[Opensim-dev] Designing with reusability in mind

[Melanie]

IARs also contain the assets, which would be stored to the asset
server again and again. On large servers, this could take ages. So,
I don't think IAR is a good idea, unless it's stipulated that the
IAR must have been made on the same server/grid, and that any assets
contained inside are ignored for the purpose of building the
library, and are assumed to be present in the asset server.

Melanie

Frisby, Adam wrote:
> Re: Library
> 
> My thought was to have a directory where we can save .iar files - and the library is built from all the IARs in that directory at time the inventory server is started.
> 
> Adam
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de [mailto:opensim-dev-
>> bounces at lists.berlios.de] On Behalf Of diva at metaverseink.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, 9 December 2009 10:39 AM
>> To: opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
>> Subject: [Opensim-dev] Designing with reusability in mind
>> 
>> In the same vein as Teravus' message about designing with
>> instrumentation in mind...
>> 
>> I would like to ask for us to design with reusability in mind. Let's
>> get
>> out of the model that we are developing an application, and always
>> think
>> that we are developing components that can be used both for putting
>> together an application that looks like SL, and for other applications
>> as well.
>> 
>> Case in point: in the sequence of the conversation about free IARs,
>> OARs, etc., I have been putting together a package with freebies. I
>> thought about releasing it as an IAR, like everyone else is doing, but
>> this has a problem: it requires operator access to the server -- not
>> all
>> users can take advantage of this free content.
>> 
>> Solution: let's use the underused OpenSim Library and add more stuff in
>> there. No one has changed that part of OpenSim for ages! There's a good
>> reason for it: adding content to it manually is a huge PITA and
>> extremely error-prone. So, idea: let's take any IAR and write an
>> external tool that converts it into the OpenSim Library format. That
>> way
>> different operators can provide different libraries very easily: just
>> take your favorite IAR and dump it into your OpenSim Library, therefore
>> making it available to all of your users.
>> 
>> This sounds easy enough. Justin has the code for unarchiving IARs...
>> except that it's all tangled up with Scenes. :-/
>> 
>> The rule of thumb for reusability in the context of OpenSim is very
>> easy: the region modules that come in OpenSim.Region.CoreModules.dll
>> should be as thin as possible. They should only have enough meat to
>> bridge between Scenes and whatever it is those modules actually do.
>> "Whatever it is they do", for the most part, is relatively generic and
>> should be factored out into their own dll, so that it can be reused
>> from
>> elsewhere that has nothing to do with scenes. Example: all the service
>> connectors now can be reused out of the box by other tools to access
>> remote OpenSim servers. (OpenSim.Service.Connectors.dll)
>> 
>> Counter-Example: inventory archiving/dearchiving. From looking at that
>> code, the only reason why the actual worker code needs the Scene object
>> is to be able to get to IInventoryService and IAssetService. So... it
>> should get those instead of Scene, and it should be factored out from
>> Region.CoreModules, because inventory archiving/dearchiving is a lot
>> more generic than a Scene utility.
>> 
>> That way I could write this tool that I want in 4 hours reusing
>> Justin's
>> code as a dll, instead of having to copy-and-paste Justin's code and
>> purge it from all references to Scene. I would simply need to provide
>> my
>> own implementation of IInventoryService and IAssetService that would
>> write things in bin/assets and bin/inventory instead of sending them to
>> a server.
>> 
>> The general request is this: let's not hide useful code under
>> OpenSim.Region.*, which are components that only make sense for the
>> live
>> VW server. There's so many more tools/applications that can be done
>> around it! -- let's not hide good code under there, where it can never
>> be reused.
>> 
>> Crista / Diva
>> 
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