How about RDF for OAR metadata? kind regards,
Jeroen On Saturday 19 June 2010 02:05:32 Justin Clark-Casey wrote: > On 18/06/10 23:47, Revlin John wrote: > > This is related to a thread from the dec '09 archives, "Re: OAR File > > Sharing Revisited", but I have some subject matter to add to the > > previous discussion that I don't think was directly addressed. > > > > The OAR & IAR file formats need a meta-data component, most likely > > XML-based. This would facilitate many file sharing capabilities, allow > > for some sort of version system AND, most importantly I think, allow for > > tracking relationships between OAR's. The last capability seems to > > relate back to "Re: OpenVCE OAR on Mega-Region?" thread from jan '10. > > There actually is already a metadata file contained within OARs and IARs > called archive.xml. It doesn't act as a manifest but it does record > version numbers for upward compatibility purposes. > > > Right now there's no mechanism for tracking relationships between > > multiple OARs other than the archive's filename which tells almost > > nothing about contents of the archive. Dido for IAR. A Meta-data system > > of OAR/IAR archives should first and fore-most list the contents of the > > archive as well as additional meta-data for each of individual component > > of those contents. Version tracking is particularly useful in the case > > where a second user wishes to edit and re-archive the contents of an > > OAR, which would be a kind of sim re-mix. The would also allow for > > saving/loading multi-region sims in ways that address some of the > > short-falls of the current megaregion scheme (terrain load-tile still > > isn't working on my server, but I digress...) > > Not being able to save multi-regions is annoying and will ideally be fixed > one day. Loading/saving regions is unfortunately probably more > complicated than simply load/saving the separate 256x256 spaces. > > > I also think that the issue of sharing content is seperate from the > > issue of running the OpenSim server, meaning it should not be handled by > > another os module. All that the OpenSim server requires for loading new > > content from OARs and IARs is that the archive be placed in a folder > > under the bin heiarchy (I download OARs to bin/import/oar) and then > > loaded via the server command line. This is a pretty simple mechanism, > > although some extra command line tools like the ability to list the > > contents of an archive before loading it (via meta-data component) would > > be extremely helpful. > > Archives are actually just tar.gz files. You can untar them and inspect > their contents. See > > http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OpenSim_Archives > > for more details. > > > However, the issue of retreiving OARs and IARS from a remote location is > > another matter. What's needed is a separate application for tracking > > and sharing OAR/IAR and it would naturally implement the above mentioned > > meta-data component. Given these needs it seem like an appropriate > > system might be something like a feed/subscription system, kind of like > > a podcast/aggregator app. Feeds allow an app to track updates to content > > without requiring the host system to actually download such content. The > > retreival process can be managed, customized and automated, much like > > the process of retrieving new and past episodes in a podcast feed. > > Although the podcast system is limited by centralization, I think an > > OAR/IAR feed system could implement some form of peer-to-peer > > distribution capability, as well as allowing for multiple > > creator/authors for a single feed (and multiple versions of a single > > OAR/sim). > > I'm not going to address this point directly, but I will note that it's > possible to load iars/oars on the command line from an URL as well as a > file. > > Any more complicated arrangement should almost certainly be left for tools > outside OpenSim, imo. There are hooks by which add-on region modules can > call load/save oar/iar functionality. > > > This would be awesome. My lexicon of technical terms kind of fails me > > when I think about the possibilities for OpenSim. If there's any > > interest in these ideas I'd love to have an extensive group discussion > > on the details of a potential implementation. > > > > play and have fun, > > Revlin > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Opensim-users mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users _______________________________________________ Opensim-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
