Re: XML web service support for Beagle ...

[Fredrik Hedberg <fredrik hedberg avafan com>]

Hey,

Comments inline.

Vijay KN wrote:
> Daniele,
>  
> This is exactly what I have been thinking: add XML web-service support 
> to Beagle.

A network interface does already exists in Beagle. Although the protocol 
is binary (uses the same marshalling as over DBus) it would be very 
simple to feature XML web services if you must have it in fancy XML ;).

>  
> If we enable beagled to support XML web service interface and query 
> other beagled's, it can evolve into a 'distributed service'. Adding a 
> SOAP interface will allow beagle clients (users, applications) to query 
> (via xml over http) beagled service from anywhere, leveraging 
> 'fire-wall' friendly attribute of xml web service.

Good point. However, depending on how many hits are returned from a 
remote user, there always lots of overhead in stuff like SOAP and other 
XML based protocols, it could get slow. (Beagle actually used an XML 
wire protocol over DBus before, but Joe ripped it out due to performance 
issues).

>  
> Beagle service could then be used for new applications:
> 1. Personal work-group: sooner or later users will likely have 
> information distributed across their office workstation, home PC and 
> laptops - and would like to aggregate search results from all their 
> different computers.
> 2. Common-interest communities: (Beagle) users on the internet who share 
> a common interest and collaborate, could form a community and allow 
> real-time sharing of information they have gathered with their associates. 

A very cool idea Jon talked about earlier. Ideas about how to implement?

> 3. Workgroup/team members within an intranet working on a common 
> project, can enable content to be shared with other members.

Check out previous mails, network interface announcement 
(http://mail.gnome.org/archives/dashboard-hackers/2004-November/msg00039.html) 
and a second mail 
(http://mail.gnome.org/archives/dashboard-hackers/2004-December/msg00050.html) 
explaining the same thing basically.

>  
> Beagle users could configure what resources (files, cached web pages, IM 
> logs ...) are searchable for queries directed to beagled web service on 
> their PC. Authentication, access control and transport security can make 
> this sharing confidential and secure.

Beagle should only be used to share metadata as in search results, and 
obviously not the actual data. Beagle should therefor integrate with 
applications used to share data with coworkers (be it Samba, Apache or 
iFolder) for authentication of remote queries and let the other 
applications handle the transport. A simple "BasicAuthenticator" is in 
CVS as an example if you wanna do authentication integration with said 
applications.

This is a delicate issue as far as authentication goes. We should use 
EDS as the certificate repository for remote authentication. The big 
evil company seems to have done a good job consolidating 
authentication/adressbook/certificates in Longhorn Contacts. But this is 
a classics problem, if we're the only ones using EDS certificates for 
authentication (and not stuff like ifolder and others), its pretty useless.


Fredrik

>  
> Vijay
>
>  >>> Daniele Bellucci belch linux it> 12/15/04 11:48 PM >> 
> <mailto:belch linux it> 12/15/04 11:48 PM >>>
>
> |What are the concerns in having XSP running ?
> it should be nice ...
> but, what about using a "distributed" approach by placing a web-service on
> different computer node running beagled?
>
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