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1<part>
2  <title>GIO Overview</title>
3
4  <chapter>
5    <title>Introduction</title>
6
7  <para>
8    GIO is striving to provide a modern, easy-to-use VFS API that sits
9    at the right level in the library stack, as well as other generally
10    useful APIs for desktop applications (such as networking and
11    D-Bus support). The goal is to overcome the shortcomings of GnomeVFS
12    and provide an API that is so good that developers prefer it over raw
13    POSIX calls. Among other things that means using GObject. It also means
14    not cloning the POSIX API, but providing higher-level, document-centric
15    interfaces.
16  </para>
17
18  <para>
19    The abstract file system model of GIO consists of a number of
20    interfaces and base classes for I/O and files:
21    <variablelist>
22       <varlistentry>
23         <term>GFile</term>
24         <listitem><para>reference to a file</para></listitem>
25       </varlistentry>
26       <varlistentry>
27         <term>GFileInfo</term>
28         <listitem><para>information about a file or filesystem</para></listitem>
29       </varlistentry>
30       <varlistentry>
31         <term>GFileEnumerator</term>
32         <listitem><para>list files in directories</para></listitem>
33       </varlistentry>
34       <varlistentry>
35         <term>GDrive</term>
36         <listitem><para>represents a drive</para></listitem>
37       </varlistentry>
38       <varlistentry>
39         <term>GVolume</term>
40         <listitem><para>represents a file system in an abstract way</para></listitem>
41       </varlistentry>
42       <varlistentry>
43         <term>GMount</term>
44         <listitem><para>represents a mounted file system</para></listitem>
45       </varlistentry>
46    </variablelist>
47    Then there is a number of stream classes, similar to the input and
48    output stream hierarchies that can be found in frameworks like Java:
49    <variablelist>
50       <varlistentry>
51         <term>GInputStream</term>
52         <listitem><para>read data</para></listitem>
53       </varlistentry>
54       <varlistentry>
55         <term>GOutputStream</term>
56         <listitem><para>write data</para></listitem>
57       </varlistentry>
58       <varlistentry>
59         <term>GIOStream</term>
60         <listitem><para>read and write data</para></listitem>
61       </varlistentry>
62       <varlistentry>
63         <term>GSeekable</term>
64         <listitem><para>interface optionally implemented by streams to support seeking</para></listitem>
65       </varlistentry>
66    </variablelist>
67    There are interfaces related to applications and the types
68    of files they handle:
69    <variablelist>
70       <varlistentry>
71          <term>GAppInfo</term>
72          <listitem><para>information about an installed application</para></listitem>
73       </varlistentry>
74       <varlistentry>
75          <term>GIcon</term>
76          <listitem><para>abstract type for file and application icons</para></listitem>
77       </varlistentry>
78    </variablelist>
79    There is a framework for storing and retrieving application settings:
80    <variablelist>
81       <varlistentry>
82          <term>GSettings</term>
83          <listitem><para>stores and retrieves application settings</para></listitem>
84       </varlistentry>
85    </variablelist>
86    There is support for network programming, including connectivity monitoring,
87    name resolution, lowlevel socket APIs and highlevel client and server
88    helper classes:
89    <variablelist>
90       <varlistentry>
91          <term>GSocket</term>
92          <listitem><para>lowlevel platform independent socket object</para></listitem>
93       </varlistentry>
94       <varlistentry>
95          <term>GResolver</term>
96          <listitem><para>asynchronous and cancellable DNS resolver</para></listitem>
97       </varlistentry>
98       <varlistentry>
99          <term>GSocketClient</term>
100          <listitem><para>high-level network client helper</para></listitem>
101       </varlistentry>
102       <varlistentry>
103          <term>GSocketService</term>
104          <listitem><para>high-level network server helper</para></listitem>
105       </varlistentry>
106       <varlistentry>
107          <term>GSocketConnection</term>
108          <listitem><para>network connection stream</para></listitem>
109       </varlistentry>
110       <varlistentry>
111          <term>GNetworkMonitor</term>
112          <listitem><para>network connectivity monitoring</para></listitem>
113       </varlistentry>
114    </variablelist>
115    There is support for connecting to <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus">D-Bus</ulink>,
116    sending and receiving messages, owning and watching bus names,
117    and making objects available on the bus:
118    <variablelist>
119       <varlistentry>
120          <term>GDBusConnection</term>
121          <listitem><para>a D-Bus connection</para></listitem>
122       </varlistentry>
123
124       <varlistentry>
125          <term>GDBusMethodInvocation</term>
126          <listitem><para>for handling remote calls</para></listitem>
127       </varlistentry>
128
129       <varlistentry>
130          <term>GDBusServer</term>
131          <listitem><para>helper for accepting connections</para></listitem>
132       </varlistentry>
133
134       <varlistentry>
135          <term>GDBusProxy</term>
136          <listitem><para>proxy to access D-Bus interfaces on a remote object</para></listitem>
137       </varlistentry>
138
139    </variablelist>
140    Beyond these, GIO provides facilities for file monitoring,
141    asynchronous I/O and filename completion. In addition to the
142    interfaces, GIO provides implementations for the local case.
