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)