[ecf-dev] RPC for Remote P2 repositories

[Thomas Hallgren <thomas@xxxxxxx>]

Hi,
I'm implementing a remote service for p2 repositories. Initially, I 
chose JSON as the RPC mechanism since its simplistic, very lightweight, 
and fairly mature. We've also had some good experiences with it when we 
did the AOL XDrive implementation in the Spaces project.

In this case I have an Equinox based OSGi framework on both sides and 
perhaps it would be far more efficient to use ECF remote services? I 
have the following requirements:

1. I must be able to pass some objects by value that are neither 
java.io.Serializable nor standard java beans. The only way to 
serialize/deserialize them is to register custom serializers. Typical 
examples are the p2 ArtifactDescriptor or ArtifactKey.

2. It must be possible to register custom serializers based on 
interfaces (i.e. IArtifactDescriptor).

3. I need to pass some objects by reference. Either the RPC mechanism 
must manage garbage collection internally or I must have access to some 
API that allows me to do an efficient implementation. My current JSON 
based implementation uses java.lang.reflect.Proxy instances in the 
client, registered in a WeakHashMap. I then keep track of object-id's 
that are no longer used and periodically tell the server to drop them.

4. It must be possible to register callable references based on interfaces.

5. I must be able to limit the access to some methods/interfaces based 
on session data (isUserInRole() or something similar).

How will ECF remote services stand up to these requirements?

Regards,
Thomas Hallgren