[vlc-devel] [RFC] http vs luahttp

[Rob]

On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:06:24 -0000, Jean-Baptiste Kempf <jb at videolan.org>  
wrote:

> Hey,
> I know it is a bit of a troll, but well...
> What is the pros and cons of luahttp over http? Do we keep both?
> What are the outstanding bugs in luahttp?
> Do we deprecate one?
> Because this is hard, when people want to extend the http interface, to
> know where to put the work.
> Best Regards,

lua pro:
-seems to be more flexible for scripting and development
-album art works

lua con:
-deeply unstable. I did a thorough test using my remote apps with luahttp  
(on mac) about a week ago. It crashed constantly (crashing VLC).  
Particularly crashy were any commands related to hotkeys (subtitles,  
aspect ratio, dvd control).
-pl_delete not implemented (has had a //fixme for over a year)
-some state commands (looping, repeating) don't update until a track change


oldhttp pro:
-works reliably in production (I have hundreds of thousands of users on my  
remotes with this interface)
-very stable (though not quite 100% stable!)

oldhttp con:
-album art doesn't work
-less flexible scripting (I think)


for my purposes (remote control apps over http), the lua interface has  
been 'nearly ready' for over a year. However in my coding experience,  
about 50% of the work on an app is in getting it from 'nearly ready' to  
'stable and complete'.

it would be great if someone can get luahttp ready for prime time, but I  
think it will need some serious commitment.

and for clarity - I have been chatting to Akash about extending the http  
interface, and have proposed this as a GSOC project. My view is that  
improving the working interface is useful now. If someone at a later date  
wants to finish the lua interface, then they could choose whether or not  
to replicate the improvements.

Rob