For example, some software may be mature and effectively read only. Other software may be experimental and undergo frequent updates. Different strategies may be used for them. Resources will be secured in the sense that updates can be done only be authorized people, such as the owner. This requires the development of a security infrastructure.
Resources can be anything that fits into a file.
Initially, we concentrate on supporting software distributions, including the accompanying documentation, which may include text, images, etc. For example, we will need to tools to monitor and set-up servers, make it easy to add, remove, and update resources, etc. In particular, adding a file to the GDN requires special security measures. To simplify security issues, we initially assume the GDN servers operate behind a firewall. The GDN will logically consist of two different parts.