[kepler-dev] More on packaging / organizing Kepler

[Shawn Bowers]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there was any motivation to create a version of 
Ptolemy that allowed for "plug-ins" (e.g., like in many Microsoft 
products, Mozilla, and Protege, which has *many* very nice and fairly 
complex plug-ins that have been created by various groups).

It seems like this would solve a number of problems: (1) it wouldn't 
force Kepler to keep a separate Ptolemy branch (i.e., everytime a new 
Ptolemy version came out, Kepler would need to be reworked); (2) the 
Ptolemy source would not need to be included with Kepler; (3) different 
organizations could develop their own plug-ins and suite of plug-ins; 
(4) it would reduce much of the management burden from Kepler 
developers; and (5) it would minimize backward compatibility issues 
(unless a new Ptolemy release forced this).

In general, it is my understanding that the Kepler extensions (at least 
currently) do not require changes to Ptolemy and are really "extensions" 
-- if this holds so that the plug-in model is feasible, I think it would 
be a much more elegant solution to many of the current problems.

Anyway, I am not a Kepler developer, just an outside observer, but I 
just wanted to throw the idea out there.

Shawn