[JDEV] existing protocol questions

[Jeremie]

> 	Jer, thanks for answering questions 1-4 so quickly  :)

No prob, sometimes it takes me a week, sometimes only a few minutes, *g*.

> 	About message <ext></ext> : why not structure extensions internally as an
> XML document in a CDATA field? My reasoning is this: if the extended data is
> structured, then clients will be less likely to trample on each other.  For
> instance:
> 
> Client A likes to send receipts, so it stuffs a 'message ID' which is
> essentially a hash of the last message received into the <ext> of the first
> response it sends to Client B.  Client B, however, expects <timestamp> or
> <favorite color> or goodness knows what. As a result, the secure hash is
> totally inappropriate and neither side really knows why.

Actually, I don't think I really documented it anywhere, but my intention
for the <ext></ext> field was to have an XML tree stuck within it, so each
client would have their own tag space to do whatever they wanted, for
example:

<ext><JavaObjID><id>2134</id><id>76345</id></JavaObjID></ext>

Each client would be restricted to use their own tag names containing
their own data.

> 	This leads into feature negotiation, which you mentioned previously, but
> perhaps it is time to get back to that discussion.

Some feature negotiation will be part of the info/query proposal, I'll
post more detail next week :)

Jer