===================
version: 1
- Date: 29 mai 2016
+ Date: 30 mai 2016
Author: José Bollo
TABLE-OF-CONTENT-HERE
Foreword
--------
-This document describes what we intend to do. It may happen that our
-current implementation and the content of this document differ.
-
-In case of differences, it is assumed that this document is right
-and the implementation is wrong.
+This document describes application framework user daemon fundamentals.
+FCF (Fully Conform to Specification) implementation is still under development.
+It may happen that current implementation somehow diverges with specifications.
Introduction
------------
The daemon **afm-user-daemon** is in charge of handling
-applications for one user. Its main tasks are:
+applications on behalf of a user. Its main tasks are:
- - enumerate the applications that the user can run
- and keep the list avalable on demand
+ - enumerate applications that end user can run
+ and keep this list available on demand
- - start applications for the user, set their running
- environment, set their security context
+ - start applications on behalf of end user, set user running
+ environment, set user security context
- - list the current runner applications
+ - list current runnable or running applications
- stop (aka pause), continue (aka resume), terminate
- the running instance of application
+ a running instance of a given application
- - transfer requests for installation or uninstallation
- of applications to the dedicated system daemon
+ - transfer requests for installation/uninstallation
+ of applications to the corresponding system daemon
**afm-system-daemon**
The **afm-user-daemon** takes its orders from the session
instance of D-Bus.
-The figure below summarizes the situation of the
-**afm-user-daemon** in the system.
+The figure below summarizes the situation of **afm-user-daemon** in the system.
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| User |
### Maintaining list of applications ###
At start **afm-user-daemon** scans the directories containing
-the applications and load in memory the list applications
-availables to the current user.
+applications and load in memory a list of avaliable applications
+accessible by current user.
-When **afm-system-daemon** installs or removes an application,
-it sends the signal *org.AGL.afm.system.changed* on success.
-If it receives that signal, **afm-user-daemon** rebuild its
-list of applications.
+When **afm-system-daemon** installs or removes an application.
+On success it sends the signal *org.AGL.afm.system.changed*.
+When receiving such a signal, **afm-user-daemon** rebuilds its
+applications list.
-**afm-user-daemon** provides the data that it collected about
-application to its clients that either want to get that list
-or to get information about one application.
+**afm-user-daemon** provides the data it collects about
+applications to its clients. Clients may either request the full list
+of avaliable applications or a more specific information about a
+given application.
-### Launching applications ###
+### Launching application ###
-**afm-user-daemon** launchs the applications. This means
-that its builds a secure environment for the application
-and then start it inside that secured environment.
+**afm-user-daemon** launches application. Its builds a secure
+environment for the application before starting it within a
+secured environment.
-Applications of different kind can be launched.
+Different kind of applications can be launched.
This is set using a configuration file that describes
-how to launch an application of a given kind for a given
+how to launch an application of a given kind within a given
mode.
There is two launching modes: local or remote.
Launching an application locally means that
-the application and its binder are launcher together.
+the application and its binder are launched together.
-Launching application remotely means that only the
-binder is launched for the application.
+Launching application remotely translates in only launching
+the application binder. The UI by itself has to be activated
+remotely by the requested (ie: HTML5 homescreen in a browser)
Once launched, running instances of application receive
a runid that identify them.
**afm-user-daemon** manages the list of applications
that it launched.
-With the good permissions, a client can get the list
-of the running instances and details about a specific
-running instance. It can also terminate, stop or
-continue a given application.
+When owning the right permissions, a client can get the list
+of running instances and details about a specific
+running instance. It can also terminates, stops or
+continues a given application.
### Installing and uninstalling applications ###
-If the client has the good permission,
+If the client own the right permissions,
**afm-user-daemon** delegates that task
to **afm-system-daemon**.
Can be repeated.
-r
- --root directory
-
- Includes the root application directory to
- the database base of applications.
-
- Note that the default root directory for
- applications is always added. It is defined
- to be /usr/share/afm/applications (may change).
-
- Can be repeated.
+ --root directory
+ Includes root application directory or directories when
+ passing multiple rootdir to
+ applications database.
+
+ Note that default root directory for
+ applications is always added. In current version
+ /usr/share/afm/applications is used as default.
+
-m
--mode (local|remote)
Prints a short help.
-Configuration of the launcher
+Launcher Configuration
-----------------------------
It contains rules for launching applications.
-When **afm-user-daemon** need to launch an application,
-it looks to the mode of launch, local or remote, and the
-type of the application as given by the file ***config.xml***
-of the widget.
+When **afm-user-daemon** has to launch an application,
+it looks for launch mode (local or remote), as well as
+for the type of application describe in ***config.xml***
+widget configuration file.
-This couple mode and type allows to select the rule.
+This tuple mode+type allows to select the adequate rule.
-The configuration file is **/etc/afm/afm-launch.conf**.
+Configuration file is **/etc/afm/afm-launch.conf**.
