All PHP files in the root should be dummy files, pointing to wp-includes versions

[markjaquith]

I'm proposing that all of our PHP files in the WordPress root should be moved to wp-includes, and dummy versions put in the root that include the wp-includes versions of them.

This will make things cleaner, and will open the door for us to do things like install a new version of WordPress in wp-includes-8fb24cd9, and pass a ?use-wp-includes=8fb24cd9 switch that loads that version. We could test the updated version of WordPress without touching the old version, and if it fails (WSOD, etc), we don't even have to roll back, because we haven't put the new version in wp-includes yet.

[johnjamesjacoby]

I think some files would be exempt:

• wp-blog-header.php
• wp-config.php
• wp-config-sample.php
• my-hacks.php (if exists)
• wp.php (if exists)
• license.txt
• readme.html

Pros:

• Option to refactor wp-login.php, wp-signup.php, et all
• Helps make core updates safer/easier

Cons:

• Quirky includes abstraction (needs docs, education, etc…)
• Leaving mostly empty root files around still feels unclean, albeit necessary backpat

A few alternatives:

• Add existing root files to rewrite rules and remove them completely
• Introduce wrapper function for requiring & including files with a once option, essentially making everything pluggable