Re: GNOME messaging

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

On 23 Oct 1998, Tom Tromey wrote:

> Elliot> The gnome_triggers API already does this; we can plug a CORBA
> Elliot> backend in at our convenience.
> 
> Gnome triggers isn't documented to any comprehensible level, and much
> of the code seems obscure, so I can't really address this point.

The gnome-triggers.c code is hairy at point, but the API should be fairly
easy to grasp - what parts need explaining?

> Elliot> Perhaps you could provide some better examples of where CORBA
> Elliot> is needed instead of just running a program or playing a sound
> Elliot> or calling a function directly?
> 
> Sure.  If you attach some metadata to a file, other metadata users
> want to know about it.

Do they? (see final paragraph)

> I don't understand what you mean by "messages do not have any
> context".

Another way of phrasing it would be "the meaning of a message does not
depend on any messages that have been sent before that event". Because of
this.

> Elliot> Your example of playing a sound when an event is sent is
> Elliot> probably better handled directly by gnome_triggers() - sending
> Elliot> the request over CORBA doesn't seem to buy anything, since all
> Elliot> the sample storage and sound playing is centrally handled in
> Elliot> esd anyways.
> 
> The point is that you want your event publisher and your sound
> listener to be loosely coupled.  In particular you want the listener
> to be heavily configurable.

It already is - we just upload certain sounds for esd to play when an esd
client requests the "warning" sound. CORBA does not add any
configurability, it's just a communications mechanism. Stop designing
things because CORBA theoretically allows it, and start designing things
because programs need them... :)

-- Elliot
"In film you will find four basic story lines. Man versus man, man
 versus nature, nature versus nature, and dog versus vampire."
    - Steven Spielberg