<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Thanks for this - it is a helpful clarification. I rarely mean criticism in a personal way so appreciate the background.<div><br></div><div>I have looked at the work involved and there is quite a lot. I appreciate where Mic is coming from as I have the same dilemma ( with even fewer resources than Intel!). <div><div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On 6 Jan 2010, at 16:10, <a href="mailto:diva@metaverseink.com">diva@metaverseink.com</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Tom Willans wrote:<br><blockquote type="cite">Are some aspects of the interface more settled than others? I appreciate <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">that this is a judgement call.<br></blockquote><br>Yes, some aspects are more settled than others.<br>First, let me point out where this comes from, so that you and others <br>can understand better.<br><br>Up to recently, there was no such thing as OpenSim.Services.Interfaces, <br>nor the companions OpenSim.Services.Connectors and <br>OpenSim.Server.Handlers. The interaction between the simulator and the <br>resource services, and among the resource services themselves, was a <br>mess. I don't mean it in a criticizing attitude, early-stage code is <br>usually a mess. The broad stokes were there, and were really good, but <br>the details were a complete mess. Simple questions like "what handlers <br>are there?" or "what are the resource service interfaces?" were a <br>challenge to answer, interfaces and handlers were spread all over the <br>code, special cases were pervasive, classes were being used directly <br>instead of interfaces, etc. The user services, in particular, were a <br>nightmare, with duplication running rampant because of "standalone vs <br>grid mode", and the code being on the verge of bipolar disorder. Users, <br>agents and avatars were being used interchangeably, with no conceptual <br>distinction, misnomers everywhere, etc.<br><br>This refactoring's main goal is to depart from that chaotic mess and to <br>instill order in the code base. It is primarily a *refactoring*, meaning <br>that code has moved from one namespace to another, but it is also a <br>rewrite -- because in the process of revisiting the code it was clear <br>that things should be done better than they were being done. In <br>particular, harmful hard-coded instantiations of classes were replaced <br>by dynamic loading and instantiation. The core of this is <br>OpenSim.Server.Base.Utils.LoadPlugin -- this is the core of the ROBUST <br>model.<br><br>Having said that, let me now explain how people who plan to extend <br>OpenSim should be looking at it.<br><br>The main "contract" between the core code and developers of resource <br>services is the collection of interfaces in OpenSim.Services.Interfaces. <br>This is what the simulators call, can't get around hard-coded calls to <br>those interfaces. Those interfaces will stabilize very quickly. Most of <br>them are stable already, with the notable exception of IInventoryService <br>which still needs love. But all others will be stable at 0.7. Now is the <br>right time for people to look at those interfaces and send feedback <br>about which things you think are missing.<br><br>The next level of reuse is the code in OpenSim.Services.Connectors and <br>OpenSim.Server.Handlers. This code is less important than the <br>interfaces, because it's invisible to the simulators, therefore ppl <br>should be more careful about relying on it. This is quite an important <br>point that I don't think many people grasp yet, so let me explain.<br><br>In most systems, the network protocols are fixed. People go to great <br>lengths discussing them ad-nauseum in meetings and committees, to settle <br>on the right data formats, the right data, etc. NOT HERE. The network <br>protocols in OpenSim are now dynamically loaded, and therefore <br>replaceable. There is no such thing as *the* network protocol between <br>the simulator and, say, the asset server. There can be many -- you can <br>roll your own. There are reference implementations in the core <br>distribution, but that's exactly what they are: reference <br>implementations, they are not fixed protocols. As such, people should be <br>careful about relying on those reference implementations.<br><br>So, to sum it up: the main contract is OpenSim.Services.Interfaces and <br>those are going to be stable very soon. The level right under it, <br>OpenSim.Server.Handlers and OpenSim.Services.Connectors can also be <br>relied upon but it's less stable. I'm still not happy with many of <br>those, so they will change after 0.7. People who don't want to put up <br>with these changes may want to roll their own network protocols.<br>_______________________________________________<br>Opensim-dev mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de">Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de</a><br>https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev<br></div></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Tom Willans </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Managing Director</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#990000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">Bessacarr Publications Ltd</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">3 Highfield, Hatton Park, Warwick, CV35 7TQ</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:tom.willans@bessacarr.com">tom.willans@bessacarr.com</a> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">+44 (0) 1926 402055 +44 (0) 121 288 0281</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Registered in England and Wales at the above address. 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