It contains sections and rules. It can also contain comments
-and empty lines to improve the readability.
+and empty lines to improve readability.
The separators are space and tabulation, any other character
-is meaning something.
+should have a meaning.
The format is line oriented.
The new line character separate the lines.
-Lines having only separators are blank lines and are skipped.
-Line having the character # (sharp) as first not separator character
-are comment lines and are ignored.
+Lines having only separators are blank lines and ignored.
+Line having character #(sharp) at first position are comment
+lines and ignored.
-Lines starting with a not separator character are differents
-of lines starting with a separator character.
+Lines not starting with a separator are different
+from lines starting with a separator character.
The grammar of the configuration file is defined below:
NCHAR: CMT | CHAR
Here is a sample of configuration file for defining how
-to launch an application declared of types *application/x-executable*,
-*text/x-shellscript* and *text/html* in mode local:
+to launch an application of types *application/x-executable*,
+*text/x-shellscript* and *text/html* in local mode:
mode local
### mode local
-Within this mode, the launchers have either one or two vectors
-describing them. All of these vectors are treated as programs
-and are executed with the system call 'execve'.
+Within this mode, the launchers have either one or two description vectors.
+All of those vectors are treated as programs
+and are executed with 'execve' system call.
The first vector is the leader vector and it defines the process
group. The second vector (if any) is attached to the group
Within this mode, the launchers have either one or two vectors
describing them.
-The first vector is treated as a program and is executed with
-the system call 'execve'.
+The first vector is process as a program and is executed with
+system call 'execve'.
The second vector (if any) defines a text that is returned
-to the caller. This mechanism can be used to return the uri
-to connect to for executing the application remotely.
+to the caller. This mechanism can be used to return a uri
+for remote UI to connect on the newly launched application.
-The daemon ***afm-user-daemon*** allocates a port for the
-running the application remotely.
-The current implmentation of the port allocation is just
-incremental.
-A more reliable (cacheable and same-originable) allocation
-is to be defined.
+The daemon ***afm-user-daemon*** allocates a port for each
+new remote application.
+The current implementation port allocation is incremental.
+A smarter (cacheable and discoverable) allocation should be defined.
### %substitutions
- ***%a***: appid
- This is the application Id of the launched application.
+ Holds application Id of launched application.
Defined by the attribute **id** of the element **<widget>**
of **config.xml**.
The file within the widget directory that is the entry point.
- For a HTML application, it is the relative path to the main
+ For HTML applications, it represents the relative path to main
page (aka index.html).
- Defined by the attribute **src** of the element **<content>**
- of **config.xml**.
+ Defined by attribute **src** of the element **<content>** within **config.xml**.
- ***%D***: datadir
- ***%p***: plugins
- Unhandled until now.
-
- Will be the colon separated list of plugins and plugins directory.
+ In the future should represent the list of plugins and plugins directory separated by ','.
+ Warning: not supported in current version.
- ***%P***: port
- ***%R***: readyfd
- Number of the file descriptor to use for signalling
- readyness of the launched process.
+ Number of file descriptor to use for signaling
+ readiness of launched process.
- ***%r***: rootdir
- Path of the directory containing the widget and its data.
+ Path of directory containing the widget and its data.
- ***%S***: secret
- An hexadecimal number that can be used to pair the client
- with its server binder.
+ An hexadecimal number that can be used to initialize pairing of client
+ and application binder.
- ***%W***: width
### Overview of the dbus interface
***afm-user-daemon*** takes its orders from the session instance
-of D-Bus. The use of D-Bus is great because it allows to implement
+of D-Bus. D-Bus is nice to use in this context because it allows
discovery and signaling.
-The dbus of the session is by default adressed by the environment
+The dbus session is by default addressed by environment
variable ***DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS***. Using **systemd**
-the variable *DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS* is automatically set for
+variable *DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS* is automatically set for
user sessions.
-The **afm-user-daemon** is listening with the destination name
-***org.AGL.afm.user*** at the object of path ***/org/AGL/afm/user***
-on the interface ***org.AGL.afm.user*** for the below detailed
-members ***runnables***, ***detail***, ***start***, ***terminate***,
+The **afm-user-daemon** is listening on destination name
+***org.AGL.afm.user*** at object path ***/org/AGL/afm/user***
+on interface ***org.AGL.afm.user*** for following members:
+ ***runnables***, ***detail***, ***start***, ***terminate***,
***stop***, ***continue***, ***runners***, ***state***,
***install*** and ***uninstall***.
D-Bus is mainly used for signaling and discovery. Its optimized
-typed protocol is not used except for transmitting only one string
-in both directions.
+typed protocol is not used except for transmission of standalone strings.
-The client and the service are using JSON serialisation to
-exchange data.
+Clients and Services are using JSON serialisation to exchange data.
The D-Bus interface is defined by:
The signature of any member of the interface is ***string -> string***
for ***JSON -> JSON***.
