[Scummvm-devel] PORTERS: Upcoming OSystem API changes

[Max Horn]

Dear porters,

some notes about upcoming API changes:

* As announced, the current default implementation of  
OSystem::getTimeAndDate() is scheduled for removal on May 15.  
Hopefully all backends will have been updated till then. A quick  
glance (i.e. using grep) seems to indicate that this is still *not*  
the case for the following ports, but I don't guarantee that I  
haven't missed anything ;-):
  - PalmOS
  - Nintendo DS
  - Symbian
  - iPhone
  - Maemo
This change was announced in mid March, so hopefully you all had  
enough time to prepare for it. Most of you will only have to  
copy&paste a few lines, which can be done in a few minutes. If there  
are still questions about this (really trivial to make!) change,  
please contact me and/or the list.

* A new change is scheduled for July, 1: The default  
OSystem::getFilesystemFactory() from is scheduled to go then. Only a  
few ports will be affected by this, and once again, it should be a  
really trivial changes to make. The following ports are affected
  - PalmOS
  - Playstation 2
  - Nintendo DS
Please have a go at this.

* Besides this, I also am working on a small overhaul of the  
*internal* Audio::Mixer API. Nothing changes for engines, but  
backends will have to slightly modify the way they setup the mixer.  
The goal here is to simplify and clarify the internal API:  
OSystem::getOutputSampleRate will finally go, instead the mixer will  
be told by the backend which output rate is being used. Also, some so- 
far un(der)documented parts and subtleties will be clarified (well, I  
hope). This code is not finished, I hope that I can post a first  
draft (including proposed but untested modifications to all active  
backends, meant as a helping starter for porters). I will write  
another mail at that point, and hope to get some feedback.

If any of you guys have suggestions about points of the backend API  
which seem rough to you, should be documented better, or just plainly  
make your life difficult, *please* let me know.


Cheers,
Max