Developer's Guide
A ZenPack is a package that adds new functionality to Zenoss. For basic information on ZenPacks see the Zenoss Admin Guide section on ZenPacks. The following information pertains to the creation of more complex ZenPacks that contain skins, Python classes, daemons, etc.
As of Zenoss 2.2 the ZenPack framework has switched to using Python Eggs as the packaging mechanism for ZenPacks. Python Eggs are the standard mechanism for packaging and distributing code.
Note
The zenpack command should be used for installation and removal of ZenPacks, not the easy_install command that is frequently used with non-ZenPack Python Eggs.
The use of dotted names for ZenPacks (see Section 2.1, “ZenPack Names” below) was also introduced in this version. Zenoss 2.2 supports installation and use of pre-2.2 ZenPacks, but all new ZenPacks are created in the new format. This document relates to ZenPacks created in the new style. For documentation on ZenPacks predating Zenoss 2.2 please see previous versions of this document and the Zenoss Admin Guide.
If you developed pre-2.2 ZenPacks and wish to convert them to Egg-style ZenPacks see the section below Section 5.2, “Converting older ZenPacks to ZenPack eggs”.