Re: GNOME messaging

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

On 23 Oct 1998, Tom Tromey wrote:

> Elliot> The gnome-triggers.c code is hairy at point, but the API
> Elliot> should be fairly easy to grasp - what parts need explaining?
> 
> What is `level'?

Analogous to syslog's "priority".

> Are the `supinfo' strings related to each other in any way?  Or are
> they just random, as the example seems to indicate?

These are the elements of the event name path. If you join("/", supinfo)
you get a single string for the path instead.

> What is gnome_triggers_readfile() for?

Reads a list of event triggers (aka "listeners") from the specified
filename.

> When should I call gnome_triggers_destroy()?

I think it zaps the list of read-in triggers, which means it shouldn't
even exist, but of course I had even less of a clue then than now.

> Elliot> Stop designing things because CORBA theoretically allows it,
> Elliot> and start designing things because programs need them... :)
> 
> Whatever.  Obviously our ideas of what `need' means diverge.

I apologize for being snippy there...

I'm just trying to point out that without knowing what the needs of
programs are, it's hard to come up with a good messaging system. All we
know for sure now is that we need to be able to play different types of
sounds for different events. I'm not sure gnome_triggers is the right way
to do it, but it does more than cover all needs encountered so far.

-- Elliot
"In film you will find four basic story lines. Man versus man, man
 versus nature, nature versus nature, and dog versus vampire."
    - Steven Spielberg