[erlang-questions] IPC bus for Erlang?

[Camille Troillard]

Hi,
I would like to build a desktop application in which user interface and core
process (Erlang) would be separated.  I also need it to be as much portable
as possible.  The idea would be to base the user interface on WebKit so it
can be easily customized, and a lot of people know how to build web
interfaces already.

The different solutions I have found so far:

   - use Mochiweb/Erlycomet <http://code.google.com/p/erlycomet/> on the
   Erlang side, and dojo/cometd <http://dojotoolkit.org/> (aka "Ajax server
   side push").
      - Pros: very generic, based on JSON, runs in any browser
      - Cons: not efficient at all, can't build a real desktop
application.<http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus?ref=darwinports.com>
   - D-Bus<http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus?ref=darwinports.com>
   :
      - Pros: Cross-platform, supported by Qt and there is also javascript
      bindings<http://sandbox.movial.com/wiki/index.php/Browser_DBus_Bridge>
       (named JSCoreBus<http://sandbox.movial.com/gitweb?p=browser-dbus-bridge.git;a=blob;f=jscorebus/jscorebus.c>
      ).
      - Cons: the Erlang
implementation<http://sourceforge.net/projects/dbus-erlang/>seems a
bit old / not maintained.
   - Leverage Erlang built-in communications system and make the WebKit a C
   erlang port itself.
      - Pros: Almost no work no the Erlang node side.
      - Cons: no WebKit plugin for setting up an Erlang port in
      Javascript exists yet. Not as generic as the two other options.

I have ruled out the first idea (Erlycomet), because of the poor performance
I got for the initial tests ; this is really something for the web, not the
desktop.  D-Bus seems alright, but is perhaps overkill, and lacks support…
 So, I am seriously considering the third option, for its simplicity.

Do you have other suggestions for a IPC bus that would make the link between
Erlang and Webkit?
I would also be happy to learn about your experiences on creating desktop
applications with Erlang.


Best,
Camille
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