[Opensim-dev] dispatcher interface

[Melanie]

This is a very real issue - in the past packages have been refused
core inclusion and packages have even been removed for using
languages other than C#. Can of worms here. Do we want to lift the
requirement, or do we want to have only the C# based dispatcher in
core but not the clients?

Melanie


On 19/12/2014 06:11, Oren Hurvitz wrote:
> I would also like to see Dispatcher in core: it opens up many interesting
> possibilities, and it's a good example of things OpenSim can do that SL
> can't.
> 
> Adding Dispatcher to core would make it easier to keep it up-to-date
> whenever the API changes, since any changes to an interface that Dispatcher
> uses would cause a compilation error so it would get fixed immediately.
> 
> The clients should also go into the main OpenSim repository, because
> they're strongly coupled with Dispatcher: whenever Dispatcher changes the
> clients also need to change. If they're stored in a different repository
> then it's likely that the clients would drift out of sync with the part of
> Dispatcher that's in the main OpenSim repository.
> 
> There's a challenge with the clients, however: since they're in multiple
> languages, does that mean that anyone who wants to change Dispatcher also
> has to know all of these languages, so that they can update the clients?
> That's a high bar. I think we're looking at a situation similar to the
> database engines: since most developers only use one database engine
> (usually SQLite or MySQL), the popular engines are kept up-to-date while
> less-popular engines (SQL Server, Postgres) aren't updated in a timely
> manner. Basically, they're only updated when their champion realizes that
> something is broken and brings them up to spec.
> 
> I don't mean to create even MORE work for you, Mic, but is it possible to
> create some sort of client bindings that are automatically generated from a
> common API? That way, perhaps all devs have to know is to run something
> like "ant rebuild-dispatcher-clients" and they'd get updated immediately.
> If that's not possible then at least a stern warning in the Dispatcher code
> should exhort developers to try and keep the clients up to date.
> 
> Oren
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 2:29 AM, Diva Canto <diva at metaverseink.com> wrote:
>>
>>  +1 on this going to core.
>>
>> WRT client code, I suggest that you leave it in your github repo and point
>> to it. That way we don't confuse people with having code in other languages
>> in core opensim.
>>
>>
>> On 12/18/2014 4:11 PM, Mic Bowman wrote:
>>
>> i've had several requests for the dispatcher interface to be moved into
>> core. dispatcher package consists of two pieces:
>>
>>  dispatcher -- the core modules that implement the message transfer,
>> message encoding and some of the basic messages (informational messages and
>> messages to create and renew access capabilities).
>>
>>  https://github.com/cmickeyb/scisim-addons/tree/master/dispatcher
>>
>>  remote control -- a collection of messages that implement a OpenSim
>> remote scripting API. these messages include some basics for
>> accessing/creating assets, for getting/setting avatar appearance, sending
>> messages, managing objects in the scene, and managing some of the region
>> characteristics. there are also messages for registering remote handlers
>> for touch events. clearly this is just a start (though there is a
>> surprisingly large number of things you can do with these).
>>
>> https://github.com/cmickeyb/scisim-addons/tree/master/rcontrol
>>
>>  for more information on what the dispatcher is and why you might want to
>> use it, watch the OSCC presentation
>> http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/55195110 or take a look at the kinds of
>> scripts that you can write by looking in the scripts directory of the
>> rcontrol repository.
>>
>>  with all that said...
>>
>>  i would like to start the discussion about whether this is useful enough
>> to be moved into core & how that should happen.
>>
>>  i don't have a particular stake in whether its moved to core. there are
>> benefits to both. its easier for me to change for my purposes if if its
>> outside core and its (much) easier for the community to use it if its in
>> core. if the community believes there is sufficient value, then we should
>> move it in.
>>
>>  if it is not moved inside, i would appreciate suggestions on how to
>> distribute the libraries. this is an ongoing problem for opensim... how to
>> provide simple access to a dynamic set of region modules. probably a bigger
>> discussion.
>>
>>  if we think the dispatcher API should be moved into core, then there are
>> a few questions about how that should happen. clearly the region modules
>> can be moved into OpenSim/Region/OptionalModules. that's easy. the more
>> interesting question is where to put the client libraries (these are the
>> perl & python libraries that are used to build dispatcher clients) and the
>> control scripts that are rather useful for managing a region. I would
>> propose placing them in a directory under OpenSim/Tools though they really
>> aren't tools in the sense of the other packages in that directory.
>>
>>  the final question is about documentation. the api is already
>> pseudo-self documenting... the API lets you can ask any simulator for the
>> messages it supports & then ask for examples of the messages themselves.
>> i'm planning to add a "documentation" string for each as well. some other
>> methods for autodoc would be useful though pulling out dispatcher
>> documentation from within the multitude of existing opensim autodoc might
>> be challenging (not something i have any experience with).
>>
>>  --mic
>>
>>
>>
>>
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