"core-version" field: what purpose does it serve?

[saqimtiaz]

End-user and developer documentation suggests that plugins should have a core-version field with examples for values being >=5.0.8 and >=5.0.0

Is this enforced as a requirement during import by drag and drop or when installing via a plugin library? It isn't as far as I can tell but perhaps I am missing something. Neither is this information visible to users while installing plugins via a plugin library or via drag and drop.

Furthermore, attempts to check for core-version compatibility with wikitext are not particularly easy since the compare[] operator for type version does not support patterns like >=5.1.0.

• What purpose does this field serve?
  • Given a core-version field with value 5.1.23 is it meant to suggest that this the minimum core version, or that the plugin works with precisely that core version?
• Should we add enforcement or at least visual affordance for the core-version field during the plugin installation process?
  • If this field is not enforced as a plugin requirement, this should be clarified in the documentation.
• Should we consider extending the compare operator to parse version strings like >=5.1.0?

[pmario]

I'm using it as the minimum requirement for my plugins. .. BUT I thought it would be enforced. :/ ...

Should we consider extending the compare operator to parse version strings like >=5.1.0?

I think, that would be good.

[Jermolene]

Thanks @saqimtiaz @pmario I think you've stumbled on our longest standing bit of cargo culting. I do have a faint memory of writing code to enforce core-version checks on plugins, but evidently it was dropped if it was there at all.

Is this enforced as a requirement during import by drag and drop or when installing via a plugin library? It isn't as far as I can tell but perhaps I am missing something. Neither is this information visible to users while installing plugins via a plugin library or via drag and drop.

I was slightly surprised to discover that there's no enforcement at the moment.

Furthermore, attempts to check for core-version compatibility with wikitext are not particularly easy since the compare[] operator for type version does not support patterns like >=5.1.0.

Ouch. The idea was to support the semver comparisons that npm supports (https://github.com/npm/node-semver).

• What purpose does this field serve?

  • Given a core-version field with value 5.1.23 is it meant to suggest that this the minimum core version, or that the plugin works with precisely that core version?

I think that that would indeed tie the plugin to a particular core version number.

• Should we add enforcement or at least visual affordance for the core-version field during the plugin installation process?

It seems like a good idea, but I do wonder whether it would be worth the effort.

• If this field is not enforced as a plugin requirement, this should be clarified in the documentation.

Yes; if we decide not to enforce it, it still seems perfectly reasonable for us to keep it as an advisory field for humans.

• Should we consider extending the compare operator to parse version strings like >=5.1.0?

Hmmm so we'd have something like [[v5.1.23-prerelease]compare:version[>=v5.1.22]], where dropping the "mode" implies that it should be parsed from the operand. Another issue is that the compare operator at the moment expects a lowercase "v" which is not used in the "core-version" field.