I updated this announcement description with the latest information about the “popular (hacky) add-ons”:
Popular (Hacky) Add-ons
Some add-ons are widely used, however they were never to the quality standard expected of the core Blender code or usability. They will be moved to the extensions platform.
- Node Wrangler
Some of its functionaility can eventually be integrated into Blender. But as a whole the add-on belongs elsewhere for now.- The Physics & Nodes module decided to bundle it with Blender as a core add-on. So over time some of its functionality can be merged as native tools.
- Import Images as Planes
It uses: bpy.app.driver_namespace, bpy.app.handlers.depsgraph_update_post & bpy.app.handlers.load_post in ways which runs too frequently.- Incorporated into Blender as a native tool (Shift + A > Images > Mesh Plane)
- Rigify
It is one of the many possible solutions for auto-rigging. The animation & rigging module is ok with being an extension for now.- Animation & Rigging module decided to bundle it with Blender as a core add-on.