Plugins are not backwards compatible without recompilation · zellij-org/zellij#2555

(0 comments) (1 reaction) (0 assignees)Rust (32,593 stars) (1,191 forks)batch import

help wantedplugin system

Description

Right now, whenever we upgrade the Zellij (and thus the zellij-tile API library's) version, we need to manually recompile our plugins for them to be compatible with the new version.

This is an inconvenient situation that happens because we share data structures across the wasm boundary and do not have a schema for it.

We should allow for a schema negotiation between the host and the plugin, providing backwards compatibility for all but truly breaking changes.

Contributor guide

Tech stack: rustwasm
Domain: cliapideveloper experience
Issue type: feature
Difficulty: 4
Estimated time: over 1 week
Activity status: stale
Clarity: mostly clear
Prerequisites: RustWebAssemblyZellij plugin system
Newbie friendliness: 30
Research direction: Investigate how plugins are currently loaded and how the zellij tile API shares data structures across the wasm boundary. Look into existing wasm schema negotiation techniques (e.g., using protobuf or a custom versioning scheme). Propose a design for schema negotiation that allows the host and plugin to agree on a compatible data format, potentially by defining a versioned interface and a negotiation handshake. Check if there are any open PRs or comments that discuss this approach.