Hi Göran, I'm glad you're on for getting SqueakMap going, thank you.
CouchDB sounds like it might be a great solution for SqueakMap.  If,
however, you do decide to consider a near drop-in replacement for
ImageSegments, I have been using
MaObjectSerializer>>#fileOut:toFileNamed:in: to save/load my objects
into files intead of ImageSegments for the very reason Andreas said.
With MaObjectSerialization, it is a logical serialization, not
physical, which is of course image independent but also safer because
the Buffer domain maintains full control.  MaObjectSerializer
class>>#objectFromStream loads.  I would be happy help with this if
you want.

I am obviously a big fan of SqueakMap.  I think a bump in
usability/accessibility could reignite and elevate SqueakMap
significantly upward for another 10 years..

Regards,
  Chris

2010/3/15 Göran Krampe <goran at krampe.se>:
>
> Hi!
>
> Andreas Raab wrote:
>>
>> On 3/15/2010 1:26 PM, Göran Krampe wrote:
>>>
>>> But so far I am unclear as to why this is so. I have now tested LOTS of
>>> trunk images backwards and it seems to be broken all the way down to
>>> 7179! Funny thing is - my 3.10.1-7175 image works fine.
>>>
>>> And there may be a hint here: The 7175 image can be opened by an old
>>> 3-9-8 VM. But the later 7179 images can NOT be opened due to some kind
>>> of image format change.
>>
>> Bingo. The issue is that the image format changed for closures and there's
>> been a bug in the image segment loading code that makes the primitive fail
>> in cases where the image format is older, but compatible.
>
> Ah, good that we know what it is then.
>
>> I've posted a fix for that in VMMaker but I really think SM should stop
>> using image segments for data exchange. Image segments are not a reliable
>> long-term interchange format in an evolving system.
>
> Sure, I am all in agreement. I am slightly amazed we got away with it this
> long :)
>
> When it comes to persistence I am pretty sold on CouchDB these days. If you
> just have the ability to make trivial HTTP GETs and parse JSON - then you
> can load stuff from a CouchDB instance.
>
> Anyway, I really need to sleep but we should take SM by the balls and make a
> plan for how to evolve it into the next 10 years :)
>
> SqueakMap was born somewhere in 2002 IIRC.
>
>> Obviously, this fix requires new VMs.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>  - Andreas
>
> Mmmm.
>
> regards, Göran
>
>