It seems that I misunderstood exactly how PHP's include_once() and require_once() worked. I assumed that no matter how many times they were called they would still execute the global code. It seems very obvious to me now that that cant possibly be the case not just because it doesnt make any sense but because it certainly doesnt work like that in my CMS [dead].

This is a big problem because my design rests on this assumption! The global code that is executed returns a list of the functions that perform the various content generating and administrative tasks of the module so that the CMS can execute those operations. If I cant get at those functions then bad things happen.

Here's my new solution: I'm going to add a field to the Registered table. This field will be the name of the function in the module that returns these other administrative functions.

*Edit - nevermind. One of those functions is a function that helps install the module. This installation would fill such a field. Without this field I cant call the installation function. Without the installation function I cant fill the field.

I suppose I could force a strict naming convention... but I dont want to do that. Hopefully I'll become inspired to a better solution.