[sldev] Re: Plugin API Architecture for Second Life

[Argent Stonecutter]

My choice for a first cut at a plugin architecture for SL would be a  
socket-based one for interfacing LSL scripts and scripts local to the  
PC. That would be easiest to implement, and external scripts could be  
written that would run on any platform: Windows, Linux, or Mac.

There's two possible ways to initiate the connection. You could have  
a preference pane in SL to configure it, with a list of LSL chat  
channels and the ports they're assigned to, and whether they're one- 
way (control only) or two-way (control and feedback). Or you could  
have a single port that SL listens to and accepts requests for  
channels from local scripts - the local script would open the port  
and send a line of text such as "chat=42 listen=0".

The port would be opened on localhost only, so it couldn't be used as  
part of a remote exploit.

The external script would open the port. Any line of text it sent  
would be chatted on that channel by the client. LSL scripts in the  
sim would interpret that and react appropriately. This would allow  
you to control LSL scripts that weren't specifically designed for  
remote control, like existing vehicles.

For feedback, all scripts could receive:

* Messages sent on channel 0, if the user chooses to allow it - this  
would be necessary for some vehicle controls.

* llInstantMessage messages.

* Messages sent on the requested channel, if the client has the  
ability to request responses from channels other than 0. Otherwise, a  
HUD forwarder that could convert messages on channels into  
llInstantMessages could be used.