+
+----
+
+I implemented the above in a branch.
+[[!template id=gitbranch branch=origin/dependency-types author="[[joey]]"]]
+
+Then I found some problems:
+
+* Something simple like pagecount, that seems like it could use a
+ presence dependency, can have a pagespec that uses metadata, like
+ `author()` or `copyright()`.
+* pagestats, orphans and brokenlinks cannot use presence dependencies
+ because they need to update when links change.
+
+Now I'm thinking about having a special dependency look at page
+metadata, and fire if the metadata changes. And it seems links should
+either be included in that, or there should be a way to make a dependency
+that fires when a page's links change. (And what about backlinks?)
+
+It's easy to see when a page's links change, since there is `%oldlinks`.
+To see when metadata is changed is harder, since it's stored in the
+pagestate by the meta plugin. Also, there are many different types of
+metadata, that would need to be matched with the pagespecs somehow.
+
+Quick alternative: Make add_depends look at the pagespec. Ie, if it
+is a simple page name, or a glob, we know a presence dependency
+can be valid. If's more complex, convert the dependency from
+presence to full.
+
+There is a lot to dislike about this method. Its parsing of the pagespec,
+as currently implemented, does not let plugins add new types of pagespecs
+that only care about presence. Its pagespec parsing is also subject to
+false negatives (though these should be somewhat rare, and no false
+positives). Still, it does work, and it makes things like simple maps and
+pagecounts much more efficient.
+
+----
+
+Link dependencies:
+
+* `add_depends($page, $spec, links => 1, presence => 1)`
+ adds a links + presence dependency.
+* Use backlinks change code to detect changes to link dependencies too.
+* So, brokenlinks can fire whenever any links in any of the
+ pages it's tracking change, or when pages are added or
+ removed.
+
+TODO: How to determine if a pagespec is valid to be used with a links
+dependency? Use the same simple pagespecs that are valid for presence
+dependencies? Seems ok.
+
+[[done]]