Re: Privatizing 'linc' ...

[Greg Edwards <greg nas-inet com>]

Glynn Foster wrote:
> Hey there,
> 
> 
>>>	So - as I'm working on completing ORBit2's threading 
>>>support; I keep
>>>wondering why linc was made a public API when it was so half cocked.
>>>
>>>	I'd really rather like to privatise linc inside ORBit2;
>>
>>It makes sense to me. I think it would have minimal impact.
> 
> 
> It makes sense to me from a desktop point of view, but haven't we
> already made a guarantee of API/ABI compatibility since it's a platform
> library? Obviously I have no idea of the types of people using it, but
> I'm not sure if it right to just pull it back into ORBit2 until we get
> to some kind of major release.
> 
> 		Or am I completely off the ball?
> 
> 			Glynn ;)

 From a developers point of view, if ORBit2 becomes a package that 
requires a running GNOME desktop then it will be completely useless to 
me.  If I understand the gist of pulling these APIs together, the 
ultimate outcome would be to couple them tighter to the GNOME 
environment.  The coupling is already too tight, IMHO.  I understand the 
need to use tools from GNOME and I can live with a "few" GNOME libraries 
laying around, if I have to.

I'm using ORBit2 in a client/server environment where no GNOME desktops 
even exist.  Only the GNOME related packages that are required by ORBit2 
are installed on the systems.  The clients in this configuration are CGI 
programs running on a webserver and the distributed processes running on 
the farm servers themselves.

As far as my research turned up, ORBit2 is the only open source project 
that provides a C API to the Corba infrastructure.  Perl, C++, Java, and 
other OOP environments are not an option for me.  Server performance is 
the primary issue with stable server to server communications ranking 
right up there with a fast DBMS.  Even the extra stack overhead of C++ 
vs C is a factor in considering server performance in this project.

I would ask you to NOT make ORBit2 any more dependent on GNOME than it 
already is.  Using an API to connect GNOME to ORBit2 (as it appears 
you've done with libbonobo) is, IMO, a much better way of getting from 
here to there.

I'm sure that I'm not alone in the need for a non GNOME dependent server 
where ORBit2 can be run.

-- 
Greg Edwards
New Age Software, Inc. - http://www.nas-inet.com
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