143    Implementations for various network file systems are provided
144    by the GVFS package as loadable modules.
145  </para>
146
147  <para>
148    Other design choices which consciously break with the GnomeVFS
149    design are to move backends out-of-process, which minimizes the
150    dependency bloat and makes the whole system more robust. The backends
151    are not included in GIO, but in the separate GVFS package. The GVFS
152    package also contains the GVFS daemon, which spawn further mount
153    daemons for each individual connection.
154  </para>
155
156  <figure id="gvfs-overview">
157    <title>GIO in the GTK+ library stack</title>
158    <graphic fileref="gvfs-overview.png" format="PNG"></graphic>
159  </figure>
160
161  <para>
162    The GIO model of I/O is stateful: if an application establishes e.g.
163    a SFTP connection to a server, it becomes available to all applications
164    in the session; the user does not have to enter his password over
165    and over again.
166  </para>
167  <para>
168    One of the big advantages of putting the VFS in the GLib layer
169    is that GTK+ can directly use it, e.g. in the filechooser.
170  </para>
171  </chapter>
172
173  <chapter>
174    <title>Writing GIO applications</title>
175
176    <para>
177      The information in the GLib <ulink url="http://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-programming.html">documentation</ulink> about writing GLib
178      applications is generally applicable when writing GIO applications.
179    </para>
180
181    <simplesect><title>Threads</title>
182
183    <para>
184       GDBus has its own private worker thread, so applications using
185       GDBus have at least 3 threads. GIO makes heavy use of the concept
186       of a <link linkend="g-main-context-push-thread-default">thread-default
187       main context</link> to execute callbacks of asynchronous
188       methods in the same context in which the operation was started.
189    </para>
190
191    </simplesect>
192
193    <simplesect id="async-programming"><title>Asynchronous Programming</title>
194
195    <para>
196      Many GIO functions come in two versions: synchronous and asynchronous,
197      denoted by an <code>_async</code> suffix. It is important to use these
198      appropriately: synchronous calls should not be used from
199      within a main loop which is shared with other code, such as one in the
200      application’s main thread. Synchronous calls block until they complete,
201      and I/O operations can take noticeable amounts of time (even on ‘fast’
202      SSDs). Blocking a main loop iteration while waiting for I/O means that
203      other sources in the main loop will not be dispatched, such as input and
204      redraw handlers for the application’s UI. This can cause the application
205      to ‘freeze’ until I/O completes.
206    </para>
207
208    <para>
209      A few self-contained groups of functions, such as code generated by
210      <link linkend="gdbus-codegen"><application>gdbus-codegen</application></link>,
211      use a different convention: functions are asynchronous default, and it is
212      the <emphasis>synchronous</emphasis> version which has a
213      <code>_sync</code>
214      suffix. Aside from naming differences, they should be treated the same
215      way as functions following the normal convention above.
216    </para>
217
218    <para>
219      The asynchronous (<code>_async</code>) versions of functions return
220      control to the caller immediately, after scheduling the I/O in the kernel
221      and adding a callback for it to the main loop. This callback will be
222      invoked when the operation has completed. From the callback, the paired
223      <code>_finish</code> function should be called to retrieve the return
224      value of the I/O operation, and any errors which occurred. For more
225      information on using and implementing asynchronous functions, see
226      <link linkend="GAsyncResult.description"><type>GAsyncResult</type></link>
227      and <link linkend="GTask.description"><type>GTask</type></link>.
228    </para>
229
230    <para>
231      By starting multiple asynchronous operations in succession, they will be
232      executed in parallel (up to an arbitrary limit imposed by GIO’s internal
233      worker thread pool).
