Blender Image Editor ↔ External File System: Cache Consistency When Source Images Change

Blender loads image data into an internal cache when an image is first opened in the Image Editor or used as a texture, and thereafter reads from that cache for display and rendering unless the user triggers a reload. When the source file on disk is modified by an external program while Blender is running, the cached data is not automatically invalidated, so the editor continues to show the stale version until a manual reload is performed. The availability of an automatic refresh option varies between releases and some render engines may bypass the cache entirely.

Given this behavior, the goal is to clarify whether the cache‑performance‑over‑consistency trade‑off is an intentional, version‑stable design decision and to identify any built‑in or officially supported mechanisms that can enforce automatic cache invalidation without relying on third‑party add‑ons.

Is the current cache invalidation behavior documented as a deliberate design choice across all supported Blender versions?
Are there version‑independent preferences or official operators that guarantee automatic reloading of images when the underlying file changes?
How do render engines that read directly from disk interact with this caching policy, and does that affect the need for a unified cache‑invalidation strategy?