Linux - We need this....

Hello Adobe,



With Linux support in the making I can't express how
important it is for AIR to allow developers to execute other
applications from an AIR app. It should even allow the developer to
interact with the command line. Meaning that a developer can
receive printed text and pass key strokes to the executed app in an
interactive manner. Think KCommander (
http://www.kcommander.org/).



Right now AIR is positioned to open up the door to mainstream
development of Linux cross-distribution applications. Write it once
and it runs on ubuntu, redhat, etc. No need for messing with rpm,
deb, etc.





Linux - We need this....
From what I've heard, the reasons for not including
command-line access or the ability to execute programs, is to
ensure compatibility for AIR applications across all operating
systems. As soon as you have the ability to launch external apps
from your AIR application, people will start bundling .exes and
.dlls with their package, thus destroying the whole principle of
cross compatibility.



While I'm very much on the side of ''please can we have
command line access?'', I'm not holding my breathe. for these very
reasons.Linux - We need this....


So what happends if you want to start and/or stop a service?
What do you do?



IMO think it would be very sad to prevent AIR from
interacting with other applications.



There will be times when an application will be built to
target a specify operating system. For example, An AIR app designed
to provides an easy to use user interface to a config file.




Someone at FITC mentioned an AIR project that was bundled
within a python script, allowing it access, via proxy, to other
applications. This method might be ok for some, but it's still not
really ideal though.



There may still be some hope though. A quick browse through
this slightly out of date page on Adobe labs:




AIR:Developer
FAQ



throws up this:




Will developers be able to extend Adobe AIR with native
code?

No. This functionality will not be available in Adobe AIR
1.0.




Will Adobe AIR applications be able to launch default
applications for a file type?

No. This feature is not planned for version 1.0.




Will Adobe AIR applications be able to directly launch native
applications?

No. This functionality will not be available in Adobe AIR
1.0.



The addition of
''in Adobe AIR 1.0'' in those answers gives me some hope that
we might see it in a future release.