in reply to Plugin Programming

I'm writing a distro that has plugin support all over it. The steps I've taken are:
  1. Define what can vary. This is harder than it looks and is the most important feature of all.
  2. Define what interface the varying bits are required the conform to. They may provide more than this, but they have to provide at least this much.
  3. Write a plugin loading scheme. Module::Pluggable is good. Mason and CGI::Application both have their own. Mason's is more defined as opposed to C::A's which is more Wild-West'ish.
  4. Sit back and let the users do what they need to do.

Note: Plugin systems can get very complicated. Take a look at what DBI does, one day. That's complicated!

Another plugin system of note is the XML::SAX stuff.

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