Documentation for mod interoperability

[Wuzzy]

Hi! I just wrote a new page on the developer wiki:

http://dev.minetest.net/Mod_interoperability

This page aims to help you modders making your mod more interoperable with other mods by pointing to popular APIs (of mods) and conventions. Foremost, this page should mention all mods with a strong focus on APIs.
For example: You are new to Minetest modding and want to add a simple mod which adds nodes in different colors. There are many mods and conventions to consider when using colors, so this page should help newbies finding the right mods and increasing the general mod quality. Many mods which make use of colors are missing out on the Paint Roller mod, and this makes me sad. :-(

The page is still rather incomplete so I need your help and feedback. Don't be afraid to edit this page right away!

- Generally, I appreciate any new information regarding interoperability on this page, but stay focused on modding. Currently this page contains mostly stuff about my own mods and a few mods I know and understand, but I certainly don't want this page to act as an “advertisement” for my mods. ;-)
- Can someone more familiar with this wiki add links to this page throughout the wiki? I don't know where to start.
- I would be glad if this page shows up in modding tutorials/guides/etc. Links are important otherwise this page is not helping

On http://dev.minetest.net/Groups/Custom_groups custom groups are documented. If your mod defines some important groups which other modders should know about, please update this page as well.

[Byakuren]

This is a great idea, Minetest has some inherent mod incompatibilities, like player state or that entities don't know much about each other (is this other entity a mob?). Minecraft had a lot worse incompatibility initially since there was no modding API and mods had to replace binary files. Mod frameworks, leading to Forge, mitigated the issue in Minecraft by providing a large standard library for mods that was designed with compatibility in mind. Maybe we can achieve something similar with this "community standard" mod listing.

[Byakuren]

When (If) I get wiki access, should I just add any of my API mods that seem widely useful? And maybe are minimally intrusive when there aren't mods using the APIs.

[Wuzzy]

Adding API mods would be the first step, yes. The mods don't need to be “minimally intrusive” IMO as long as the API has a strong presence. But if you have other ideas for the page but your are not sure if its appropriate, feel free to discuss.
Groups are another thing which needs to be documented on that other page. The current groups page basically only contains Minetest Game and a few of my mods. This can be better, but I don't know where to continue.



I will appreciate it when you contribute.