Regarding shutdown: no more changes before version 1.4.
I am currently in the process of making a stable version 1.4, so I just don't have the time to get involved in such discussions. I just thought I'd let you know that I won't make any changes in that area before version 1.4. After that, we can talk about this.
Klaus
For 1.4 I would suggest to include the vdr-inactivity patch that comes with the burn plugin. It implements a method into cPlugin class to allow a plugin to block shutdown. It's working similar like a pending cutting thread. However vdr is still master and can overrule it by acknoledging the shutdown.
I wonder why this has not being adopted because it's a sensible and neccessary addition for all plugins doing a little longer jobs (like burn, vdrconvert-plugin, epg-plugins). Currently the cPlugin interface is missing such a generic interface and VDR is not aware of pending activities of a plugin.
kind regards Peter