[Opensim-dev] Profiling and an API between Opensim components

[Justin Clark-Casey]

 From my perspective, OpenSimulator is a young and complex project that has grown organically, in an area where there is 
very little previous knowledge to draw upon and better ways to do things are frequently discovered (e.g. the change in 
service approach between 0.6.9 and 0.7).  This has been the case since the project's beginnings and is still very much 
true today.

In such an environment, I think it would be a big mistake to try to arbitrarily freeze or restrain internal change.  It 
would make it far harder for those of us actively working on core to fix issues and evolve the codebase for long-term 
sustainability.  In this, I very much agree with the Linux approach [1] where drivers (modules) outside of the core 
simply have to adapt to internal changes.  Just because a method is made public in C# (which is necessary for projects 
to call each other) does not make in an API.

That said, to take the Linux example further, there are proper agreed upon external facing APIs (POSIX, etc.) that are 
preserved whenever possible.  I have no objection if someone wants to create and post a document proposing actual API(s) 
that go through a proper design and criticism process.  Indeed, the reason why it can be difficult for region modules is 
because of the very large amount of inconsistency and occasional bizarreness of the internal code, something that I 
would not want to see frozen in place.

However, I personally think it is much too early for such API creation and it is not something I would initiate.

The current effective QA/testing process is to make a change to master and then get feedback from people using that 
branch.  As programmer labour is scarce and often unpaid, there is no manpower available for any other approach.

[1] https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/stable_api_nonsense.txt

On 09/12/14 17:56, Michael Heilmann wrote:
> Opensim Developers
>
> On the MOSES grid we have been attempting to profile and test the Opensimulator code for quite a bit.  I saw the unit
> tests that already exist, also that Opensim has a Jenkins process running against the repository.  I also saw the
> conversation concerning API's and Justin renaming a function.  Has there been any thought into segregating Opensimulator
> components and creating API's for the different components?
>
> I am working on an After Action Review region module, where user actions are recorded on command, and later re-enacted
> using the NPC module on command.  This is pretty hairy with the number of classes from different parts of the code I've
> instantiated and interfaced with to get some of the behaviour I am seeking for the module.
>
> A clear API would make both testing/benchmarking simpler, as well as module development.  The tight coupling and
> functionality crossing multiple namespaces should also become clear as the API progresses. A clear delineation between
> the networking, scripting, and physics components would allow for better independent testing and development of each
> component.  Thoughts?
>
> While I've breached the subject of instrumenting and testing Opensimulator, has anyone thought about a testing/QA
> process on Opensim?
>


-- 
Justin Clark-Casey (justincc)
OSVW Consulting
http://justincc.org
http://twitter.com/justincc