Thoughts on allowing plugins to extend the web interface?

[theshoeshiner]

I know the question "Is it possible" has been asked before on the forum, and that the answer is pretty much "No". But has anyone ever considered how it would work (from a technical POV) if it was pursued?

Seems to me that it could be taken up piecemeal by contributors, with some degree of consistency enforced along the way. For my needs, the first piece I would want to focus on would be adding an item to the item context menu. The function of that item would either be calling a plugin controller (or more likely showing a popup which then calls a controller).

The biggest barrier as always is likely time - Someone who wants it needs to spend their time to implement it - which is completely understandable. But before I (or anyone) proceeds there should at least be a conversation about whether it's even something that would be accepted. Obviously no contributor wants to spend a significant portion of time only to find out that their proposal was always a no-go.

I'm sure there are wrinkles to iron out with this - some larger than others - so that's the purpose of this discussion. Is there some major technical barrier that I'm missing that makes this truly impossible, or some overarching project principle that makes everyone averse to it?