[RIVER-436] Codebase annotations should be objects implementing a known interface instead of Strings

• Type: New Feature
• Status: Open
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Component/s: net_jini_core, net_jini_io, net_jini_security
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Michal Kleczek
• Created: 27/Feb/14 05:12
• Updated: 14/Mar/14 16:05

Description

Right now codebase annotations are Strings containing a space separated list of URLs . This has several drawbacks:
1. Code downloading is not dynamically extensible. All the parties in the network have to apriori agree on a set of URL handlers. Introduction of a new provisioning mechanism - for example based on Maven - requires at least reconfiguration of all participants
2. There is no way of verifying downloaded code before it is actually executed. Right now a TrustVerifier is obtained and used only after a service proxy was deserialized which enables untrusted code to execute during deserialization (see also RIVER-362).

The idea is to make code downloading extensible. Codebase annotations should be objects implementing a well known interface encapsulating the way how code is downloaded.
Prior to execution codebase annotations would be verified for trust.
That way:
1. Clients are decoupled from the mechanism used to download service proxy code
2. No code is executed before verifying the codebase for trust.