[Grub-dev] does *nix client need to be c/c++

[Yousef Ourabi]

Let me start off by saying I believe the new client for Unix like operating
system should be written in a dynamic language such as perl, python, ruby,
or even all of the above.

I'm thinking out loud, and am soliciting advice on my thought process, so
please feel free to criticize ... etc

Some working assumptions:

1) Windows client in dev.grub.org/svn is currently further along than
old-ish linux client on sourceforge.
2) The protocol re-write Jer is working on will vastly simplify
communication between clients and server
3) libarc (c++ http://libarc.sourceforge.net/) exists as a nice resource for
creating arc files that are part of the new protocol spec.
4) *I* would personally like to see the sourceforge project shutdown /
deprecated and merged into the main dev.grub.org SVN repo.


Looking at these assumptions one possible pain-in-the-ass aspect is libarc,
although the arc format is fairly simple, as outlined here:
http://www.archive.org/web/researcher/ArcFileFormat.php -- it would still
entail writing arc creation libraries in said languages.

That seems like a daunting task -- but I actually believe it to be vital.
There are several facets to the "Human power" behind Wikia, one of those is
the (future) ability for anyone with spare cycles to contribute data that
will be used in the index, and available tot he community.  By creating grub
clients in different languages / frameworks / environments the project would
enable people to contribute in was that we are currently not thinking about.

I think having the client implementation in something like python, or perl
would enable more people to get involved in the on-going development.

To wrap it up, I think the first (of many) clients should be written in
Python. It's OO, cross platform, and easy to read.

Thanks,
Yousef
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