Should I request that X be built into TW or as plugin?

[Mat]

Over on github a fellow member asked if there are any guidelines for what is "suitable in core/standard distro" VS "better as a plugin".

I felt a reply is better posted here so I wrote this but now I also note that fellow PMario has posted a read-worthy answer too, with some other points (see end of thread there).:

...

I'm not sure there are any official guidelines but I'd say the reasoning is along these lines;

The standard distro ( =the basic TW distribution), and especially the core plugin, should generally be kept minimal... or rather, it should not be too slow to load/render... which is the typical cost when adding stuff.  Another cost is administration/maintenance... which equals "Jeremy work" because of the TW projects organizational structure.

On the flip side, there is need for key-turn functionality to attract users. So standard distro functionality should meet most users basic needs.

If some suggestion is met with the opinion that it is better served as a plugin than directly in core, this does not mean it is a bad idea (at least I don't think anyone would mean that). Rather, it means the suggestion is probably too special to be of general interest, at least given the costs it would bring. But then, in then end it's up to Jeremy if something is appropriate for core or not.

That said, we still don't have a good solution to access community produced plugins (imagine an "app store"!) so even if it is justified to appoint an idea to better-as-plugin, there are problematic consequences. TWederation will hopefully one day solve this...

<:-)

[Tristan Kohl]

Thank you Mat for clearing things up. I think the current "plugin first" philosophy is quite good of a way to go as it makes adding new stuff easy and new plugins serve a proof of concept.

If plugin X becomes so widely used that almost any TW relies on it this could be a signal to add the functionality to the core. I like to think of this similar to python where new core modules were added if they proofed themself worthy.

Cheers,
Tristan