I've got a pretty good idea of how to bootstrap, parse and render Comanche now. This does not mean it's close to being presentable - far from it.

boot.php

@@ -2386,6 +2386,7 @@ function get_custom_nav(&$a,$navname) {
 
 function construct_page(&$a) {
 
+	require_once('include/comanche.php');
 	
 	$comanche = ((count($a->layout)) ? true : false);
 		
@@ -2434,9 +2435,23 @@ function construct_page(&$a) {
 			$a->page[$x['location']] .= $x['html']; 
 		}
 	}
+
+	// Let's say we have a comanche declaration '[region_nav][/region_nav][region_content]$region_nav $region_section[/region_content]'.
+	// The text 'region_' identifies a section of the layout by that name (without the 'region_' text). 
+	// So what we want to do here is leave $a->page['nav'] empty and put the default content from $a->page['nav'] and $a->page['section'] 
+	// into a new region called $a->data['content']. It is presumed that the chosen layout file for this comanche page
+	// has a '<content>' element instead of a '<section>'. 
+	
+	// This way the Comanche layout can include any existing content, alter the layout by adding stuff around it or changing the 
+	// layout completely with a new layout definition, or replace/remove existing content. 
+
 	if($comanche) {
 		foreach($a->layout as $k => $v) {
-			if(strpos($k,'region_') === 0) {
+			if((strpos($k,'region_') === 0) && strlen($v)) {
+				if(strpos($v,'$region_') !== false) {
+					$v = preg_replace_callback('/\$region_([a-zA-Z0-9]*?)/ism','comanche_replace_region',$v);
+
+				}
 				$a->data[substr($k,0,7)] = $v;
 			}
 		}

include/comanche.php

@@ -75,11 +75,21 @@ function comanche_menu($name) {
 	return render_menu($m);
 }
 
-function comanche_widget($name) {
+function comanche_replace_region($match) {
 	$a = get_app();
-	// placeholder for now
+	if(array_key_exists($match[1],$a->page))
-	$m = menu_fetch($name,$a->profile['profile_uid'],get_observer_hash());
+		return $a->page[$match[1]];
-	return render_menu($m);
+}
+
+// Widgets will have to get any operational arguments from the session,
+// the global app environment, or config storage until we implement argument passing
+
+
+function comanche_widget($name,$args = null) {
+	$a = get_app();
+	$func = 'widget_' . trim($name);
+	if(function_exists($func))
+		return $func($args);
 }
 
 
@@ -103,4 +113,11 @@ function comanche_region(&$a,$s) {
 	}
 
 	return $s;
-}
+}
+
+
+function widget_profile($args) {
+	$a = get_app();
+	$block = (((get_config('system','block_public')) && (! local_user()) && (! remote_user())) ? true : false);
+	return profile_sidebar($a->profile, $block, true);
+}

mod/page.php

@@ -9,15 +9,11 @@ function page_init(&$a) {
 
 	$which = argv(1);
 	$profile = 0;
-	$channel = $a->get_channel();
-
-	if((local_user()) && (argc() > 2) && (argv(2) === 'view')) {
-		$which = $channel['channel_address'];
-		$profile = argv(1);
-	}
-
 	profile_load($a,$which,$profile);
 
+	if($a->profile['profile_uid'])
+		head_set_icon($a->profile['thumb']);
+
 }
 
 
@@ -65,7 +61,8 @@ function page_content(&$a) {
 		return;
 	}
 
-// Use of widgets should be determined by Comanchie, but we don't have it yet, so...
+	// Use of widgets should be determined by Comanche, but we don't have it yet, so...
+
 	if ($perms['write_pages']) {
 		$chan = $a->channel['channel_id'];
 		$who = $channel_address;
@@ -75,7 +72,7 @@ function page_content(&$a) {
 
 	xchan_query($r);
 	$r = fetch_post_tags($r,true);
-	$a->profile = array('profile_uid' => $u[0]['channel_id']);
+
 	$o .= prepare_page($r[0]);
 	return $o;