plugin cache file ⇒ plugin registry file

Author: devyn

blog/2024-04-30-nushell_0_93_0.md

@@ -5,13 +5,15 @@ author_site: https://twitter.com/nu_shell
 author_image: https://www.nushell.sh/blog/images/nu_logo.png
 excerpt: Today, we're releasing version 0.93.0 of Nu. This release adds...
 ---
+
 <!-- TODO: complete the excerpt above -->
 
 # Nushell 0.93.0
 
 Nushell, or Nu for short, is a new shell that takes a modern, structured approach to your command line. It works seamlessly with the data from your filesystem, operating system, and a growing number of file formats to make it easy to build powerful command line pipelines.
 
 <!-- TODO: write this excerpt -->
+
 Today, we're releasing version 0.93.0 of Nu. This release adds...
 
 # Where to get it
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ We now have two commands to replace `register` that break this functionality int
 The previous example would now be equivalent to this, at the REPL:
 
 ```nushell
-# Add the plugin's commands to your plugin cache file:
+# Add the plugin's commands to your plugin registry file:
 > plugin add ~/.cargo/bin/nu_plugin_gstat
 
 # Load it into scope:
@@ -108,37 +110,38 @@ The previous example would now be equivalent to this, at the REPL:
 
 Note that this _will not_ work in a script in this order, as `plugin use` is a [parser command](/book/thinking_in_nu.md#think-of-nushell-as-a-compiled-language) and would get evaluated first. If you would like to make sure a certain plugin is available in a script, there are a few options:
 
-1. Prepare a plugin cache file in advance, and use `--plugin-config` with `plugin use`:
-    ```nushell
-    plugin use --plugin-config /path/to/custom.msgpackz your_required_plugin
-    ```
+1. Prepare a plugin registry file in advance, and use `--plugin-config` with `plugin use`:
+   ```nushell
+   plugin use --plugin-config /path/to/custom.msgpackz your_required_plugin
+   ```
 2. The same thing, but pass the `plugin config` to `nu`:
-    ```nushell
-    nu --plugin-config /path/to/custom.msgpackz your-script.nu
-    ```
-3. Pass a NUON list to `--plugins` (new in 0.93) to `nu`, to use plugins without a cache file:
-    ```nushell
-    nu --plugins '[/path/to/nu_plugin_your_required_plugin]' your-script.nu
-
-    # or you can use `to nuon` from inside nu:
-    let plugins = [
-        '/path/to/nu_plugin_foo'
-        '/path/to/nu_plugin_bar'
-    ]
-    nu --plugins ($plugins | to nuon) your-script.nu
-    ```
+   ```nushell
+   nu --plugin-config /path/to/custom.msgpackz your-script.nu
+   ```
+3. Pass a NUON list to `--plugins` (new in 0.93) to `nu`, to use plugins without a registry file:
+
+   ```nushell
+   nu --plugins '[/path/to/nu_plugin_your_required_plugin]' your-script.nu
 
-The last option will run the plugin to get signatures at startup, without modifying the user's cache file, and can even be used when `--no-config-file` is specified.
+   # or you can use `to nuon` from inside nu:
+   let plugins = [
+       '/path/to/nu_plugin_foo'
+       '/path/to/nu_plugin_bar'
+   ]
+   nu --plugins ($plugins | to nuon) your-script.nu
+   ```
 
-Finally, we have also added [`plugin rm`](#plugin-rm-toc), which removes a plugin from the cache file. This was something that previously needed to be done manually in a text editor, but is made possible by the new format.
+The last option will run the plugin to get signatures at startup, without modifying the user's registry file, and can even be used when `--no-config-file` is specified.
 
-## New plugin cache format [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+Finally, we have also added [`plugin rm`](#plugin-rm-toc), which removes a plugin from the registry file. This was something that previously needed to be done manually in a text editor, but is made possible by the new format.
+
+## New plugin registry format [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
 ::: warning Breaking change
 See a full overview of the [breaking changes](#breaking-changes)
 :::
 
-The plugin cache format has been changed from the previous Nushell script format (containing a sequence of `register` commands) to a custom, declarative format based on [MessagePack](https://msgpack.org/) compressed with [brotli](https://github.com/google/brotli). This new format is called `msgpackz`, and the default plugin file is `plugin.msgpackz` instead of `plugin.nu`.
+The plugin registry format has been changed from the previous Nushell script format (containing a sequence of `register` commands) to a custom, declarative format based on [MessagePack](https://msgpack.org/) compressed with [brotli](https://github.com/google/brotli). This new format is called `msgpackz`, and the default plugin file is `plugin.msgpackz` instead of `plugin.nu`.
 
 Your existing `plugin.nu` file will be automatically upgraded to `plugin.msgpackz` the first time version 0.93 runs.
 
@@ -157,7 +160,7 @@ The most significantly _breaking_ part of this breaking change is that the follo
 source $nu.plugin-file
 ```
 
