Re: NSConnection, TCP and compatibility

[e.sammer]

Richard wrote:

> I'ts not really possible ... The Apple protocol/format is proprietory
> and unpublished
> so you would need to -
> 1. reverse engineer and implement the basic protocols used.
> 2. reverse engineer and implement the Apple codings for all classes
> (including private classes).
> 3. keep that reverse engineered information up to date whenever apple
> release a new version or patch.


understood. i was hoping this wasn't going to be the answer.


> If you want to talk to MacOS-X and NeXT/OPENSTEP, you would need to
> implement
> separate versions for the different systems.
>
> Also ... last time I looked, the Apple implementation was broken and
> would
> no longer work for inter-machine messaging, just for messaging between
> objects
> on the same machine (this may be fixed in the most recent release of
> MacOS-X,
> I haven't seen anything new about the problem on the mailing lists
> though).


to tell the truth, i haven't yet tested the connections between machines. most 
of the work i've done thus far has been connecting other applications on the 
same machine.


> If you really want to have this sort of capabilty, you could use the
> GNUstep
> DO code as the basis for a new framework (eg. GSConnection, GSPort,
> GSPortCoder
> etc) and implement encoding/decoding methods for all the objects you
> wanted
> to send.  You could then use this entirely new framework in your MacOS-X
> apps
> to let them talk to GNUstep.  A fairly big job, but nothing like as big
> as
> trying to interact with MacOS-X DO.

sadly, the ability to communicate between GS and MOSX apps is critical to the 
project i'm working on. it would seem that this is my only option if there's no 
way of using the "normal" implementation of NSConnection. has anyone else 
attempted such a framework? either way, i suppose i'm going to have to do this. 
blech... i hate finding out that the reusable code is not reusable... : )

--
e.sammer
eric@lifeless.net