extension.json and custom templates (and the scope of Skippy)

[Eneroth3]

Hi!

In my personal view the extension loader file from Skippy's standard template is quite complex. Especially for really small plugins and example meant for new developers (who haven't reached the point of using Skippy themselves). I think the whole boilerplate for loading extension info from the json file can add unwanted complexity and noise.

I tried making a simpler template with all extension information directly in the loader, similar to this, but noticed the extension.json file wasn't a part of the template and was generated anyway.

Is this file planned to have a more integrated role in Skippy in the future? E.g. having commands for changing the project author, copyright, license etc and have both skippy.json and extension.json updated?

This also leads to the question of the scope of Skippy. So far I've used it solely to install dependencies. It's not obvious to me how the project author, description or license are relevant for Skippy. Does Skippy use this information somehow now, or is planned to do so in the future?

[thomthom]

The template system is just a stub right now. Eventually there will be commands to install templates.

Same for the info in skippy.json - it's not hooked up yet, but the idea was to allow that to be used in things like templates etc.

The README describe some of the main goals:

• Template system to quickly scaffold new extensions. This is something developers can customize to suit their own style.
• Automation - being able to quickly write custom skippy commands per project. (As well as having skippy ship with some out of the box common commands.)
• Basic library/dependency management.

[thomthom]

As for extension.json, the template generater needs options to handle that.