> something else, it has no reason to care what the pagetype is. (Same for
> linkify.) --[[Joey]]
+>> My [[org-mode|plugins/contrib/org_mode]] external plugin (which will never
+>> really make sense to include with ikiwiki I think) does this. I
+>> think that most plugins defining alternate wiki syntaxes would as
+>> well. --[[chrismgray]]
+
This is a bit wasteful in itself, but for external plugins, it's
really bad. For functions like `scan` and `linkify`, where the entire
page is sent back and forth over `stdout` and `stdin`, it really slows
>>>> it's really the overhead of serializing the page content, that's
>>>> the problem, and not just the general overhead of making rpc calls
>>>> for every page.. --[[Joey]]
+
+>>>>> Since the argument to `hook` is optional, the pagespec is only
+>>>>> interpreted if it is given. So there is no extra overhead
+>>>>> (beyond an unused `if` branch) in 99% of the cases.
+>>>>>
+>>>>> Rewriting the external plugin's shim using Perl is a good idea,
+>>>>> and one that I wish I had thought of earlier. On the other
+>>>>> hand, it doesn't set a great precedent about the usability of
+>>>>> external plugins. --[[chrismgray]]