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Standard for plug-in modules for application software?



Modern Linux kernels work by means of modules.  Those modules
can be dynamically inserted or removed.

I wonder whether there is any standard method to allow application
software to be modularized.
For example, how do browsers implement the interface to plugins?

-=-=-=-

The relevance to Hebrew in Linux is as follows:

It would be desirable to spin off the bidirectional text rendering algorithm
to a separate module.  The reason is that the existing algorithms are
complicated and may not be able to handle properly certain cases.
(For example, the algorithms of Unicode, MS-Word 6 and MS-Word 97
are, AFAIK, a bit different from each other.)
So it would be desirable to provide room for experimentation.

If Hebrew rendering algorithm is spun off to a separate module,
then hackers and expert users will be able to experiment with new
bidirectional algorithms until they converge upon the optimal one.

This will also allow users to develop and debug algorithms for rendering
other multilingual text (Hebrew+English+Arabic+Russian, for example).
In addition, word processor vendors, who support rendering modules
will be able to slash the investment required for I18N'ing their products
by exploiting the Open Source method (even if their word processor
software proper is proprietary).

The interface to the plugin in question should be very efficient, so
performing a RPC or forking off a perl script for rendering each row
is probably infeasible.
                                                                           --- Omer
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