Allow module dependencies to not be "hard" dependencies.

[colinmollenhour]

It would sometimes be very helpful to use the module "depends" feature to force ordering of module loading, without explicitly requiring the other modules. For example, if module A breaks when module B is loaded after module A, but A works fine if B is not present, then it would be nice for module A to have a "soft" dependency on module B. That is, do not require module B to be loaded, but if it is loaded, make sure module B is loaded first.

In the xml this would look like:

<config>
  <modules>
    <Module_A>
      <active>true</active>
      <codePool>community</codePool>
      <depends>
        <Module_B type="soft" />
        <Module_C />
      </depends>
    </Module_A>
  </modules>
</config>

Although this is a pull request I understand that you may want different attribute naming, xml semantics, etc. Please let me know what you think or if you want me to make any changes. Thanks!

[colinmollenhour]

Oh, forgot to mention the commit is not tested.. :-o

[magento-team]

The feature has been implemented in the development repository along with tests, it will become available with the next Github updates.

[magento-team]

Closing request as implemented. Thank you for the suggestion.

[jivanrij]

Posted a link to this page from my blog. Great explanation.

http://webdev.vanrij.org/index.php/2013/08/19/replayce-old-javascript-version-in-magento/