SEUL: X/Berlin/db, and reinventing wheels

["Luka@pop3.aracnet.com (Peter)" <luka@mit.edu>]

i looked at berlin, and am currently reading the source.
looks like they are trying to do something very similar to the admin db
i described, as well as implementing their funky new windowing system.
it also looks like others may be developing similar things.

three points i'd like to make:
1. there are two things we should not be relying on when creating seul:
   software that is unstable/incomplete, and software that is not "free"
   (gpl, berkley, or equivalent).
2. as obvious from the discussion going on, the seuldb concept is still
   shaky, and does not necessarily need to be core functionality for us to
   start on useful development. (especially if things get implemented the way
   i would like - which means the db can be added later with minimal changes
   to software to use it.)
3. (in case it's not obvious)  if someone _is_ developing something, and it
   works or is likely to work and be stable within a reasonable timeframe, we
   should [re]use it, rather than reinventing it or developing something
   different concurrently.

with this in mind, i would like to take the seuldb development _off_ the
agenda for the admin group, on the premise that there are more dedicated
groups trying to tackle this, and we should sit and wait to see what comes
of it, at least for a little while.

the admin/installer groups (and anyone else interested) should be thinking
about a higher-level packager (also mentioned in berlin's goals), and an
administrative db, but should think of it in the light of who's code to
use (or if it all fails - why we need to develop our own, and how to make sure
it does not also fail the same way).

a few notes: figurine, linuxconf (hey, it might get better), berlin.
 these are things to keep an eye on in this area.  and feel free to add to
 the list if you see others.

comments?  think this is the right way to go?

i'm still thinking about the impact of these large-scale integrated
ui/admin systems on our ui development.  thoughts on this are welcome, too.

=====-----------------------------------------=====
 Peter Luka            ...            luka@mit.edu
 SEUL Project development leader/systems architect
               http://www.seul.org
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