234    </para>
235
236    <para>
237      The synchronous versions of functions can be used early in application
238      startup when there is no main loop to block, for example to load initial
239      configuration files. They can also be used for I/O on files which are
240      guaranteed to be small and on the local disk. Note that the user’s home
241      directory is not guaranteed to be on the local disk.
242    </para>
243    </simplesect>
244
245    <simplesect><title>Security</title>
246
247<para>
248When your program needs to carry out some privileged operation (say,
249create a new user account), there are various ways in which you can go
250about this:
251<itemizedlist>
252<listitem><para>
253Implement a daemon that offers the privileged operation. A convenient
254way to do this is as a D-Bus system-bus service. The daemon will probably
255need ways to check the identity and authorization of the caller before
256executing the operation. <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/polkit.8.html">polkit</ulink> is a framework that allows this.
257</para></listitem>
258<listitem><para>
259Use a small helper that is executed with elevated privileges via
260pkexec. <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/pkexec.1.html">pkexec</ulink> is a small program launcher that is part of polkit.
261</para></listitem>
262<listitem><para>
263Use a small helper that is executed with elevated privileges by
264being suid root.
265</para></listitem>
266</itemizedlist>
267None of these approaches is the clear winner, they all have their
268advantages and disadvantages.
269</para>
270
271<para>
272When writing code that runs with elevated privileges, it is important
273to follow some basic rules of secure programming. David Wheeler has an
274excellent book on this topic,
275<ulink url="http://www.dwheeler.com/secure-programs/Secure-Programs-HOWTO/index.html">Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO</ulink>.
276</para>
277
278<para>
279When using GIO in code that runs with elevated privileges, you have to
280be careful. GIO has extension points whose implementations get loaded
281from modules (executable code in shared objects), which could allow
282an attacker to sneak his own code into your application by tricking it
283into loading the code as a module. However, GIO will never load modules
284from your home directory except when explictly asked to do so via an
285environment variable.
286</para>
287
288<para>
289In most cases, your helper program should be so small that you don't
290need GIO, whose APIs are largely designed to support full-blown desktop
291applications. If you can't resist the convenience of these APIs, here
292are some steps you should take:
293<itemizedlist>
294<listitem><para>
295Clear the environment, e.g. using the <function>clearenv()</function>
296function.
297David Wheeler has a good <ulink url="http://www.dwheeler.com/secure-programs/Secure-Programs-HOWTO/environment-variables.html">explanation</ulink> for why it is
298important to sanitize the environment.
299See <xref linkend="running-gio-apps"/>
300for a list of all environment variables affecting GIO. In particular,
301<envar>PATH</envar> (used to locate binaries), <envar>GIO_EXTRA_MODULES</envar> (used to locate loadable modules) and <envar>DBUS_{SYSTEM,SESSION}_BUS_ADDRESS</envar> (used to locate the D-Bus system and session bus) are important.
302</para></listitem>
303<listitem><para>
304Don't use GVfs, by setting <envar>GIO_USE_VFS=local</envar> in the environment.
305The reason to avoid GVfs in security-sensitive programs is that it uses
306many libraries which have not necessarily been audited for security problems.
307Gvfs is also heavily distributed and relies on a session bus to be present.
308</para></listitem>
309</itemizedlist>
310</para>
311
312    </simplesect>
313
314  </chapter>
315
316  <chapter>
317    <title>Compiling GIO applications</title>
318
319    <para>
320      GIO comes with a <filename>gio-2.0.pc</filename> file that you
321      should use together with <literal>pkg-config</literal> to obtain
322      the necessary information about header files and libraries. See
323      the <literal>pkg-config</literal> man page or the GLib documentation
324      for more information on how to use <literal>pkg-config</literal>
325      to compile your application.
326    </para>
327
328    <para>
329      If you are using GIO on UNIX-like systems, you may want to use
330      UNIX-specific GIO interfaces such as #GUnixInputStream,
331      #GUnixOutputStream, #GUnixMount or #GDesktopAppInfo.
332      To do so, use the <filename>gio-unix-2.0.pc</filename> file
333      instead of <filename>gio-2.0.pc</filename>
334    </para>
335  </chapter>
336
337  <chapter id="running-gio-apps">
338    <title>Running GIO applications</title>
339
340    <para>
341      GIO inspects a few environment variables in addition to the
342      ones used by GLib.
