Re: SEUL: X/Berlin/db, and reinventing wheels

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@aracnet.com>]

> Definitely.  If we want to get this out this year, Berlin is not the way
> to go.

I think Berlin would be great, but after reading through today's backlog of 
messages I have come to realize that there are quite a few roadblocks to 
using it:

1) it has to be coded to 100% completion (unknown ETA)
2) it has to be proven/stable
3) it has to be able to run anything we can run today in X

#3 requires either a massive porting effort initially, or over the long haul 
if we can get X compatibility libs.  Compat libs would be a step in the right 
direction, but would likely not be a 1:1 map to Berlin, causing unknown 
problems.  Besides, they don't exist.

I say stick with X.


> I've mentioned similar things before, but I would support a registry
> only if ALL of the following were true:
> 
> 1.  It would keep track of exactly which program added exactly which
> entries to the registry, enabling #2 and #3 (so we don't have another
> Doze registry fiasco)
> 2.  There would be a provided utility to nuke all entries made by any
> given application (so we don't have another Doze registry fiasco)
> 3.  Another utility to copy the entire registry, any part of it, or all
> entries made by any given application to a file, and the ability to
> restore that file to the same or a different computer (so we don't have
> another Doze registry fiasco)
> 4.  Has to be FAST (so we don't have another Doze registry fiasco)
> 5.  Would need to be somewhat small, only used for things that NEED to
> be in a central registry, and well organized (so we don't have another
> Doze registry fiasco)

I think it'd be relatively easy to code something like this.  Use gdbm (since
it exists, works, and is relatively simple), provide a simple set of library 
calls to deal with it, and we're set.  We can define a namespace for 
applications that can guarantee #1, and provide a control-panel component to 
control the contents of it, including merges and backups, etc.

Following the Doze idea a little, we'd have a registry for the whole system, 
then a registry for each user.  Or is that a bad idea and someone has a 
better one?  I think it'd work, besides, it's kinda what X does with resources
anyway.

Oh, 'nother thought on the gdbm thing - perl (and likely python as well) 
has a *direct* interface to it.  That would make things significantly easier 
to do, as it simply shows up as a hash in perl...

TTYAL,
     Omega

        Erik Walthinsen - Webmaster and infrastructure for SEUL    __
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