Features/Ad hoc Networking: Difference between revisions

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== Owner ==

* Name: [[User:~~Tomeu~~| ~~Tomeu Vizoso~~]]

* Name: [[User:Erikos| Simon Schampijer]]

* Email: ~~tomeu.vizoso@collabora.co.uk~~

* Email: simon AT sugarlabs DOT org

== Current status ==

* Targeted release: 0.90

* Last updated: 11/08/2010

* Last updated: 13/08/2010

* Percentage of completion: 100%

== Detailed Description ==

The ~~Presence Service caches all the information about presence~~ and ~~provides an API that is closer to what Sugar activities would need~~. ~~But the presence information is of use only to the Shell, and the simpler API can~~ be ~~provided to activities~~ with ~~means of a library, so there's no real need for a session service that consumes memory, introduces one more layer of interprocess communication and makes activities only work inside~~ the ~~Sugar environment~~.

The Feature will add three default Ad-hoc networks, for channel 1, 6 and 11. They will be represented with designated icons in the neighborhood view. This will mimic the mesh behavior on devices where mesh hardware is not available and make the "under a tree"-scenario possible in those cases. If Sugar sees no "known" network (the learner has not been connected to an currently available Access Point before) when it starts, it does autoconnect to an Ad-hoc network. First we try if there is an Ad-hoc network that is used by other learners in the area, if not we default to channel 1.

This ~~work moves~~ the ~~functionality that the Shell used into the Shell itself~~ and ~~moves~~ the ~~simpler API implementation into~~ the ~~sugar.presence package~~, ~~and~~ it does ~~so without changing the python activity API~~.

~~For Etoys, as it~~ used the ~~Presence Service API directly~~, ~~a legacy PS will be provided until it is modified~~ to ~~use the telepathy APIs directly. Etoys developers have expressed interest on this work~~.

== Benefit to Sugar ==

~~This is~~ the ~~first step~~ in ~~making~~ the ~~collaboration features of Sugar stable and maintainable~~. ~~The immediate benefit~~ will be ~~that bugs in collaboration will get fixed (yay!) and~~ the ~~total memory footprint will be reduced~~.

The Feature will allow small groups of learners to collaborate without the need of an infrastructure, the so called "under a tree"-scenario more easily. In previous Sugar releases the learner could create an Ad-hoc network by using an option in the wireless device palette. This representation will be more accessible to the learners.

~~Benefits coming in future releases will be:~~

== Scope ==

* simplify the code by using Telepathy-GLib via introspection instead of DBus calls,

* drop the custom extensions and move to standard specs that will allow activities work outside of Sugar,

* use other protocols such as ICQ, MSN, GSM, etc

* interact with services not specific to Sugar (ie. public Jabber servers),

* benefit from improvements to the Telepathy framework from other desktops such as Meego, GNOME and KDE.

== ~~Scope~~ ==

==UI Design==

* sugar: move the presence code and connection management from the PS into neighborhood.py

* sugar-toolkit: move the code that sets up a shared activity from the PS into sugar.presence.activity

* sugar-presence-service: remove the connection management code, retrieve activity and contact information synchronously so it's inmediately available when the service is auto-activated.

~~==UI Design==~~

~~The user experience should be unchanged.~~

== How To Test ==

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== Contingency Plan ==

None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour. I will be able to invest ~~3-4 days per week~~ until the 0.90 release ~~making sure~~ the ~~feature is more stable than the code it replaces~~.

None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour. I will be able to invest time until the 0.90 release to fix any bugs that may be introduced by the Feature.

== Documentation ==

~~http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Development_Team/Collaboration_Refactoring~~

~~http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Development_Team/Presence_Service_Removal~~

~~http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2010-August/025857.html~~

== Release Notes ==

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 == Owner ==
-* Name: [[User:Tomeu| Tomeu Vizoso]]
+* Name: [[User:Erikos| Simon Schampijer]]
-* Email: tomeu.vizoso@collabora.co.uk
+* Email: simon AT sugarlabs DOT org
 == Current status ==
 * Targeted release: 0.90
-* Last updated: 11/08/2010
+* Last updated: 13/08/2010
 * Percentage of completion: 100%
 == Detailed Description ==
-The Presence Service caches all the information about presence and provides an API that is closer to what Sugar activities would need. But the presence information is of use only to the Shell, and the simpler API can be provided to activities with means of a library, so there's no real need for a session service that consumes memory, introduces one more layer of interprocess communication and makes activities only work inside the Sugar environment.
+The Feature will add three default Ad-hoc networks, for channel 1, 6 and 11. They will be represented with designated icons in the neighborhood view. This will mimic the mesh behavior on devices where mesh hardware is not available and make the "under a tree"-scenario possible in those cases. If Sugar sees no "known" network (the learner has not been connected to an currently available Access Point before) when it starts, it does autoconnect to an Ad-hoc network. First we try if there is an Ad-hoc network that is used by other learners in the area, if not we default to channel 1.
-This work moves the functionality that the Shell used into the Shell itself and moves the simpler API implementation into the sugar.presence package, and it does so without changing the python activity API.
-For Etoys, as it used the Presence Service API directly, a legacy PS will be provided until it is modified to use the telepathy APIs directly. Etoys developers have expressed interest on this work.
 == Benefit to Sugar ==
-This is the first step in making the collaboration features of Sugar stable and maintainable. The immediate benefit will be that bugs in collaboration will get fixed (yay!) and the total memory footprint will be reduced.
+The Feature will allow small groups of learners to collaborate without the need of an infrastructure, the so called "under a tree"-scenario more easily. In previous Sugar releases the learner could create an Ad-hoc network by using an option in the wireless device palette. This representation will be more accessible to the learners.
-Benefits coming in future releases will be:
+== Scope ==
-* simplify the code by using Telepathy-GLib via introspection instead of DBus calls,
-* drop the custom extensions and move to standard specs that will allow activities work outside of Sugar,
-* use other protocols such as ICQ, MSN, GSM, etc
-* interact with services not specific to Sugar (ie. public Jabber servers),
-* benefit from improvements to the Telepathy framework from other desktops such as Meego, GNOME and KDE.
-== Scope ==
+==UI Design==
-* sugar: move the presence code and connection management from the PS into neighborhood.py
-* sugar-toolkit: move the code that sets up a shared activity from the PS into sugar.presence.activity
-* sugar-presence-service: remove the connection management code, retrieve activity and contact information synchronously so it's inmediately available when the service is auto-activated.
-==UI Design==
-The user experience should be unchanged.
 == How To Test ==
@@ Line 51: / Line 37: @@
 == Contingency Plan ==
-None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour. I will be able to invest 3-4 days per week until the 0.90 release making sure the feature is more stable than the code it replaces.
+None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour. I will be able to invest time until the 0.90 release to fix any bugs that may be introduced by the Feature.
 == Documentation ==
-http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Development_Team/Collaboration_Refactoring
-http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Development_Team/Presence_Service_Removal
-http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2010-August/025857.html
 == Release Notes ==