[wp-hackers] Registering alternative versions of jQuery

[Stephen Harris]

An issue was reported to me about a conflict between two plug-ins, one 
of which I had developed. The issue was that this other plug-in 
de-registered the default version of jQuery and replaced it with 1.4.2. 
This caused issues, as it would with many plug-ins, as I believe how 
jQuery returns ajax requests was changed in 1.5.

The up-shot is, I think it may be necessary to stress in the Codex the 
dangers of replacing jQuery, particularly with old versions.

I also wanted to inquire as to the plausibility of registering several 
different versions of jQuery. This possible for standard websites 
(though a separate no-conflict wrapper is required for each version). 
Potentially, a 'best-practise' could be stressed to register, say jQuery 
1.4.2 as 'jquery1.4.2' and to use the no-conflict wrapper, 'j_1_4_2'.

I'm not that familiar with how WordPress deals with javascript queues; 
Would something like the above work? And should it be stressed (in the 
Codex, says) that plugin and theme authors should refrain from replacing 
the existing jQuery? (I'm aware it says not rely on 3rd party served 
JavaScript files).

Many thanks,
Stephen