Mini-Conference Proposal: removable activities

[Mikus Grinbergs]

This is probably too complex to implement soon.  But please keep the 
*idea* in mind as you improve the OLPC laptop.

Once the 'base system' has been installed, things that are typically 
added over time are data and executables.  Sooner or later, the 
built-in "disk space" might run out.  There is a design for 
off-loading excess data to the school server.  It would be an useful 
"expansion capability" to be able to access added executables that 
are somewhere other than on the built-in "disk".  [When there are 
400 activities available, I'd probably want to try most of them.]

Currently, activities reside in /home/olpc/Activities.  What I am 
thinking of is an equivalent to the 'mount/umount' process - it 
would ADD a table of the activities in the designated directory to 
the path used to access XO activities.  [My idea is that if the 
contents of this added directory were to change, it would have to be 
re-accessed in order to pick up those changes.]

For security reasons, to be recognized the activities in this 
additional directory ought to be signed.  "Temporary space" used by 
an added activity would be allocated from within this same directory 
(i.e., device).  If the added directory/device were removed 
unexpectedly, I'd let the associated activities fail;  a sugar 
restart should clean any "garbage" they left.


mikus