Off-Topic > Off-Topic - Tiny Tux's Corner
Applications and bundled libraries
bigpcman:
Although there has been a lot of good discussion on library usage problems in an "all in one" application package system, I still wonder if it's possible to handle dynamic application removal of applications that are things like system services or drivers. The problems I can foresee have to do with how to handle applications that modify things like system configuration files. How are the changes tracked back to the source. (I don't mean simple menu entries) This is one of the problems with the windows registry, it ends up filled with useless entries.
Perhaps there has to be classes of applications some of which can be "all in one" and some that can't.
tclfan:
--- Quote from: bmarkus on April 12, 2010, 02:23:35 PM ---There are cons as well. For example if you are updating a common library, you have to rebuild all extensions,...
--- End quote ---
I do not think so. Not the way I understand this concept of self-contained apps is, at least not the way it is implemented by VMware ThinApp abd Zenwalk. Self-contained apps are self-contained in their own containers. Different extensions (Apps) are using DLLs with which they are designed. If you update a dll someplace, it does not affect other extensions - would not break them with upgrades, etc. You can run together applications that are normally conflicting or have conflicting dlls. E.g. on Windows where previously you could run (have installed) only one version of Internet Explorer, now you can run several versions and even simultaneously! Not that I need to do it, not being a developer, but it shows the power and flexibility.
Thanks to flexible modular architecture and the way extensions are implemented, TinyCore is already close to this concept...
tclfan:
--- Quote from: bigpcman on April 12, 2010, 03:08:09 PM ---Although there has been a lot of good discussion on library usage problems in an "all in one" application package system, I still wonder if it's possible to handle dynamic application removal of applications that are things like system services or drivers. The problems I can foresee have to do with how to handle applications that modify things like system configuration files. How are the changes tracked back to the source. (I don't mean simple menu entries) This is one of the problems with the windows registry, it ends up filled with useless entries.
Perhaps there has to be classes of applications some of which can be "all in one" and some that can't.
--- End quote ---
The way it is implemented by VMware ThinAPPs and Xenocode is that applications are fully virtualized. Any system changes, such as registry entries are also contained in the application containers. No true such system change occurs.
curaga:
--- Quote from: tclfan on April 12, 2010, 03:27:16 PM ---If you update a dll someplace, it does not affect other extensions - would not break them with upgrades, etc. You can run together applications that are normally conflicting or have conflicting dlls.
--- End quote ---
This is a big downside as well. What if there's a security issue in libfoo? Or a bug in the file handling of libxyz?
You'd have to update every single one of the extensions with that lib.
tclfan:
In home or experimental environment - yes.
In a non-production environment, where changes can cause impact on other applications can be done without much regression testing. In environment which demands stability, such as managed environment extensive regression testing must be performed before changes like this can be implemented in production. That is why ThinApps (Self-contained apps) are making big news in corporate environment, where maintenance of desktop systems is managed. Upgrading apps will no longer be such a big project, as to test whether this would not cause conflict or impact on other applications.
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