wrap the section of code that displays the menu in a is_site_admin() check.

if ( is_site_admin() )
  the menu display code;

very helpful. thanks!

"I've even heard the MU folder referred to as deprecated. "

They rolled the mu-plugins folder into core WP a few months ago, so I doubt it's going anywhere.

Also, a fan of plugin commander for more granular control. :) Some site will be fine with sitewide activation, some need more. which is why there's plugins.

The deprecated comment was from Will Norris at WordCamp Portland (I just watch the video. Wasn't there.)

We've actually been reworking some of our unreleased mu plugins to run from the plugins directory instead because it does provide more granular control anyway.

Maybe he mixed it up with the my-hacks folder, which has been deprecated. mu-plugins sorta does the same thing.