343    </para>
344
345    <formalpara>
346      <title><envar>XDG_DATA_HOME</envar>, <envar>XDG_DATA_DIRS</envar></title>
347
348      <para>
349        GIO uses these environment variables to locate MIME information.
350        For more information, see the <ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/shared-mime-info-spec">Shared MIME-info Database</ulink>
351        and the <ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/basedir-spec">Base Directory Specification</ulink>.
352      </para>
353    </formalpara>
354
355    <formalpara>
356      <title><envar>GVFS_DISABLE_FUSE</envar></title>
357
358      <para>
359        This variable can be set to keep #Gvfs from starting the fuse backend,
360        which may be unwanted or unnecessary in certain situations.
361      </para>
362    </formalpara>
363
364    <formalpara>
365      <title><envar>GIO_USE_VFS</envar></title>
366
367      <para>
368        This environment variable can be set to the name of a #GVfs
369        implementation to override the default for debugging purposes.
370        The #GVfs implementation for local files that is included in GIO
371        has the name "local", the implementation in the gvfs module has
372        the name "gvfs".  Most commonly, system software will set this to "local"
373	to avoid having `GFile` APIs perform unnecessary DBus calls.
374      </para><para>
375        The special value <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
376        available implementations to standard output.
377      </para>
378    </formalpara>
379
380    <para>
381      The following environment variables are only useful for debugging
382      GIO itself or modules that it loads. They should not be set in a
383      production environment.
384    </para>
385
386    <formalpara>
387      <title><envar>GIO_USE_FILE_MONITOR</envar></title>
388
389      <para>
390        This variable can be set to the name of a #GFileMonitor
391        implementation to override the default for debugging purposes.
392        The #GFileMonitor implementation for local files that is included
393        in GIO on Linux has the name "inotify", others that are built
394        are built as modules (depending on the platform) are called
395        "fam" and "fen".
396      </para><para>
397        The special value <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
398        available implementations to standard output.
399      </para>
400    </formalpara>
401
402    <formalpara>
403      <title><envar>GIO_USE_VOLUME_MONITOR</envar></title>
404
405      <para>
406        This variable can be set to the name of a #GVolumeMonitor
407        implementation to override the default for debugging purposes.
408        The #GVolumeMonitor implementation for local files that is included
409        in GIO has the name "unix", the udisks2-based implementation in the
410        gvfs module has the name "udisks2".
411      </para><para>
412        The special value <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
413        available implementations to standard output.
414      </para>
415    </formalpara>
416
417    <formalpara>
418      <title><envar>GIO_USE_TLS</envar></title>
419
420      <para>
421        This variable can be set to the name of a #GTlsBackend
422        implementation to override the default for debugging purposes.
423        GIO does not include a #GTlsBackend implementation, the gnutls-based
424        implementation in the glib-networking module has the name "gnutls".
425      </para><para>
426        The special value <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
427        available implementations to standard output.
428      </para>
429    </formalpara>
430
431    <formalpara>
432      <title><envar>GIO_MODULE_DIR</envar></title>
433
434      <para>
435        When this environment variable is set to a path, GIO will load
436	modules from this alternate directory instead of the directory
437	built into GIO. This is useful when running tests, for example.
438      </para>
439    </formalpara>
440
441    <formalpara>
442      <title><envar>GIO_EXTRA_MODULES</envar></title>
443
444      <para>
445        When this environment variable is set to a path, or a set of
446        paths separated by a colon, GIO will attempt to load
447        additional modules from within the path.
448      </para>
449    </formalpara>
450
451    <formalpara>
452      <title><envar>GSETTINGS_BACKEND</envar></title>
453
454      <para>
455        This variable can be set to the name of a #GSettingsBackend
456        implementation to override the default for debugging purposes.
457        The memory-based implementation that is included in GIO has
458        the name "memory", the one in dconf has the name "dconf".
459      </para><para>
460        The special value <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
461        available implementations to standard output.
462      </para>
463    </formalpara>
464
465    <formalpara>
466      <title><envar>GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR</envar></title>
467
468      <para>
469        This variable can be set to the name of a directory that is
470        considered in addition to the <filename>glib-2.0/schemas</filename>
471        subdirectories of the XDG system data dirs when looking
472        for compiled schemas for #GSettings.
473      </para>
474    </formalpara>
475
476   <formalpara>
477      <title><envar>DBUS_SYSTEM_BUS_ADDRESS</envar></title>
478
479      <para>
480        This variable is consulted to find the address of the D-Bus system
481        bus. For the format of D-Bus addresses, see the D-Bus
482        <ulink url="http://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#addresses">specification</ulink>.
