1
edit
Changes
→Name of Project
= nsIProcess Name of Project=nsIProcess2
==Blog==
http://jamesboston.ca/cms/taxonomy/term/16
Or an RSS feed of the same:<br />
http://jamesboston.ca/cms/taxonomy/term/16/0/feed
==News and Progress==
'''Currently on hiatus. Work will resume after final exams in Decemeber 2009.'''
<small>(Click dates for attachments or info)</small>
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/NsIProcess Sept 21, 2008]: A first draft (an alpha version really) of the API is posted.
[http://jamesboston.ca/cms/node/66 Sept 22, 2008]: Released an updated version of an extension that serves as a temporary work around for nsIProcess bugs.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#attach_340506 Sept 25, 2008]: Submitted patch to bugzilla.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#attach_341723 Oct 3, 2008]: Submitted revised patch to bugzilla.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=459572 Oct 12, 2008]: Opened a bug on NSPR lack of unicode support for Unicode arguments.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c9 Nov 11, 2008]: Submitted a new patch to bugzilla with Unicode support for Windows.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c11 Nov 23, 2008]: Submitted a new patch to bugzilla with isRunning() method.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c15 Jan 25, 2009]: Submitted a new patch with unit tests.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c17 Mar 5, 2009]: Submitted a new patch with minor revisions. The bug has now also been marked ''blocking‑fennec''.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c26 Mar 9, 2009]: Changed interface to return void on run.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393#c27 Mar 12, 2009]: Patch pushed to mozilla-central. (Followed by a minor bustage fix.)
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=484246 Mar 19, 2009]: Filed a new enhancement bug that ties together the various features in the next stage of development.
=Downloads=
The code will be done in trunk. To get changeset:
hg pull http://hg.jamesboston.ca/mozilla/gsoc
Or to generate a plain text patch file containing all deviations from trunk visit:<br />
http://jamesboston.ca/misc/patch.cgi
=Details=
The API for [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/NsIProcess nsIProcess] is not fully implemented. At present, the PID of a created process is not retained and cannot be killed. The API would also benifit from a new spec that includes inter-process communication.
An example of an API that for creating processes and communicating with them through STDIN/STDOUT is the Python subprocess module:
http://docs.python.org/lib/node528.html
The goal of this project is to create a similar API for Mozilla.
==API proposal==
https://wiki.mozilla.org/NsIProcess
==Existing API==
[http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Code_snippets/Running_applications Code snippet of how to use the existing API]
==Existing Code==
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/xpcom/threads/nsIProcess.idl<br />
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/xpcom/threads/nsProcess.h<br />
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/xpcom/threads/nsProcessCommon.cpp<br />
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/xpcom/tests/unit/test_nsIProcess.js
==Relevant bugs==
Implement a replacement for nsIProcess<br />https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=484246 nsIProcess.kill() does not work on Win32<br />https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=442393 Implement inter-process communication (IPC) in Mozilla<br />
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=68702
PR_CreateProcess in NSPR needs unicode support<br />
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=459572
==Submitted patches==
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?bugid=442393&action=viewall Bug 442393 patches]: Patches submitted to fix Bug 442393 - nsIProcess.kill() does not work on Win32
==Meetings (Chronological)==
[http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-092008 Sept 19, 2008]: Discussion with Benjamin Smedberg and David Humphrey to discuss the new API proposal.<br />
[http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-092208 Sept 22, 2008]: Discussion with Mark Finkle and David Humphrey about the API design.
[http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meetin-092308 Sept 23, 2008]: Discussion with Mark Finkle about using NSPR.
[[User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-100808|Oct 8, 2008]]: Discussion about string types and Windows paths in NSPR.
[[User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-102908|Oct 29, 2008]]: Advice regarding PRProcess type.
[[User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-110508|Nov 5, 2008]]: Getting advice on callbacks across XPConnect divide.
[[User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-110708|Nov 7, 2008]]: Round table on Unicode support.
[[User:Jamesboston/nsIProcess/meeting-112308|Nov 23, 2008]]: Discussion about pathnames in xpcshell.
