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BottomFeeder Goodies That Could Be Generalized

I commented in Jim Robertson's blog on an upcoming VisualWorks Planning Meeting that there are lots of good things in BottomFeeder that would be helpful in other applications if better "formalized and documented." Here are some of them (in no special order):

1. Error detection, handling and reporting. BottomFeeder does a good job of intercepting exceptions. It gathers and logs information about problems and provides ways to report them back to its developers (mainly Jim!).
2. Package upgrading. BottomFeeder provides mechanisms for dynamically
   • determining if upgrades (or new features) are available to any of its packages (or those of supported plugins).
   • installing upgrades on the fly.
   • morphing objects to the shapes required by updated classes.
3. Internet access. BottomFeeder uses the Internet API's built into VW for HTTP, FTP and e-mail. There's a big difference between primitive API's and the practical uses of them, especially when it comes to error handling and fault tolerance. In doing so, it defines and uses higher-level API's that other applications would find useful.
4. Installing and interfacing with plugins.
5. Handling strange problems with character encodings from an open-ended set of sources.
6. Installation procedures for a variety of platforms (good and getting better!)
7. Application parameterization via settings specified in a .ini file, in the VW settings UI, and via the command line, registry settings and environment variables.