[MOBY-dev] Notice that the ever elusive agent will start curating in 2 weeks

[Martin Senger]

Eddie,
   I have not seen an answer to the most pertinent question that we always
had about the RDF agent: How can we ask it to come? And how often does it
come if we do not ask?
   And please do not tell me that I cannot ask - if that would be the
case, please do not start it yet.

> In 2 weeks, the agent will start removing services that do not have a
> signature url specified for it.
>
   I strongy oppose this - and I said it several times. Please do not
do that. It was never said that services must have the signature URL - it
was always said that services without such signature are vulnerable to be
remove by some malicious guys. But a mandatory existence of such signature
URL has never been in the Biomoby API, and if you do what you are saying,
it is breaking API without consulting us/users.
   It is related to the question above: if I have a way to ask an agent to
come at once (by at once I mean in seconds) I am not afraid to put
signature url in the service. If not, I cannot edit my service anymore and
I am not willing to put there the signature. 

> In 2 weeks, the agent will attempt to read from the signature url that you
> provided. If the agent cannot read from the url on 3 (maybe more or less -
> details will be revealed later) different consecutive occasions, then the
> agent will remove all services described by that url.
>
   Again, this should not be done so rigidly. I simply need, for example,
few services, that are registered to the localhost (so they will never be
used by reasonably clever clients) but they are used in tutorials, and
they can be used when a service is being developed (so it can be called
via registry by its author, because she has the service on her local
machine). There will never be many of such services, but they should stay.
   I also do not like your wording "details will be revealed later". This
sounds like a typical dictatorship.

> If the deregistration was in error, service providers will be able to
> reregister their services very easily. Contained in the email message to the
> provider is RDF-XML that describes the last known footprint of their
> service. Using this RDF-XML, and a tool to be released soon, you can
> re-register your service in any registry.
>
   This is a home-made addition to the Biomoby API - we have never
discussed it. We need a way that can be automatized - so if I need to
react to the email message, I need to know first exact format of such
email etc. This is doable but needs to be discussed.
 
> All questions and concerns regarding this agent should be posted to the list
> so that they can be discussed amongst us all.
>
   Thanks, that's encouraging.
   Martin

-- 
Martin Senger
   email: martin.senger at gmail.com
   skype: martinsenger
consulting for:
   International Rice Research Institute
   Biometrics and Bioinformatics Unit
   DAPO BOX 7777, Metro Manila
   Philippines, phone: +63-2-580-5600 (ext.2324)