[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #22802: Empower Plugin Developers to make Symlink Compatible Plugins

[WordPress Trac]

#22802: Empower Plugin Developers to make Symlink Compatible Plugins
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 Reporter:  MikeSchinkel                        |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                         |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal                              |   Milestone:  Awaiting
Component:  Plugins                             |  Review
 Severity:  normal                              |     Version:  3.4.2
 Keywords:  has-patch dev-feedback 2nd-opinion  |  Resolution:
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Comment (by nacin):

 I see four approaches:

  1. Something fairly convoluted in core to allow a plugin to work in a
 symlinked environment.

  2. Something fairly straightforward in an environment to allow all
 plugins to work.

  3. Avoid symlinks, and use VCS tools to check out the same code into
 multiple places (git submodules, svn externals, checkouts, etc)

  4. Avoid symlinks, and use a shared plugin directory via WP_PLUGIN_DIR
 and WP_PLUGIN_URL (it's why these constants are there)

 The first approach is particularly painful, and still won't help you for
 every other plugin that uses `__FILE__`, and because it will require
 plugin authors to do a decent amount of work to leverage it, it probably
 won't become a best practice.

 The other three are far easier, far more reliable, and require no core
 changes. Option 2 even sounds like a great plugin.

 Yes, PHP is clearly lacking a tool here. But I don't think we should
 return the volley with a weird fix that plugin developers will probably
 struggle with. If there's a proposal that is sufficiently straightforward
 (both in core's implementation, and in how plugins use it), this could be
 considered. Until then, there seem to be a number of ways to do this
 inside one's environment, and those ways seem to be more efficient than a
 core solution anyway.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/22802#comment:20>
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