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The great thing about extensions is that they survive upgrades (mostly).

The bad thing about extensions is that if you want to do something very quick and simple (like tweak a template), they are complicated.

So the community of small simple tweaks we used to have has disappeared.

I would like to propose the following (AutoMod) extension:

1. You can create simple INSERT/REPLACE/DELETE mods (like AutoMod in earlier versions).

2. You register the MOD with this new extension and it applies it like AutoMod.

3. Whenever the file has changed It checks that the mod is still applied, and if not it reapplies it (assuming that it still can).

This would enable people to come up with those easy small tweaks again.

You may have noted that my proposal is that this would only do simple code / template tweaks and does not include e.g. database changes. This is deliberate, as I would suggest that any MODS that require integration with permissions or database etc. are best delivered using a full grown extension.

What do people think of this idea?

Personally I cannot see this ever working. As an extension you are still relying on events so it is just as easy, probably easier, to create an extension with your own changes in it and if you are wanting style changes then create a "child" style

No way. You want to do “simple” code changes then you should be able to do them on your own.