<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>OVAL API questions</TITLE>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Each syschar corresponds to one object. Because a single object may be decomposed into subcomponent objects using a "set", the probe function will return as many syschar structures as there are component objects. The unsettled part of this pattern is that a set also contains state references which don't really fit into this context.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think we should look closely at the probe API and revise it to reflect what we really want it to look like. Your questions are a good starting point.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>It may be that the probe API as it is currently defined may be at too low a level. It may reflect more implementation detail than is appropriate for how the API will be used to generate OVAL results.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>My current focus is on populating the syschar object model from a system_characteristics document, so this is an excellent time to get these issues sorted out.</FONT></DIV>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Tomas Heinrich [mailto:theinric@redhat.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wed 4/15/2009 3:36 PM<BR><B>To:</B> David Niemoller<BR><B>Subject:</B> OVAL API questions<BR></FONT><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<P><FONT size=2>Hi David,<BR><BR>we're looking at creating probes and there are several things regarding<BR>the API I'd like to ask about.<BR><BR>There doesn't seem to be a way to generate system characteristics<BR>(oval_iterator_syschar) from several objects (oval_iterator_object or<BR>oval_object_model).<BR><BR>There's probe_object(), but it takes only one object as an argument and<BR>returns oval_iterator_syschar, for which there don't seem to be any<BR>manipulation functions to for example join several of them together.<BR><BR>Also, is oval_iterator_syschar typically going to hold only one instance<BR>of oval_syschar structure, or multiple of them? probe_object() returns<BR>the iterator type, which seems a bit odd to me, maybe I'm missing something.<BR><BR>There are several function prototypes declared in<BR>oval_system_characteristics_impl.h for manipulation of the oval_syschar<BR>structure, but they are not implemented yet. If you happen to already<BR>have them implemented, they would come in handy to us right now. :]<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Tomas<BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>