# Rails.plugins

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-plugins/165966>\
**Category:** Engines\
**Created:** [April 20, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-plugins/165966 "2009-04-20T12:39:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nitr0z)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-plugins/165966/1 "2009-04-20T12:39:54Z")

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One of the handy things missing from Rails, that the engines plugin  
tries to provide but which isn’t really core to its functionality, is  
a way of inspecting the set of loaded plugins while the application is  
running.

This is achieved via the Engines.plugins method (which is again  
aliased as Rails.plugins, for backwards compatibility). We use this  
mostly when dealing with public assets from within plugins, but it’s  
also useful for generating RDoc for plugins.

In fact, the only thing the custom engines plugin loader does is to  
add plugins to this set, so if Rails itself implemented it, we could  
simplify the plugin greatly. Maybe even get rid of the ‘boot’ line,  
which needs to be added to the top of environment.rb!

Here’s my ticket, hidden under the guise of being about the plugin  
documentation task:  
[https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails/tickets/2526-generated-plugin-rdoc-should-include-all-code-within-plugin-load\_paths](https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails/tickets/2526-generated-plugin-rdoc-should-include-all-code-within-plugin-load_paths)

Feedback appreciated,

James

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**Author:** ![nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nitr0z)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-plugins/165966/2 "2009-04-21T12:00:34Z")

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I think it is a good idea.

It makes sense to simplify things.

boot.rb is a bit of a pain, so integrating it directly into Rails  
would be great.

Kind regards,  
Samuel

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**Author:** ![nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@nitr0z](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nitr0z)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-plugins/165966/3 "2009-04-21T12:01:44Z")

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On 21 Apr 2009, at 10:59, Space Ship T. wrote:

> I think it is a good idea.
> 
> It makes sense to simplify things.
> 
> boot.rb is a bit of a pain, so integrating it directly into Rails  
> would be great.
> 
> Kind regards,  
> Samuel

So I should’ve said - if you think it’s a good idea, please comment on  
the ticket itself 🙂

Thanks,

James