Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:13 am
I'd really like the GUI to just be a front-end of a CLI program, personally. It'd make it more portable and it would be easier to isolate issues from one side or the other.
Is the current method of hashing and query protocols explained anywhere?
Obviously if this is not the developer's goal I'd understand it, but I feel the strenght of SubDownloader actually lies in the method it uses for hashing and identifying.
Other than that I'd like a way to have more accurate ratings, but I guess it's too much to expect for people to go in and rate the subtitles. Especially if they don't actually know what subtitle they've got.
So, this is what I'd do:
1.-Create a standalone CLI tool for downloading hash-based subtitles for videos. With the full-functionality available as CLI-options.
2.-Front-ends that either use the CLI (the norm) or just the protocol (mimicking the CLI from the front-end).
This would:
-Open the way to better, smaller or leaner front-ends, developed in an appropiate language for the OS (I'd make one in AppleScript for OSX, for example) as well as alternate usages (cronjobs, contextual menus, etc.)
-Open the way to automations (cronjobs, again, as well as including in scripts)
-Allow for third-party programs to have plug-ins that download the appropiate subtitle (for example, Azureus could have a plug-in that optionally downloads a subtitle, Xtorrent and uTorrent could add the option in-program, a script could VERY EASILY be made for XBMC that scans and downloads subtitles for videos, etc.)
Obviously the CLI would also allow uploading, and the GUI would also support it. That way subtitle programs could also call it and automatically upload the subtitle to the server.
I'd strip the protocol to the bare bones and write a CLI for it right now. And build a front-end to manage it. It would mean starting from scratch, but I think it's still a good time to do so, I believe.
