[Opensim-dev] Should the core OpenSim distribution carry many scripting languages?

[Justin Clark-Casey]

Hi there,

Last week, Kinoc was kind enough to write an implementation of Yield 
Prolog where YP is translated into underlying C# for compilation (in the 
same manner as our current LSL support).  This patch was included in 
OpenSim in r4927.

I have nothing against Prolog (admittedly I have never had the chance to 
pick up) and certainly nothing against Kinoc.  However, I am concerned 
that by including many scripting languages in the OpenSim core 
distribution (if Prolog, why not Javascript, Ruby, Python, etc, etc.) we 
incur more negatives than positives.  Firstly, I'm concerned that a 
proportion of this code (particularly that which no core committer has 
an interest in) will at some point slip into decay, particularly if the 
original contributor has moved on to other things.  We've already seen 
this happen with other areas of the code, such as the MSSQL database 
support.

Secondly, if individual language modules do need to change in response 
to other OpenSim changes without a decay option (for example, in order 
that they can still compile), this places a higher burden on the core 
committers and makes it more costly to enhance the codebase in general.

Thirdly, I'm concerned that the more code we have of this nature 
(particular code which compiles script into c#), the more potential 
security holes we have.  This isn't too much of a concern right now but 
will be come more of an issue in the future.

Therefore, I would argue that OpenSimulator should only include in its 
core distribution support for a few scripting languages.  In my opinion 
these would be LSL, maybe C# and possibly one other (maybe Python). 
Support for other languages would come as optional plugins, available 
either directly from the author or from some satellite repository 
(perhaps similar to Perl's CPAN or PHP's PEAR).  I would personally 
prefer to see the core OpenSim distribution kept relatively lean and mean.

If necessary, I am happy to make any necessary infrastructure changes to 
make language plugins possible/easier (which probably also means making 
much needed enhancements to the plugin system).

What do other people think?

Regards,

-- 
justincc
Justin Clark-Casey
http://justincc.wordpress.com