Re: Moving to *Avahi* over howl

[Alex Graveley <alex beatniksoftware com>]

Callum,

Regarding #1, avoiding a implementation switch in your code.  This is a 
side-effect of the implied neccessity of #2.

Regarding #2, swapping out implementations.  This is the only concrete 
reason you give for needing an abstraction, and the only reason you give 
for needing it is Gnome-on-OSX.

Regarding #3, better integration with Glib/GObject.  Avahi uses a 
similar library split to DBus to support this.  It isn't a problem.

Please, please tell me Gnome-on-OSX is not the only reason we are so 
scared to commit to Avahi.

-Alex


Callum McKenzie wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-09-15 at 20:07 -0700, Alex Graveley wrote:
>
> > Does anyone have any sort of convincing argument as to why an API 
> > abstraction in this case is *needed*?
> >
> > ("I like abstractions" is not an argument.)
>
> Here are some arguments:
>
> 1. So I don't have to have a series of #ifdef statements to support
> various implementations. 
>
> 2. So we can swap out the preferred implementation.
>
> 3. So we can integrate it into the normal glib way of doing things
> (signals, gobjects, etc.) regardless of which implementation is used.
>
> The counter-argument is of course "why don't we just pick one". Then
> obviously you don't need to abstract the API unless the chosen API
> doesn't fit in well with normal GNOME code (point 3).
>
> One of the main reasons I accepted the patch for bonjour support when I
> already had howl support was because it makes more sense, when running
> the MacOS X port of GNOME, to use the "native" library. So that's one
> reason why not.
>
> The other reason I see for supporting multiple implementations is that
> it isn't yet clear what is the best way to go. If it was clear I don't
> think this thread would have started [1].
>
>  - Callum
>
> [1] I predict that whichever implementation is first supported by the
> wrapper will quickly become the default because it has the nice
> abstraction and no one is afraid to use an abstraction, thereby removing
> any need for an abstraction because we have effectively made our choice.
> This is of course pure cynicism and not an argument for any particular
> course of action.
>
>
>
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