On 17.11.2009, at 04:18, K. K. Subramaniam wrote:

> On Monday 16 November 2009 07:58:16 pm Göran Krampe wrote:
>> Jecel Assumpcao Jr wrote:
>>> I want it to be easy and elegant to create and share persistent objects
>>> using Squeak.
>>> 
>>> Solutions like Monticello+package universes/squeakmap are a bit too
>>> complicated for me and yet don't do some things that I want.
>> 
>> I don't associate those tools much with "persistent objects", mostly 
>> (well, SM can do Projects so sure...) with source code.
> ASCII/UTF-8 encoding seems to be only way to track deltas to an image. 
> Currently, Squeak does not save deltas to an image. This gap imposes a burden 
> on developers who make small additions to a base image (which may also undergo 
> upgrades over time). Not that source code deltas don't break base images, but 
> toolsets do offer help in coping with such breakages and repairing the source 
> code.
> 
> The object memory has old/new areas, but the image is still a binary monolith. 
> As solid-state storages take hold, the cost of redundant writes will keep 
> rising. Is anyone looking at options where an image is a folder of files 
> instead of a single file?
> 
> Subbu

I'd love to have even a simple version of this. E.g., split the image into just two parts. Sort-of like VW's perm space (which is not garbage-collected ever) which would be the "base-image", plus all the rest in a second image file. This would allow to share a base image and a differential image in a similar fashion as we have a sources and a changes file. A regular save would just save the non-permanent part of the object memory. 

- Bert -