Re: Continuing discussion of oaf ...

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Michael Meeks wrote:

>         If every component implements a new interface then every component
> already needs to deal with the namespacing issues. Consequently for every
> application that implements a new interface the UUID is just a pain in the
> butt. Your thesis that _Implementation_ ID's are in any way different to
> interface ID's is based on the ( currently accurate ) sad premis that new
> components will typicaly not implement any new interfaces.

>         Anyway; the arguments all essentialy boil down to the fact that we
> both want a homogeneous naming convention, you seem to prefer:     
> 
>         OAFINFO::Massive random number - IID
>         IDL:Massive random number:1.0  - interface name ( if possible )
> and thus logicaly: ( speculation here )
>         /prefix/share/oaf/Massive random number.oafinfo
>         
>         I prefer a human readable namespace which is:
>         
>         OAFINFO:GNOME/Gnumeric/InstanceFactory - IID
>         IDL:GNOME/Gnumeric/Sheet               - interface name
>         /prefix/share/oaf/GNOME/Gnumeric.oafinfo - oafinfo file.

These are both a bit extreme... :)

We can't change repo IDs anyways, and nobody except maybe Maciej will
randomize their .oafinfo filenames. That leaves IIDs.

IIDs need to be reasonably unique. UUIDs achieve this goal in a rather
extreme way that is ugly to at least some of us. :) Using interface names
to *add* to the uniqueness of an IID might be a valid approach - I'm not
sure if you are advocating this, or promoting using a repoID as the whole
body of the IID.

I'm totally against enforcing any specific format (such as UUIDs) for IIDs
(besides prefixing them with 'OAFIID:'). I think people are smart enough
to make things unique in their own unique way, if you stress this
requirement to them.

-- Elliot
"The Pythagorean Theorem employed 24 words, the Lord's Prayer has 66 words,
Archimedes Principle has 67 words, the 10 Commandments have 179 words, the
Gettysburg Address had 286 words, the Declaration of Independence, 1,300 words and
finally the European Commission's regulation on the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words."