[QGIS-Developer] PIP for plugins - Request for comments (QGIS grants)

[Olivier Dalang]

Dear List,

I am planning to apply for the QGIS Grants with a proposal to support PIP
dependencies for QGIS plugins.

The goal is to solve the difficulty for a QGIS plugin to depend on an
existing python library. This results in QGIS plugins missing a lot of the
great features offered by the many existing python libraries, or in trouble
for users when using some plugins.

The proposal is described in more details in this QEP :
https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals/issues/202

In two words :
- pip dependencies could be declared by plugins (to be determined if in
metadata.txt or in requirements.txt, if you have a preference please
comment on the QEP)
- upon installation, user would be asked if he/she wants to install them
- dependencies would be installed in a per-profile virtual environment,
allowing to keep profiles isolated
- a new tab in the plugin manager would show the currently installed
dependencies, and highlight potential conflicts if any.

I'd love to hear your ideas/opinions/comments so I can improve the proposal
before submitting it (ideally on the QEP directly).

Kind regards,

Olivier (@opengis.ch)
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