-This is the normal case. In case of error, the current implmentation
-returns a dbus error that is a string.
+This is the normal case. In case of error, the current implementation
+returns a dbus error as a string.
-Here is an example that use *dbus-send* to query data on
+Here an example using *dbus-send* to query data on
installed applications.
dbus-send --session --print-reply \
send command to ***afm-user-daemon*** either interactively
at shell prompt or scriptically.
-The syntax is simple: it accept a command and if the command
-requires it, the argument to the command.
+The syntax is simple: it accept a command and when requires attached arguments.
Here is the summary of ***afm-util***:
**Description**: Install an application from its widget file.
If an application of the same *id* and *version* exists, it is not
-reinstalled except if *force=true*.
+reinstalled except when *force=true*.
Applications are installed in the subdirectories of the common directory
-of applications.
-If *root* is specified, the application is installed under the
-sub-directories of the *root* defined.
+reserved for applications.
+If *root* is specified, the application is installed under
+sub-directories of defined *root*.
Note that this methods is a simple accessor to the method
***org.AGL.afm.system.install*** of ***afm-system-daemon***.
After the installation and before returning to the sender,
***afm-user-daemon*** sends the signal ***org.AGL.afm.user.changed***.
-**Input**: The *path* of the widget file to install and, optionaly,
-a flag to *force* reinstallation, and, optionaly, a *root* directory.
+**Input**: The *path* of widget file to be installed. Optionally,
+a flag to *force* reinstallation and/or a *root* directory.
-Either just a string being the absolute path of the widget file:
+Simple form a simple string containing the absolute widget path:
"/a/path/driving/to/the/widget"
"root": "/a/path/to/the/root"
}
-"wgt" and "root" must be absolute paths.
+"wgt" and "root" MUST be absolute paths.
-**output**: An object with the field "added" being the string for
-the id of the added application.
+**output**: An object containing field "added" to use as application ID.
{"added":"appli@x.y"}
**Description**: Uninstall an application from its id.
-Note that this methods is a simple accessor to the method
-***org.AGL.afm.system.uninstall*** of ***afm-system-daemon***.
+Note that this methods is a simple accessor to
+***org.AGL.afm.system.uninstall*** method from ***afm-system-daemon***.
After the uninstallation and before returning to the sender,
***afm-user-daemon*** sends the signal ***org.AGL.afm.user.changed***.
-**Input**: the *id* of the application and, otpionaly, the path to
-*root* of the application.
+**Input**: the *id* of the application and, optionally, the path to
+application *root*.
Either a string:
**Description**:
-**Input**: the *id* of the application and, optionaly, the
+**Input**: the *id* of the application and, optionally, the
start *mode* as below.
Either just a string:
"appli@x.y"
-Or an object having the field "id" of type string and
-optionaly a field mode:
+Or an object containing field "id" of type string and
+optionally a field mode:
{"id":"appli@x.y","mode":"local"}
-The field "mode" as a string value being either "local" or "remote".
+The field "mode" is a string equal to either "local" or "remote".
-**output**: The *runid* of the application launched.
-The runid is an integer.
+**output**: The *runid* of the application launched. *runid* is an integer.
---
#### Method org.AGL.afm.user.terminate
-**Description**: Terminates the application of *runid*.
+**Description**: Terminates the application attached to *runid*.
-**Input**: The *runid* (an integer) of the running instance to terminate.
+**Input**: The *runid* (an integer) of running instance to terminate.
**output**: the value 'true'.
#### Method org.AGL.afm.user.stop
-**Description**: Stops the application of *runid* until terminate or continue.
+**Description**: Stops the application attached to *runid* until terminate or continue.
-**Input**: The *runid* (an integer) of the running instance to stop.
+**Input**: The *runid* (integer) of the running instance to stop.
**output**: the value 'true'.
#### Method org.AGL.afm.user.continue
-**Description**: Continues the application of *runid* previously stopped.
+**Description**: Continues the application attached to *runid* previously stopped.
-**Input**: The *runid* (an integer) of the running instance to continue.
+**Input**: The *runid* (integer) of the running instance to continue.
**output**: the value 'true'.
**Description**: Get informations about a running instance of *runid*.
-**Input**: The *runid* (an integer) of the running instance inspected.
+**Input**: The *runid* (integer) of the running instance inspected.
-**output**: An object describing the state of the instance. It contains:
-the runid (an integer), the id of the running application (a string),
-the state of the application (a string being either "starting", "running"
-or "stopped").
+**output**: An object describing instance state. It contains:
+the runid (integer), the id of the running application (string),
+the state of the application (string either: "starting", "running", "stopped").
Example of returned state:
#### Method org.AGL.afm.user.runners
-**Description**: Get the list of the currently running instances.
+**Description**: Get the list of currently running instances.
**Input**: anything.
Code Review / src / app-framework-main.git / blobdiff