About AWG

About

The Architecture Working Group mission is to develop the protocols that will open up the Second Life Grid from something operated solely by Linden Lab to where others can run parts of the grid.

The timeframe for this work is short. Linden Lab is committed to implementing and deploying the protocols over the next two years. In this time frame, the AWG must focus on those aspects of the protocol that enable the opening up of the grid while primarily keeping the remaining feature set of Second Life constant.

Since we all hope that this work forms a stable base for years to come, the AWG should endeavor that its designs support a variety of implementation strategies, and are amenable to future extension. There is a tension between an agile strategy of implementing only what you need today vs. the approach of designing for a range of future possibilities. Linden Lab has heavily leaned toward the agile approach. The AWG needs to lean mostly this way as well, with of course some thought given to making the protocol evolvable.

The AWG isn't meant as a wholesale redesign of the Second Life platform. While we realize that there are many possible design choices, and that there are many possible approaches, the goal here is to take what is clearly a workable design and make it open. Think HTML 1.0 and HTTP 0.9 - Neither were perfect, and there were many things that couldn't be done with them. But they were functional, open and had enough extensibility to support future HTML versions, CSS, JavaScript, etc.... making the web what it is today. The AWG must aim to do the same for virtual worlds, and realize it within the next two years.

Getting started

Membership in this group is open. Start contributing to the work, and you become a member.

• What you can do:
  • Join the opensource-dev mailing list and use the tag [AWG] in the subject line of mail you send.
  • Read the documents in your area of expertise and comment on them in the AWG wiki or on list.
  • Join the in-world discussion group.
  • Attend meetings (see below).
  • Help keep the community organized: triage agenda items for meetings, post work items, etc.

Process

• Use opensource-dev and meetings to discuss ideas and organize work.
• Develop documents (designs, use cases, etc.) in user space of wiki. Move to main sections below after community vetting.
• Use discussion tab in wiki to provide feedback on documents.

Best Practices

Community Standards

• Participate: in a friendly, helpful and constructive way.
• Distracting or disruptive behavior may be grounds for loss of AWG membership.
• Out-of-scope and off-topic discussions should be held outside of the main AWG wiki area, e.g., in your user space or The Incubator.

Wiki editing and documents

• Documents should begin as working drafts in your wiki user space.
• When making wiki pages please take care to choose page names that will not cause confusion. Developing proposals in user space will help keep high-level page names free for seasoned documents and avoid ambiguity about what's a proposal and what's official.
• Documents should be vetted by the community for technical quality and clarity. After vetting by the community, they can be moved into the main document categories below.
• Collaboration is as valuable and appreciated as authorship.
• Linden Lab reserves the right to edit this wiki as needed.

OpenSource-Dev

• Follow the list guidelines.
• Flag AWG-related posts by using the [AWG] tag in the subject line.
• Responses should be on topic and collegial.
• If the content of a thread changes, please change the subject line.
• Please do NOT use the list as an IRC/chat stand-in. One-line responses and snarky asides clutter the list and make it less readable.