Not a Forge-related request really...

 

It would be very useful if there was a kind of JSON API for the files.minecraftforge.net website which we can query to check for new forge versions etc.

 

e.g.

if I GET http://files.minecraftforge.net/api/1.7.10.json it could return a list of all of the releases for 1.7.10 forge:

{

  "latest": "10.13.4.1614",

  "recommended: "10.13.4.1558",

  "releases": [

    "10.13.0.1150", "10.13.0.1151" (... - this list is sorted from oldest - youngest)

 ]

}

 

Just this simple kind of response allows us to query (using the system already in place) for all of the data we may want (downloads, changelogs, source etc.)

e.g.

response = GET(http://files.minecraftforge.net/api/1.7.10.json)

// download the jar installer for the latest release:

installer_jar = GET(http://files.minecraftforge.net/net/minecraftforge/forge/1.7.10-{response.latest}/forge-1.7.10-{response.latest}-installer.jar)

 

This could also provide automatic-updating functionality possible, and possibly the creation of a mod requirements checking / installation system (like Python's pip or Node's NPM in terms of features)

It already exists, and has been documented several times.

It however is not a system we advertise or encourage people to use because flat out, the downloads page is how we pay the bills. And people who bypass that bypass how we make money. It's a shitty thing, but it's as simple as that.