As a newcomer to the project, the mixed use of "provider" and "register" in the code base took me some time to grok.
Meanings of "Provider"
A wrapper around some data resource, e.g., a specific PostGIS connection, with a list of layers available in this resource. For example, the "providers" section in the config file has this meaning. This is also referred to as a "Tiler", and its concrete type in common use is TilerUnion. This the kind of "provider" in the "providers" slice returned by cmd/internal/register.Providers(). One of these is "registered" for every "provider" in the config file.
A driver which allows creating Tilers ("provider" definition 1) for a specific type of data resource.provider/postgis is this kind of "provider." This kind of "provider" is "registered" only once and then cleaned up at program exit. The providers map in provider/provider.go holds a set of this kind, although it is also translated into a driversList by provider.Drivers().
Meanings of "Register"
I found the usage of "register" also confusing, but primarily because it refers to different "provider" definitions and lifecycles. There's a register package which has nothing (almost) to do with registering the type 2 "providers". If the context were more clear, the usage of "register" would probably clear up as well.
As a newcomer to the project, the mixed use of "provider" and "register" in the code base took me some time to grok.
Meanings of "Provider"
TilerUnion. This the kind of "provider" in the "providers" slice returned bycmd/internal/register.Providers(). One of these is "registered" for every "provider" in the config file.provider/postgisis this kind of "provider." This kind of "provider" is "registered" only once and then cleaned up at program exit. Theprovidersmap inprovider/provider.goholds a set of this kind, although it is also translated into adriversListbyprovider.Drivers().Meanings of "Register"
I found the usage of "register" also confusing, but primarily because it refers to different "provider" definitions and lifecycles. There's a
registerpackage which has nothing (almost) to do with registering the type 2 "providers". If the context were more clear, the usage of "register" would probably clear up as well.