[theme-reviewers] Parent / Child Theme Issues

[Dave Jesch]

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Bruce Wampler <brucewampler at gmail.com>wrote:

> Of course, since all themes approved here must be GPL, any parent
> must remain available to meet the license. Given that, the best solution
> for child themes may remain the one I used for 2010 Weaver - include
> the source for the parent with the child theme. Given the rules followed
> when running a child theme, it is very easy to "simulate" this simply by
> renaming the parent's functions.php and style.css, then include them
> explicitly from the child's equivalents, and then keeping or replacing
> other parent files as needed. There are some issues with the translation
> directory that might complicate this (can there be two translation
> directories - parent theme + child theme - in the same theme directory?).
>

There's a potential problem with including the parent theme in a child theme
download: If I have two child themes, both with the same parent - but using
different versions - the version of the parent theme installed will be the
one that came with the most recently installed child. If the other child is
not compatible with that version, there's a potential problem.

Could we insist on parent theme version checking in the child themes? At
least if there's a non-compatible parent theme, activating the child theme
will not cause catastrophic failure. I think if we provide some sample code
on how to do that it wouldn't be too much to ask for.


> And of course, there is still the feature check - is it possible to check
> for Gravatar support (for example) in the parent, and then assume
> the child thus has it, too?
>

Just because a feature, like Gravatars, is supported in the parent doesn't
mean it would not be overridden or removed in the child. I think each item
would have to be checked individually in the child theme to determine if
it's available and properly implemented.

I agree that allowing child themes in the repository is a great idea. But it
will have to be handled carefully.

Dave
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