[EROS-Arch] Package handling...

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

Joerg Bornschein wrote:
> Anyway, at some point after having explicit linked new constructors to my
> shiny new component, i would like to delete the old ones.
> 
> But i cant do this -- my packet manager cant be sure if some user (currently
> not logged in) is using this constructors product. How long should it wait?
> A week? Two weeks? A month?

Yes. There is a definite GC problem here, but here are two options:

1. Reference counting. We can arrange things so that the constructor
also destroys, and therefore knows how many objects are outstanding.

2. Explicit deletion. Deleting the constructor does not need to cause
instances to die. They run as long as they run.