[Jack-Devel] backend switching - another way

Hello all,

I've been musing for a long time over the idea 'what if Jack ports
were persistent' ? In other words, if they could exists irrespective
of the application that uses them is running or not.

This has some far-reaching consequences of course, but there is 
subset of this idea that is not as mad as it seems (IMHO).

** What if physical ports were persistent ? **

More in detail:

* The number of physical ports and their names are configured
  by the user. Names are chosen according to the function a
  port has in the user's setup, e.g. stereo-monitor-L or R.

* When a backend is started, the inputs and outputs it provides
  are mapped to the existing persistent ports, again as configured
  by the user for any particular hardware.

* These configurations are stored of course, no need to repeat
  this work if nothing changes.


This would allow:

* To switch backends without any app being aware of it.

* A backend to go away (USB or firewire being unplugged)
  without fatal consequences. Just replug it or replace 
  it by another one. No need to restart or rewire anything
  else.

* To have sessions that are *really* portable, depending only
  on the availability of some common set of persistent ports.
  E.g. Ardour's master and/or auditioner would connect to the
  right ports no matter what they are.

Comments / flames invited.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

1298314398.28958_0.ltw:2,a <20110221185303.GB10694 at linuxaudio dot org>