[DotGNU]Webservice directory

[Peter Minten]

Hi folks,

DotGNU is moving rather fast now (around warp 7.5 :-) and the first real
webservices have already been constructed, but to keep this pace up we must do a
little planning. In the near future we will need a webservice directory as
discovery system. Since the webservice dir is a webservice itself that does not
need state (it's a plain old request/response system without session tickets) it
can be created using our current codebase.

But first let me explain what Webservice Directory (WD) does. WD basically keeps
a database of dgmx files of webservices. Users and webservices can query the
database to discover webservices. WD also has other data about the webservices
referenced, like if it's trustable (complies with DotGNU rules), where you can
download it (if applicable, for example for Free Software webservices that don't
require you to be a registered user to download), popularity, etc.

WD isn't a too simple program however, since it has these requirements:
* Multiple WD's must be able to syncronize securely.
* The WD must be accessible through RPC and a normal browser (minddog has
already demonstrated that this is possible).
* Lookup time must be low (otherwise high demand could cause too long waiting).
* Some requests must require a username and password to be send encrypted (using
the webservice's public key).

My hope is that WD's can be coupled using P2P to allow load balancing and
storage balancing.

Greetings,

Peter