From: Lamar Owen <lamar.owen@wgcr.org>
Organization: Little to None
To: "Oliver Elphick" <olly@lfix.co.uk>, The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org>
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] CORBA STATUS
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 10:57:51 -0500
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Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgreSQL.org, pgsql-interfaces@postgreSQL.org
References: <199911101542.PAA05115@linda.lfix.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <199911101542.PAA05115@linda.lfix.co.uk>
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Message-Id: <99111011093307.00555@lorc.wgcr.org>
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On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Oliver Elphick wrote:
> The Hermit Hacker wrote:
>   >> Is there any reason configure couldn't handle this?
>   >
>   >As simple as a '--with-corba=mico' configure option ... or, I would think?
>  
> From the point of view of a package maintainer, I would much prefer a
> solution that separated the choice of Orb from the main build.
> 
> If the choice goes into configure, I will have to pick a single Orb and
> build the Debian package for that, or else make packages for every
> Orb that Debian supports.  It would be better if I could build a generic
> Orb-enabled PostgreSQL and produce a little pg-orb connection library
> for each Debian-supported Orb.

The same issue is true for the RPM's -- which ORB?  If I'm on RedHat Linux, the
choice of ORB is going to depend upon the choice of desktops -- KDE or GNOME. 
ORBit is packaged standard for GNOME -- KDE 2 is going to use something else --
now, my understanding of CORBA is quite limited -- Thomas, you have far more
experience, as you are actively developing CORBA stuff.  If I choose to install
just KDE, KDE's ORB is going to be installed -- if I install GNOME, ORBit is
going to be installed. If I install both (the default), both ORB's will be
resident.

I can force the installation of a particular ORB through dependencies, but
that seems messy to me.

I CAN produce multiple sets of packages -- but that's going to cause all
manner of confusion for users.

Is it possible in the CORBA context to do what Oliver mentioned with a 'pg_orb'
abstraction layer to a generic CORBA-enabled postgreSQL??

It may seem like Oliver and I are getting the cart before the horse, but
the strategic decision of how to integrate CORBA into the system is going to
have wide-ranging repercussions for integrators.

 --
 Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11