[rabbitmq-discuss] GPB and AMQP/RabbitMQ

Wed Mar 25 21:40:27 GMT 2009

 Elsner, Robert <Robert.Elsner at echostar.com> wrote:
> I did not know ActiveMQ had that, very interesting.  The part I have
> enjoyed the most about GPB is that the languages we use (C#, Java,
> Erlang, C) have generated source, operate very similarly, and work
> incredibly well.  GPB versus our current packet format adds a little
> overhead, but the flexibility and extensibility far exceeds what we've
> done thus far.  I know there are other libraries out there, do you know
> if anyone has done anything similar with AMQP and the other formats?

We are using Thrift--very similar to GPB--and RabbitMQ together with
great success.  We are using them as entirely separate message
encoding vs. distribution systems, but other people are using them
with tighter integration (e.g. the txAMQP project from FluidInfo,
which I have not tried).

> The one factor I don't like about GPB is that it isn't self-describing,
> to really understand a message one needs the .proto or the code
> generated from it.  For something like AMQP it might be more useful to
> the community to pick a binary wireformat that encodes well, which also
> self-describes its message.

There is a similar situation with Thrift, and I agree that either
would make a poor standard if that were a goal of the AMQP WG.

Michael