“Requires Tallow 1.0+” means something different to every reader. Here it means one thing, written so a client can act on it:
[[requires]]
id = "9b7e3f21-6c4d-4a8b-b1e2-3f5a7c9d0e14"
name = "Tallow"
version = ">=1.0"
url = "https://dreamweave-mp.github.io/DreamWeave-Mod-Template/simplified/"The id is the other project’s identity, copied from its page or manifest. name is for people;
if Tallow is renamed tomorrow, this still points at it. url tells a client where to discover it.
Five kinds, kept apart#
| List | Promise | A client should |
|---|---|---|
[[requires]] | Does not work without it | Install it first, or refuse |
[[recommends]] | Works better with it | Offer it |
[[conflicts]] | Breaks with it | Refuse to install both, or warn |
[[compatible]] | Tested together, works | Nothing; it is information |
[[replaces]] | This project supersedes that one | Offer to swap |
Anything not listed is untested, and the page says so. That is different from compatible, and it is different from conflicting; collapsing the three into “requirements” is how mod pages end up lying.
Entries without an id#
Plenty of what mods depend on is not a DreamWeave project: Tamriel Rebuilt, a Nexus-only mod, a tool. Name it anyway:
[[recommends]]
name = "Tamriel Rebuilt"
url = "https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/"
reason = "Install the Tamriel Rebuilt component to light the mainland too."People see it; clients cannot resolve it, and the page marks it “not on the network”. A version
constraint needs an id, because checking the version of something you cannot identify is theater.
For content files, use OpenMW’s own terms instead: [openmw] requires_content = ["Tribunal.esm"] is
a requirement a client can check against the player’s load order, and a component can require its
own, like TR_Mainland.esm for a Tamriel Rebuilt patch.
Capabilities#
Sometimes you need a music framework, not a specific one. A project can provide a capability:
provides = ["dreamweave:music-playlists"]and another can require it:
[[requires]]
capability = "dreamweave:music-playlists"
name = "A playlist framework"Capabilities are plain strings. Namespace them (yourname:thing) so two unrelated projects do not
mean different things by music.
Constraints#
A constraint is * or comma-separated comparators that must all hold:
| Constraint | Allows |
|---|---|
* | anything |
>=1.0 | 1.0 and newer |
>=0.49, <0.51 | 0.49 up to, not including, 0.51 |
=1.2.0 | exactly 1.2.0 (and 1.2, which has the same precedence) |
!=1.1.0 | anything but the broken one |
The operators are =, !=, >, >=, < and <=. There is no ^, ~ or ||: each of those
means something slightly different in every ecosystem that has one, and “requires version 2+” is how
nobody knows what you meant. A constraint on another project is evaluated with that project’s
versioning scheme, which its manifest states, so >=0.9 on a decimal project allows 0.963.
Runtimes#
The engine is not a dependency; it is a runtime:
[runtimes]
openmw = ">=0.49"
[openmw]
lua_api = ">=60"A project runs on any runtime it lists. OpenMW’s Lua API revision is separate from its version, because a development build can have a newer API than the last release.