I really like software that is built from plugins, but it needs to have some stable 'core' plugins shipped by default, like emacs for example. Nothing by default is pretty useless but it all depends on constraints and requirements.

I do most my work on the terminal so I prefer something in the middle: convention over configuration, most functionality included but rather small by default. More complex needs can be compiled in.

Related: I wish more Linux distributions’ package managers would allow for binary installation alongside source compiled packages. In FreeBSD I’m amazed at how well pkg’ binary packages play with ports-compiled ones.

A little of both. I think it's good for software to be customizable, but layering on plugins often tends to lead to instability or other issues, so the ideal for me is where the program does 90% or more of what I want out of the box, and plugins fill the gaps.

What about a nice middle ground option? It has all the features that most sane people would want, but not the kitchen sink.

I hate diagnosing 3rd party jank so if I had to pick one or the other then I’d pick all in one. Oh you updated and now your whole ui is broken? Good fucking luck guessing what adon wasn’t updated for this change.

Plugins. But only if they come from the same software provider and are tested in the same way. Otherwise the support is crappy and I'd prefer the features bundled in.

Used to love plug-in-heavy, customizable tools. Then I realized I loved spending time customizing and installing all those plugins, and not a lot of time getting work done.

Now I just prefer good tools that can do everything I need but not necessarily optimally. As long as they feel really efficient for 95% of use cases and the other 5% are possible (but not optimal) I am good with that. I don’t need to reach for “the perfect tool” anymore.

In my wiki roundup post I complained about DokuWiki’s reliance on plugins, but after scouring the landscape of FOSS wiki offerings nothing else offers exactly what I need.

This is generally how new open source projects are born. Someone can't find what they're looking for among the current offerings so they make their own, fulfilling what they perceive to be a niche use case. Once they release it, it takes on a life of its own because it turns out it wasn't a niche use case after all. Much to the horror of the dev, who now finds themselves the leader of an open source project.

Its a story as old as time.

I think I like plug-ins so long as there's a good set that's easy to get. Nicely bundled defaults, ya know?

I don’t have a real preference, but one more advantage to the plugin route is that if you need something that’s not available, cobbling together a plugin is much simpler than modify most projects directly.

I recently spent a lot of time doing this with Odoo and I was very grateful for the modularity.

By the way, in case you haven’t found it, there is a pretty decent wysiwyg editor plugin for DokuWiki. I use it at work and it’s been pretty simple for my users.

Somewhere in the middle. I generally avoid using plugins of any sort if I can avoid it, and prefer sane defaults over customization, but I also avoid software that comes bloated with features I'll never use.

I run my home services on an extremely low power PC. So I like bare bones.

Multiple separate software vertically tuned to work perfectly out of the box for the single thing they are meant to do 🤣

Barebones with a wide selection of useful plugins. That's kinda how OMV operates, and it's fantastic.

Barebones, usually. In general I prefer software that does only one thing and one thing well. Input or output to/from said software can be handled by other pieces software.

I'm a big fan of modular designs where you can swap out any layer with something else, provided that the data interchange is c9mpatible.

Lacking the above, I usually go for softwares with support for plugins/extensions.

The more bare bones, simple and customisable, the better. I will compromise if the only option is an all in one, but it's never my first choice as nothing is ever perfect.

I probably lean more to the all-in-one side of things. Having one standard version of the software makes it easier to set up and learn.