[Opensim-dev] Object Representation

[Sean Dague]

Per request, lets run with the thread here.  The question at hand is
database refactoring, which well all agree needs to be done.  The reason
it hasn't been done so far is because it turns out we end up with
objects at least 4 different formats, needed for different things.

Object on the Wire - this definition comes from libsecondlife
Object in the code - SceneObjectPart / SceneObjectGroup
Object at rest - Database tables (which actually vary between db
backends)
Object in XML - we have 2? versions of this already.

One of the challenges in getting to a grand unified scheme is that
all those representations are in some ways equal.  Today they are
divergent enough that a lot of work is required at times to chunk them
into one form or another.

So, here is your chance to be a hero in the OpenSim world. :)  Ideas on
how to reasonably pull all this together to give us a much more
consistent serialization approach are very welcomed.  Please pile on.

I think that solving this is probably our next big battle.  I'm excited
to see the NHibernate work getting very close, as I think that's a huge
step forward in this regard.  This probably also means we need to bring
up the SOP/SOG discussion that Stephan wanted to kick off as well.

    -Sean

-- 
__________________________________________________________________

Sean Dague                                       Mid-Hudson Valley
sean at dague dot net                            Linux Users Group
http://dague.net                                 http://mhvlug.org

There is no silver bullet.  Plus, werewolves make better neighbors
than zombies, and they tend to keep the vampire population down.
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