TODO for PolyORB
---------------

$Id: //droopi/release/2.1/src/TODO#1 $

DSA implementation (CA22-003)
------------------

* DSA: When taking 'Access on a local RCI subprogram, have
  only 1 instance of the relay object for the whole partition.
  (cf. tardieu99 4.6.2)

* Ada 95 DSA personality:
  -> Asynchronous (5910, partial)
  -> RACW 'Read/'Write
  -> map system exceptions to System.RPC.Communication_Error.

* Ability to specify boot server location by hostname and port number

* Make the process of locating the name server transparent

* filters

* termination

* reconnect

* version checking

Items still requiring attention
-------------------------------

* Add an IDL output to po_dumpir.

* Document flexible configuration pragmas framework introduced in
  change 8053.

* Suppress Set_CDR_Position from buffer interface, which is needed
  by the MIOP personality to fragment buffers from UDP sockets.

* Establish a configurable connection cache so requests to
  the same object made though different references can share
  the same binding object.

* Give a look at the ac_prog_cc_for_build from
  http://ac-archive.sourceforge.net/ to clean up configure script when
  cross-compiling.

* Review stack usage (for example, all_types fails with the default
  stack size, pragmas Storage_Size are needed in full_tasking and
  Ravenscar to allow it to proceed).

* Create a new PolyORB.Tasking.Time_Stamps package to allow the
  creation of time stamps. Use it in P.POA.Basic_POA.Time_Stamps
  and in MOMA.

* Merge Dynamic_Tables and Sequences.

* Close connection with server properly (ie : generate a 'close
  connection' message)

* GIOP stack: Implement the management of the context list.

* GIOP stack: Implement the management of locate messages.

* Implement CORBA bounded strings

* When registering a profile tag, the associated representation
  subprograms should be To_Any and From_Any, not CDR marshalling
  subprograms.
  
* Clarify the uniform interface of representations:
  create a PolyORB.Representations.SOAP.SOAP__Representation
  type (derived from P.R.Representation).

* Extend Transport framework with a new abstract class
  Transport_Access_Point_Name with a bind() primitive operation
  that returns a Transport_Endpoint.

* Factor out common code between different versions of
  PolyORB.Binding_Data.*.

* Incorporate Transport_Access_Point_Name usage as a
  Binding_Object_Fragment_Factory (extension of the notion of
  Filter_Factory to fragments of binding objects that
  are not filter). Think Netgraph.

* Bind-time configuration tool (to help the user generate a configuration
  package suited to his needs.)

* Run-time configuration of loaded functionality (using Adaplugins ?)

* See whether Buffers.Set_Initial_Position can be made private
  or moved to unit body.

* Support logging to syslog (also for Java ?)

* PolyORB.Buffers: remove mentions of CDR (most notably, the Endianness
  property of a buffer and all endianness considerations are irrelevant
  to PolyORB.Buffers).

* PolyORB.Buffers: Zero-copy buffers.

* Configuration of memory allocation:
  -> real-time allocator?
  -> usage of Storage_Pools?
  -> static allocation?
  -> smart resource management (garbage collection, system audit...)?

  See Allocator abstract class in Quarterware.

* HTTP as a Protocol (to be used with Minimal_Servant to compose a
  web server).

* Remove SOAP-specific stuff from the HTTP filter
  (SOAPAction handling), move that to a SOAP/HTTP binding filter,
  with the following resulting architecture:

       SOAP
        ^
        |
        v
   SOAP/HTTP binding
        ^
        |
        v
       HTTP

* CSTA protocol (for telephony applications.)

* Alternative implementations of transport endpoints:
   
  -> A mechanism for optional implementation of reliable
     message delivery over a non-reliable message delivery
     protocol (eg UDP with ack/retransmission, Group_IO)
     
  -> A mechanism for message exchange not based on sockets
     (eg SysV IPC, serial lines).

* Architecture documentation.

Items processed
---------------

* PolyORB.Buffers: remove dependency upon sockets (8945)

* Clarify the uniform interface of representations:
  create a PolyORB.Representations.CDR.CDR_Representation
  type (derived from P.R.Representation) (8544)

* Implement CORBA fixed-point types (8516)

* Exception support: separate personality-specific (CORBA)
  code from generic code. Check proper implementation of
  DSA exceptions. Document mapping between both models (6642).

* Portableserver: Instead of using a flat list All_Skeletons, add
  a primitive operation to PortableServer.Servant_Base that returns
  a Skeleton_Info access. This removes the need for a critical section
  list traversal in Find_Info. 

  This is implemented by change #7237. In fact, the Skeleton_Info
  access is cached in the servant's notepad.

* Review initialization of the object adapter attached to ORB, to
  enable setup of POA proxies during modules' initialization (7417).

* DSA migration

  -> From_Any and To_Any for tagged records and variant records
     (7690, 7693, 7694, 7697, 7703, 7705, 7855).

* Fix memory leaks (to be checked with Debug_Pools disabled!)
  (one known memory leak in allocation/deallocation of Any's TypeCode in 
   exception handling) (5724, 5864, 5897, 5915, 5981, 6076, 6507, 6508).

* Data reception: when the protocol knows how much data will
  arrive, preallocate so that unmarshalling is guaranteed
  to be presented with contiguous data.
  When it does not, Receive_Buffer should call Receive_Socket
  with Length no greater than the available space in the
  chunk, and advance the current position by the exact
  size of the received data (2770).

* Rework PolyORB.ORB event handling:
  The event handling loop must occur within the critical
  section (because it must mask certain sockets).
  Jobs should be created for each event, which will be
  actually processed by ORB tasks (2770).

* A filter to gather a message of a given size from lower
  layers before signalling to upper layers (as did the old
  Channel type) (2830).

* An abstraction of transport endpoints (2871).

* An object adapter.

* Use of the Ravenscar profile.

* Profile type registration system (for References.IOR).
  For a profile to be used when creating and parsing IORs,
  its tag must be registered.

* Move CORBA.POA to PolyORB.<something> (3329).

* Make PolyORB.References.Ref a Smart_Pointers.Entity
  so the list of profiles can be free'd when not used
  anymore.

* When a connection is closed, release all associated resources.

* Make compliant PortableServer tree for CORBA personality.

* Correct handling of arg modes in SOAP (in/inout/out).
  The SOAP engine sees incoming argument and marks them as IN.
  If the object expects some args to be inout or out, make
  sure that before calling the object, the parameters are present
  and marked with proper modes. Then, the SOAP engine knows to
  send out any INOUT or OUT argument with the reply.

* Make idlac compilable under -gnaty.

* DSA: support for user exceptions

* Add a flag to Register_Module to enable selective initialization of
  a module.

* Alternative implementations of transport endpoints:

  -> A mechanism for use of non-connected message passing
     protocols (UDP)
