From alsa-devel-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Thu Aug 13 00:55:23 1998
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Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 14:52:39 -0400
To: alsa-devel@jcu.cz
Subject: Alsa extendability?
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Here's one thing I've not seen anything about: How extendible is Alsa?

As a comparison, OpenGL (highly extendable 3d graphics library): there's
the basic API (which really isn't so basic), and any card can also add
extensions to it which weren't in the basic API.

I've not seen any of the more "modern" sound card features (hardware
sample mixing, 3d sound, hardware effects, and so on).  I'd not expect
the basic system to support these, either, but they're really requirements
of a modern sound library.

One of the keys of OpenGL extensions is that an application can take
advantage of them if they're there, without actually requiring support:
GLQuake (Quake, rendering via OpenGL) can run on many different systems,
using whatever horsepower it has.

=46rom what I've seen of Alsa, it looks rather static: various SFX and midi
features, but no way to add new features without changing the API.

Has this been considered?  Is it implemented, and intentionally worded
in such a way that Glenn would pass it by on every pass through the various
documentation? :)

--=20
 - Glenn F. Maynard


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