Re: httpmd

Mark Brouwer <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.java.sun.jini
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Logan, Patrick wrote:

> Do most people use httpmd at this point? Should they? Would there be a

Only when codebase integrity is required and it hard to use when your
clients are application servers e.g. that are not under your control, as
you just found out it requires installing the additional protocol
handler at the system classpath.

I don't know though how many people use httpmd only for its side effect
(a new URI when the JAR files have changed).

> I decided to try out httpmd to see how easy it is to use, based on a
> mailing list email I saw (sorry link not close at hand) suggesting
> that the digest number is a good way to make changes to code result in
> a new url.

Remember though that you might have clients that still refer to an older
codebase annotation (same URI when not taking the message digest into
account) and that when they try to download the JAR file they will
assume it has been tampered with. This might not be a problem with your
usage of mobile code, but I've been bitten by that in the past.

I have two golden rules "Never delete a codebase annotation URI once
served, the so called Cool URIs [1]." so when changes occur in your
download JAR create a new URI, regardless of the protocol use in your
codebase annotation. This has also some side-effects, but unfortunately
not all issues around mobile code can be solved due to the way how the
Java type system works.

[1] see http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI

> I guess I am starting to think about a development environment that
> keeps things running as much as possible and tools that cleanup those
> things that need a fresh start. That's a big topic, and this is just
> my first little step -- trying out httpmd.

Did you already look at some other frameworks than what is provided as
part of the JTSK that solve many of the problems you will encounter when
working with Jini, such as evolution of download JAR files (which is not
an easy and efficient task to do by hand)?
--
Mark

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