-You can use the [`plugin use`](#plugin-use-toc) command instead to (re-)load a specific plugin from the plugin cache file:
+You can use the [`plugin use`](#plugin-use-toc) command instead to (re-)load a specific plugin from the plugin registry file:
 
 ```nushell
 > plugin use gstat
@@ -172,32 +175,36 @@ This frees up stdio for interaction with the user's terminal, which makes plugin
 We also added [engine calls](/contributor-book/plugin_protocol_reference.md#enterforeground-engine-call) for moving the plugin into the terminal controlling (foreground) process group, mainly for Unix platforms. This was also necessary to fully support terminal UI plugins, after the last release's new persistence functionality caused plugins to run in a new, background process group by default.
 
 ## Hall of fame [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 ### Bug fixes [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 Thanks to all the contributors below for helping us solve issues and bugs :pray:
-| author                               | description | url                                                     |
+| author | description | url |
 | ------------------------------------ | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
-| [@author](https://github.com/author) | ...         | [#12345](https://github.com/nushell/nushell/pull/12345) |
+| [@author](https://github.com/author) | ... | [#12345](https://github.com/nushell/nushell/pull/12345) |
 
 ### Enhancing the documentation [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 Thanks to all the contributors below for helping us making the documentation of Nushell commands better :pray:
-| author                               | description | url                                                     |
+| author | description | url |
 | ------------------------------------ | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
-| [@author](https://github.com/author) | ...         | [#12345](https://github.com/nushell/nushell/pull/12345) |
+| [@author](https://github.com/author) | ... | [#12345](https://github.com/nushell/nushell/pull/12345) |
 
 ## Our set of commands is evolving [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 As usual, new release rhyms with changes to commands!
 
 ### New commands [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
 #### `plugin add` [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
-Adds a plugin to the plugin cache file (default `$nu.plugin-path`).
+Adds a plugin to the plugin registry file (default `$nu.plugin-path`).
 
 ```nushell
 plugin add ~/.cargo/bin/nu_plugin_gstat
 ```
 
-A different cache file can be used if desired:
+A different registry file can be used if desired:
 
 ```nushell
 plugin add --plugin-config ~/polars.msgpackz ~/.cargo/bin/nu_plugin_polars
@@ -211,7 +218,7 @@ glob ~/.cargo/bin/nu_plugin_* | each { |file| plugin add $file }
 
 #### `plugin rm` [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
-Removes a plugin from the plugin cache file (default `$nu.plugin-path`).
+Removes a plugin from the plugin registry file (default `$nu.plugin-path`).
 
 ```nushell
 plugin rm gstat
@@ -222,11 +229,12 @@ The commands will still remain in scope, but will not be present the next time `
 
 #### `plugin use` [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
-Loads a plugin from the plugin cache file (default `$nu.plugin-path`) **at parse time**.
+Loads a plugin from the plugin registry file (default `$nu.plugin-path`) **at parse time**.
 
-This replaces the other part of `register` - actually adding the commands to scope. It does not run the plugin executable, though, it just loads the [previously added](#plugin-add-toc) commands from the cache file.
+This replaces the other part of `register` - actually adding the commands to scope. It does not run the plugin executable, though, it just loads the [previously added](#plugin-add-toc) commands from the registry file.
 
 ### Changes to existing commands [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 ### Deprecated commands [[toc](#table-of-content)]
 
 #### `register` [[toc](#table-of-content)]
@@ -278,6 +286,7 @@ See the [Rust docs for `EngineInterface`](https://docs.rs/nu-plugin/0.93.0/nu_pl
 -->
 
 # Breaking changes [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 <!-- TODO:
     paste the output of
     ```nu
@@ -287,6 +296,7 @@ See the [Rust docs for `EngineInterface`](https://docs.rs/nu-plugin/0.93.0/nu_pl
 -->
 
 # Full changelog [[toc](#table-of-content)]
+
 <!-- TODO:
     paste the output of
     ```nu