There should be a way to specify dependencies between arbitrary files so that Inspections and Annotators are re-run once a dependent file has been changed which might affect the Annotator's or Inspection's results. This would be a possibility to fix IDEADEV-3897. It's also needed to make reasonable use of the new "Annotation.setGutterIconRenderer()" API to provide gutter icons based on "external" resources that have to be updated once those dependent resources change. A plugin component's registration in plugin.xml that could be given a "Goto Registration" gutter icon would be one example here.