483      </para>
484      <para>
485        Setting this variable overrides platform-specific ways of determining
486        the system bus address.
487      </para>
488   </formalpara>
489
490   <formalpara>
491      <title><envar>DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS</envar></title>
492
493      <para>
494        This variable is consulted to find the address of the D-Bus session bus.
495      </para>
496      <para>
497        Setting this variable overrides platform-specific ways of determining
498        the session bus address.
499      </para>
500   </formalpara>
501
502   <formalpara>
503      <title><envar>DBUS_STARTER_BUS_TYPE</envar></title>
504
505      <para>
506        This variable is consulted to find out the 'starter' bus for an
507        application that has been started via D-Bus activation. The possible
508        values are 'system' or 'session'.
509      </para>
510   </formalpara>
511
512   <formalpara>
513      <title><envar>G_DBUS_DEBUG</envar></title>
514
515      <para>
516         This variable can be set to a list of debug options, which
517         cause GLib to print out different types of debugging
518         information when using the D-Bus routines.
519         <variablelist>
520           <varlistentry>
521             <term>transport</term>
522             <listitem><para>Show IO activity (e.g. reads and writes)</para></listitem>
523           </varlistentry>
524           <varlistentry>
525             <term>message</term>
526             <listitem><para>Show all sent and received D-Bus messages</para></listitem>
527           </varlistentry>
528           <varlistentry>
529             <term>payload</term>
530             <listitem><para>Show payload for all sent and received D-Bus messages (implies message)</para></listitem>
531           </varlistentry>
532           <varlistentry>
533             <term>call</term>
534             <listitem><para>Trace g_dbus_connection_call() and g_dbus_connection_call_sync() API usage</para></listitem>
535           </varlistentry>
536           <varlistentry>
537             <term>signal</term>
538             <listitem><para>Show when a D-Bus signal is received</para></listitem>
539           </varlistentry>
540           <varlistentry>
541             <term>incoming</term>
542             <listitem><para>Show when an incoming D-Bus method call is received</para></listitem>
543           </varlistentry>
544           <varlistentry>
545             <term>return</term>
546             <listitem><para>Show when a reply is returned via the #GDBusMethodInvocation API</para></listitem>
547           </varlistentry>
548           <varlistentry>
549             <term>emission</term>
550             <listitem><para>Trace g_dbus_connection_emit_signal() API usage</para></listitem>
551           </varlistentry>
552           <varlistentry>
553             <term>authentication</term>
554             <listitem><para>Show information about connection authentication</para></listitem>
555           </varlistentry>
556           <varlistentry>
557             <term>address</term>
558             <listitem><para>Show information about D-Bus address lookups and autolaunching</para></listitem>
559           </varlistentry>
560         </variablelist>
561         The special value <literal>all</literal> can be used to turn
562         on all debug options. The special value
563         <literal>help</literal> can be used to print a list of
564         supported options to standard output.
565      </para>
566   </formalpara>
567
568   <formalpara>
569      <title><envar>G_DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1_KEYRING_DIR</envar></title>
570
571      <para>
572        Can be used to override the directory used to store the
573        keyring used in the <literal>DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1</literal>
574        authentication mechanism. Normally the directory used is
575        <filename>.dbus-keyrings</filename> in the user's home
576        directory.
577      </para>
578   </formalpara>
579
580   <formalpara>
581      <title><envar>G_DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1_KEYRING_DIR_IGNORE_PERMISSION</envar></title>
582
583      <para>
584        If set, the permissions of the directory used to store the
585        keyring used in the <literal>DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1</literal>
586        authentication mechanism won't be checked. Normally the
587        directory must be readable only by the user.
588      </para>
589   </formalpara>
590  </chapter>
591
592  <chapter id="extending-gio">
593    <title>Extending GIO</title>
594
595    <para>
596      A lot of the functionality that is accessible through GIO
597      is implemented in loadable modules, and modules provide a convenient
598      way to extend GIO. In addition to the #GIOModule API which supports
599      writing such modules, GIO has a mechanism to define extension points,
600      and register implementations thereof, see #GIOExtensionPoint.
601    </para>
602    <para>
603      The following extension points are currently defined by GIO:
604    </para>
605
606    <formalpara>
607       <title>G_VFS_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
608
609       <para>
610          Allows to override the functionality of the #GVfs class.
611          Implementations of this extension point must be derived from #GVfs.
612          GIO uses the implementation with the highest priority that is active,
613          see g_vfs_is_active().
