TYPO3 Core

It used to be possible to assign the settings to a plugin as for example described here:

https://www.typo3-snippets.de/snippets/extbase-und-fluid/extbase-plugin-per-typoscript-einbinden/

lib.include = USER
lib.include {
   userFunc = TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Core\Bootstrap->run
   vendorName = myVendor
   pluginName = MyPlugin
   extensionName = MyExtension

   settings =< plugin.tx_myExtension.settings
   persistence =< plugin.tx_myExtension.persistence
   view =< plugin.tx_myExtension.view
}

In TYPO3 12.4.20 This leads to a a TypeError:

(1/1) TypeError
TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Configuration\ConfigurationManager::getConfiguration(): Return value must be of type array, string returned
/var/www/html/vendor/typo3/cms-extbase/Classes/Configuration/ConfigurationManager.php line 141

As the TypoScript Object reference https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/reference-coreapi/11.5/en-us/Configuration/TypoScriptSyntax/Syntax/TypoScriptSyntax.html#typoscript-syntax-syntax-object-referencing is not resolved.

In the affected line $configuration['settings'] contains a string "=< plugin.tx_myExtension.settings" which was not resolved.

Using the "<" Object copying operator in the same place works and seems to be resolved.

Not sure if this is due to changes in Extbase or in the Typoscript parsing.

Even if a string was passed by error of the integrator I would expect a meaningful Error message, not a type error.