I've been noticing that there seems to be a lot of interest and momentum lately surrounding plugn/theme dependencies. I am very excited about this. WordPress desperately needs a core dependency solution so that we can move the route of plugins being tiny interoperable building blocks, like what we've seen with NPM.
Here's a running list of the stuff I've been seeing lately about WordPress dependencies:
- Strategies to implement selective loading of plugins on StackExchange
- Nacin's suggestion that Dependencies be tackled for GSoC:
Dependencies. Allow plugins and themes to be dependent of one another. A theme could require a plugin or example, and WordPress would handle installing that plugin when you install that theme. Similar idea: Compatibility metrics. (Or: Can we be sure it is safe to upgrade everything?)
- re GSoC: Theme and plugin dependencies by Alexander Höreth
- Twitter conversation between @Rarst and @markjaquith about Composer and dependencies
- Scribu's scb autoloader
- WordPress Packagist — “This site provides a mirror of the WordPress plugin directory as a Composer repository.”
- Pronouncement by @danielbachhuber that BeachPress “will solve plugin dependencies for core”.
- Core plugin dependency is necessary for a better WordPress ecosystem by Brian Krogsgard
- Theme/Plugin Dependencies by Otto
- TGM Plugin Activation “The best way to require and recommend plugins for WordPress themes (and other plugins)”
- Turn scbFramework into Composer package
Please suggest any that I've missed or any new ones that come up.