[Opensim-users] Meta-data for IAR and OAR + Sharing

[Revlin John]

This is related to a thread from the dec '09 archives, "Re: OAR File Sharing
Revisited", but I have some subject matter to add to the previous discussion
that I don't think was directly addressed.

The OAR & IAR file formats need a meta-data component, most likely
XML-based. This would facilitate many file sharing capabilities, allow for
some sort of version system AND, most importantly I think, allow for
tracking relationships between OAR's. The last capability seems to relate
back to "Re: OpenVCE OAR on Mega-Region?" thread from jan '10.

Right now there's no mechanism for tracking relationships between multiple
OARs other than the archive's filename which tells almost nothing about
contents of the archive. Dido for IAR. A Meta-data system of OAR/IAR
archives should first and fore-most list the contents of the archive as well
as additional meta-data for each of individual component of those contents.
Version tracking is particularly useful  in the case where a second user
wishes to edit and re-archive the contents of an OAR, which would be a kind
of sim re-mix. The would also allow for saving/loading multi-region sims in
ways that address some of the short-falls of the current megaregion scheme
(terrain load-tile still isn't working on my server, but I digress...)

I also think that the issue of sharing content is seperate from the issue of
running the OpenSim server, meaning it should not be handled by another os
module. All that the OpenSim server requires for loading new content from
OARs and IARs is that the archive be placed in a folder under the bin
heiarchy (I download OARs to bin/import/oar)  and then loaded via the server
command line. This is a pretty simple mechanism, although some extra command
line tools like the ability to list the contents of an archive before
loading it (via meta-data component) would be extremely helpful.

However, the issue of retreiving OARs and IARS from a remote location is
another matter. What's needed is a  separate application for tracking and
sharing OAR/IAR and it would naturally implement the above mentioned
meta-data component. Given these needs it seem like an appropriate system
might be something like a feed/subscription system, kind of like a
podcast/aggregator app. Feeds allow an app to track updates to content
without requiring the host system to actually download such content. The
retreival process can be managed, customized and automated, much like the
process of retrieving new and past episodes in a podcast feed. Although the
podcast system is limited by centralization, I think an OAR/IAR feed system
could implement some form of peer-to-peer distribution capability, as well
as allowing for multiple creator/authors for a single feed (and multiple
versions of a single OAR/sim).

This would be awesome. My lexicon of technical terms kind of fails me when I
think about the possibilities for OpenSim. If there's any interest in these
ideas I'd love to have an extensive group discussion on the details of a
potential implementation.

play and have fun,
Revlin
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