[guardian-dev] InputStreams across Services

[Mark Murphy]

On Fri, Dec 6, 2013, at 7:33, Abel Luck wrote:
> Alrighty. I've created a little test project to test these assumptions.
> 
>      https://github.com/abeluck/android-streams-ipc

Some preliminary comments:

- The no-op constructor on InputStreamBinder seems rather odd. I have
never needed to implement a constructor on a Binder. I'd either get rid
of it or chain to the superclass.

- While I would hope that IOUtils is safe for Android, if you run into
oddities, I'd hand-roll that code, just to confirm that it isn't IOUtils
that is having the problem.

- I really think that ParcelFileDescriptorUtil also needs
pipeDown(boolean isWhippersnapper) and pipeUp() methods... :-)

> TODO: will any of this change when we start using "oneway" methods?

I would not expect it to. The threading does not really change any:

- the service is still being invoked on a Binder thread
- the client is still using TransferThread

However, I'd also add to the list of tests "moving the service code off
the Binder thread and onto its own thread" (e.g., TransferThread). While
there are a few Binder threads, I am uncertain if that is an expandable
thread pool. If it is not, then too many simultaneous requests could
clog the service.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
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