Re: Where will standard IPC be found?
"Timothy Rue" <threeseas@earthlink.net> writes:
> IS there going to be a standard within the Hurd that allows an application
> programmer to add an end user oriented port to their program, in a
> simplified consistant manner? (i.e. as is found in the ease of adding an
> arexx port to amiga applications)
There's no plans for anything like arexx-ports, that I know about. But
they could be implemented on the hurd using ipc (which for some reason
is usually called "rpc" on the Hurd), and it might be really cute. To
do it takes a few different things:
1. A standard for the things you can send and receive on the
arexx-like port. IIRC, Arexx on the amiga had one single datatype,
some kind of string. That's simple, but kind-of limited. The "argz"
strings used in various places in the Hurd might be a natural thing
to use. But it would be nice to at least be able to pass around
ports and/or port-rights. I don't know anything about the original
(IBM?) Rexx.
2. A standard way of finding the application you want to talk to.
Registering the Arexx ports as translators in the filesystem seems
like a natural way to do it, something like ~/.arexx/emacs for my
personal emacs' arexx-port.
3. Language bindings for various popular languages. I doubt rexx will
ever be popular, so you'd need bindings for python, perl, guile,
...
Sounds like an interesting project. Somethings to look out for: (i)
The name. Unless you want to make rexx-the-language central to the
project, you should probably invent a new name. (ii) CORBA. I'm sure a
lot of CORBA people (including some Gnome folks) will tell you that
CORBA is the right answer to your problem and that rexx is just too
ugly and primitive ;-) I don't know either very well, so I can't say
whether or not they will be right.
And at last, you'd want to convert all the "almost-arexx" hacks that
exist in various programs, e.g. mozilla -remote and emacs-client, to
take advantage of the new facilities.
Happy hacking!
/Niels
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