Hi,

> Well, since we want to potentially support many isolated programs
> running within a single JVM (using Jakarta Avalon Phoenix) on
> potentially very small devices (ie wearable computers in hospital
> setups) somewhere in the future, "slim" is still an issue. We're
> still evaluating whether even basic JDBC is an option in that
> case...

If we are talking about very small devices (small in meaning of
available RAM, not size), I would go for another architecture. Small
devices tend to cluster together into very big groups and access the
same resource at the same time, and I doubt that Firebird will
survive 1,000 simultaneous connections. If I were chief architect I
would go for something similar to Ninja project (Jini and e-speak are
competitors).

> Nevertheless, KISS and other principles suggest the right
> granularity of components is important. From looking at package
> structure, it seemed to me there could be something important to
> gain in refactoring. Glad to have that cleared up.

Refactoring is needed. I'm do like principle of agile/XP methods,
saying refactor whenever possible. But in my opinion, now only very
limited refactoring is possible.

> One thing I can see needs a little work is some docs to explain
> interdependencies between JDBC and JCA drivers (and why this is not
> bad).
>
> thought one: how do I volunteer to add some of that? (where do the
> patches go?)

Just raise your hand :). Then write some code/docs and post it either
here or directly to one of developers (currently David Jencks,
Alejandro Alberola Arias, me and Blas Rodriguez Somoza). We would be
happy to commit it into CVS. If you contribute regularly or will
contribute regularly, you will get CVS write access.

> thought two: what kind of documentation system do you use/wish to
> use? (should everything be in the javadoc??)

David Jencks created documentation guidelines, they are available
somewhere in Developer's corner/Firebird documentation/Tools section
on the Firebird's site (http://firebird.sourceforge.net/index.php?
op=devel&sub=doc&id=development#tools).

In general, it is XML file, where all formatting is done using tags.
We will use XSL to transform it into printable format.

Best regards,
Roman Rokytskyy