614       </para>
615       <para>
616          GIO implements this extension point for local files, gvfs contains
617          an implementation that supports all the backends in gvfs.
618       </para>
619   </formalpara>
620
621   <formalpara>
622      <title>G_VOLUME_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
623
624      <para>
625         Allows to add more volume monitors.
626         Implementations of this extension point must be derived from
627         #GVolumeMonitor. GIO uses all registered extensions.
628      </para>
629      <para>
630        gvfs contains an implementation that works together with the #GVfs
631        implementation in gvfs.
632      </para>
633   </formalpara>
634
635   <formalpara>
636      <title>G_NATIVE_VOLUME_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
637
638      <para>
639         Allows to override the 'native' volume monitor.
640         Implementations of this extension point must be derived from
641         #GNativeVolumeMonitor. GIO uses the implementation with
642         the highest priority that is supported, as determined by the
643         is_supported() vfunc in #GVolumeMonitorClass.
644      </para>
645      <para>
646         GIO implements this extension point for local mounts,
647         gvfs contains a udisks2-based implementation.
648      </para>
649   </formalpara>
650
651   <formalpara>
652      <title>G_LOCAL_FILE_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
653
654      <para>
655        Allows to override the file monitor implementation for
656        local files. Implementations of this extension point must
657        be derived from #GLocalFileMonitor. GIO uses the implementation
658        with the highest priority that is supported, as determined by the
659        is_supported() vfunc in #GLocalFileMonitorClass.
660      </para>
661      <para>
662        GIO uses this extension point internally, to switch between
663        its fam-based and inotify-based file monitoring implementations.
664      </para>
665   </formalpara>
666
667   <formalpara>
668      <title>G_LOCAL_DIRECTORY_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
669
670      <para>
671        Allows to override the directory monitor implementation for
672        local files. Implementations of this extension point must be
673        derived from #GLocalDirectoryMonitor. GIO uses the implementation
674        with the highest priority that is supported, as determined by the
675        is_supported() vfunc in #GLocalDirectoryMonitorClass.
676      </para>
677      <para>
678        GIO uses this extension point internally, to switch between
679        its fam-based and inotify-based directory monitoring implementations.
680      </para>
681   </formalpara>
682
683   <formalpara>
684      <title>G_DESKTOP_APP_INFO_LOOKUP_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
685
686      <para>
687        Unix-only. Allows to provide a way to associate default handlers
688        with URI schemes. Implementations of this extension point must
689        implement the #GDesktopAppInfoLookup interface. GIO uses the
690        implementation with the highest priority.
691      </para>
692      <para>
693        This extension point has been discontinued in GLib 2.28. It is
694        still available to keep API and ABI stability, but GIO is no
695        longer using it for default handlers. Instead, the mime handler
696        mechanism is used, together with x-scheme-handler pseudo-mimetypes.
697      </para>
698   </formalpara>
699
700   <formalpara>
701      <title>G_SETTINGS_BACKEND_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
702
703      <para>
704        Allows to provide an alternative storage for #GSettings.
705        Implementations of this extension point must derive from the
706        #GSettingsBackend type. GIO contains a keyfile-based
707        implementation of this extension point, another one is provided
708        by dconf.
709      </para>
710   </formalpara>
711
712   <formalpara>
713     <title>G_PROXY_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
714
715     <para>
716       Allows to provide implementations for network proxying.
717       Implementations of this extension point must provide the
718       #GProxy interface, and must be named after the network
719       protocol they are proxying.
720     </para>
721     <para>
722       glib-networking contains an implementation of this extension
723       point based on libproxy.
724     </para>
725   </formalpara>
726   <formalpara>
727     <title>G_TLS_BACKEND_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
728
729     <para>
730       Allows to provide implementations for TLS support.
731       Implementations of this extension point must implement
732       the #GTlsBackend interface.
733     </para>
734     <para>
735       glib-networking contains an implementation of this extension
736       point.
737     </para>
738   </formalpara>
739
740   <formalpara>
741     <title>G_NETWORK_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME</title>
742
743     <para>
744       Allows to provide implementations for network connectivity
745       monitoring.
746       Implementations of this extension point must implement
747       the #GNetworkMonitorInterface interface.
748     </para>
749     <para>
750       GIO contains an implementation of this extension point
751       that is using the netlink interface of the Linux kernel.
752     </para>
753   </formalpara>
754  </chapter>
755</part>
756
757