On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 10:27:59AM +0100, Tobias Pape wrote:
> 
> Controversial Proposal:
> 
> Drop all plugins, do _only_ FFI.
> 

Try converting one of the existing plugins to FFI and let us know if you
still think it is a good idea.

I remember when somebody on the Pharo list suggested reimplementing the
OSProcessPlugin in FFI. I told them it was a really great idea, and they
should give it a try. That settled the matter quite quickly ;-)

As an aside, it is a complete mystery to me why people are willing to
work so hard to avoid writing a VM plugin. VM plugins are reliable,
portable, and debuggable. They work across a range of processors. They
work on 64-bit platforms. So why would someone prefer to switch to a
calling interface that basically only works on 32-bit Intel processors
and that may require low level knowledge of calling conventions, word
alignment, and platform-specific data types? I really don't get it.

But don't listen to me. If anyone thinks that plugins should be implemented
with FFI, I will tell them that it is a really great idea, and they should
give it a try and let us know how it works out ;-)

Dave