llRequestAgentData()
Of course this came up in the UG too. This is the function that returns one’s online status. It is being nurfed. That is going to break a load of things. There is a JIRA on the issue where people are posting use cases. See: SVC-4823 – Restrict LSL’s avatar online status checking to respect avatar’s privacy setting.
This is one of the areas where the Lindens’ lack of experience in the grid as users is biting. There are a large number of scripts that depend on the function providing a users online status. Read through the JIRA and add any uses you see missing. This week the Lindens are meeting figuring out what to do with the cases. We only have 2 to 4 weeks before this change starts to roll out.
Some Neat Avatars at the Meeting
An interesting tidbit that Simon brought up is: There are also some products on the marketplace that give you a nice web-based history of online status. So you can see the exact blocks of time during the days when people have been online. Now there is a privacy violation…
Kelly also made an interesting statement during the meeting, “I have been actively following the discussion on the forums and jira regarding DATA_ONLINE. (sorry I’ve been quiet, was holding a sleeping sick 1yo, hard to type). I do have more meetings this week to discuss the issues that have been raised.”
Simon added, “ fwiw I also summarize the discussions we have here and email the engineering group – and it does get read, based on an easter egg feedback.”
Breaking Temp Upload
There is word that a more robust avatar bake system is being developed. We haven’t heard much about it. We have heard they plan to fix bake-fail. So, it makes sense.
As the bake system is redone there is some concern that temporary texture upload will be broken as the system uses the avatar bake pipeline. This Temp Upload is the feature that allows one to upload a blouse or other texture for free. You can see it on your avatar and check how well it works. The ‘upload’ lasts until you log off. Others cannot see the texture, regardless of which viewer you use. While there is some concern it violates the new viewer policies, the Lindens are not very concerned about that part of the feature.
We don’t know if there will be room left in the new bake system for the temporary texture upload.
Andrew and Simon have no information on the Temp Upload breaking with the coming Bake Pipeline changes. So, this may be a non-issue.
Some consider the Preview grid, ADITI, an adequate replacement for temporary upload. Using the Preview/Beta Grid to test textures has to be built into your work flow. If not, it can be frustrating getting your stuff to the Beta Grid from the main grid.
Consider. You can change your password and force your inventory and L$ balance to update. But, doing so wipes out anything you have uploaded to the Beta Grid. The update is an over write. So, it can get frustrating.
Changing Databases
Several people have recommended making changes to the databases to solve the llRequestAgentData() online status problem. Using the current status permissions in ‘friends’ creates a load the Lindens want to avoid.
Simon makes a significant point, “Fixing databases” in SL is an interesting problem … it gets pretty complicated when you’re talking about something this large that can’t be shut down for any amount of time. I found that in 2009 there was some talk of just the asset database being over 250 terabytes.
Reverting llGetSubString and llDeleteSubString
Kelly Linden is looking at reverting llGetSubString and llDeleteSubString to the slower non-mono implementation to resolve some issues with code points that are more than 2 utf-16 chars in size. If you have thoughts on that, particularly why he shouldn’t do that, please let him know.