[gmpi] Re: low level API
- From: Steve Harris <S.W.Harris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gmpi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 09:52:46 +0000
On Thu, Feb 03, 2005 at 10:40:23 -0800, Tim Hockin wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 04, 2005 at 01:09:50AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote:
> > >> Don't the reqs say much of this meta-data lives in a parallel XML file?
> > >
> > >I still HATE this idea. It just complicates the process for no reason.
> >
> > the reason, AFAIR, was licensing. we need hosts to be able to access
> > the metadata without running into any copy protection/licensing
> > issues. got a better idea?
>
> IANAL, but I think that this is a non-issue. If you write a plugin
> which has metadata and you distribute that plugin, you are implicitly
> giving permission to access that metadata. It's no different than
> publishing a book or a web page.
I Am Not A Lawyer either, but I've been working in the perifery of the
metadata field on and off for many years and I can assure you that it is
an issue.
Besides which, there are benefits:
Its quicker. Parsing an text/XML file is very light compared to
instantiating a plugin, and calling functions to read its metadata. This
removes the need for host-side metadata caches, and the synchronisation
problems they bring.
You can change the metadata schema without changing the API, and if you
pick/design a format currectly you can do it without breaking older
hosts/plugins.
Its good practice. Hard to quantify, but I can assure you it will make
your life easier in the long run.
I feel like we've done this issue to death. You say its makes things
harder, I say it doesnt, repeat. If libgmpi (or whatever) provides
functions to read the metadata file (I can provide BSD licenced code for
any format you care to name) that is equivalent to the API that the host
would use to interrogate the plugin I dont see what the issue is.
- Steve
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Generalized Music Plugin Interface (GMPI) public discussion list
Participation in this list is contingent upon your abiding by the
following rules: Please stay on topic. You are responsible for your own
words. Please respect your fellow subscribers. Please do not
redistribute anyone else's words without their permission.
Archive: //www.freelists.org/archives/gmpi
Email gmpi-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx w/ subject "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe
Other related posts:
