OXT Extensions as the default package format for the extensions repository

In OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 we introduced *.oxt as the new file extensions for office extensions packages and *.oxt is a registered mime-type. With this mime-type we support smooth system integration (specification document). This means that you can simply double-click an *.oxt file and the extension manager of your office installation is started automatically, or when you download an *.oxt file the browser asks if you want to start the extensions manager to install the extension directly.

We suggest that you use *.oxt for your extension packages to make use of the smooth system integration and also to establish *.oxt as the default file extension for OpenOffice.org extensions. With the new package format you also get some additional useful features for your extensions which we would also recommend as default.

• a unique identifier for your extension (specification document)
  
• a version number (specification document)
  
• minimal dependencies as well as more specific dependencies (specification document)
  
• an update URL (specification document)
  
• a simple license support (specification document)

You can find more detailed info in the Extensions chapter of the Developer's Guide or in the related specification documents.