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List: vdsm-devel
Subject: Re: [vdsm] API Documentation & Since tag
From: Saggi Mizrahi <smizrahi () redhat ! com>
Date: 2013-01-15 23:15:27
Message-ID: 1278034302.2097416.1358291727010.JavaMail.root () redhat ! com
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----- Original Message -----
> From: "Adam Litke" <agl@us.ibm.com>
> To: "Saggi Mizrahi" <smizrahi@redhat.com>
> Cc: vdsm-devel@lists.fedorahosted.org, "Vinzenz Feenstra" <vfeenstr@redhat.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 9:27:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [vdsm] API Documentation & Since tag
>
> On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 05:45:45PM -0500, Saggi Mizrahi wrote:
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Adam Litke" <agl@us.ibm.com>
> > > To: "Saggi Mizrahi" <smizrahi@redhat.com>
> > > Cc: vdsm-devel@lists.fedorahosted.org, "Vinzenz Feenstra"
> > > <vfeenstr@redhat.com>
> > > Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 5:21:41 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [vdsm] API Documentation & Since tag
> > >
> > > On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:37:57PM -0500, Saggi Mizrahi wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: "Adam Litke" <agl@us.ibm.com>
> > > > > To: "Vinzenz Feenstra" <vfeenstr@redhat.com>
> > > > > Cc: vdsm-devel@lists.fedorahosted.org
> > > > > Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 9:03:19 AM
> > > > > Subject: Re: [vdsm] API Documentation & Since tag
> > > > >
> > > > > On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 10:19:45AM +0100, Vinzenz Feenstra
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > > Hi everyone,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > We are currently documenting the API in vdsmapi-schema.json
> > > > > > I noticed that we have there documented when a certain
> > > > > > element
> > > > > > newly
> > > > > > is introduced using the 'Since' tag.
> > > > > > However I also noticed that we are not documenting when a
> > > > > > field
> > > > > > was
> > > > > > newly added, nor do we update the 'since' tag.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > We should start documenting in what version we've
> > > > > > introduced a
> > > > > > field.
> > > > > > A suggestion by saggi was to add to the comment for
> > > > > > example:
> > > > > > @since: 4.10.3
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What is your point of view on this?
> > > > >
> > > > > I do think it's a good idea to add this information. How
> > > > > about
> > > > > supporting
> > > > > multiple Since lines in the comment like the following made
> > > > > up
> > > > > example:
> > > > >
> > > > > ##
> > > > > # @FenceNodePowerStatus:
> > > > > #
> > > > > # Indicates the power state of a remote host.
> > > > > #
> > > > > # @on: The remote host is powered on
> > > > > #
> > > > > # @off: The remote host is powered off
> > > > > #
> > > > > # @unknown: The power status is not known
> > > > > #
> > > > > # @sentient: The host is alive and powered by its own
> > > > > metabolism
> > > > > #
> > > > > # Since: 4.10.0 - @FenceNodePowerStatus
> > > > > # Since: 10.2.0 - @sentient
> > > > > ##
> > > > I don't like the fact that both lines don't point to the same
> > > > type
> > > > of token.
> > > > I also don't like that it's a repeat of the type names and
> > > > field
> > > > names.
> > > >
> > > > I prefer Vinzenz original suggestion (on IRC) of moving the
> > > > "Since"
> > > > token up and then
> > > > have it be a state. It also makes discerning what entities you
> > > > can
> > > > use up to a
> > > > certain version easier if you make sure to keep them sorted.
> > > >
> > > > We can do this because the order of the fields and availability
> > > > is
> > > > undetermined (unlike real structs).
> > >
> > > That is not correct. These structures are parsed into an
> > > OrderedDict
> > > and the
> > > ordering is important (especially for languages like C which
> > > might
> > > use real
> > > structs).
> > The "wire" format, json, ignores the ordering, further more, for
> > languages like C we can't use actual structs because then we have
> > to bump a major version every time we add a field as the
> > sizeof(struct Foo) changed
> > >
> > > >
> > > > ##
> > > > # @FenceNodePowerStatus:
> > > > #
> > > > # Indicates the power state of a remote host.
> > > > #
> > > > # Since: 4.10.0
> > > > #
> > > > # @on: The remote host is powered on
> > > > #
> > > > # @off: The remote host is powered off
> > > > #
> > > > # @unknown: The power status is not known
> > > > #
> > > > # Since: 10.2.0
> > > > #
> > > > # @sentient: The host is alive and powered by its own
> > > > metabolism
> > > > #
> > > > ##
> > > >
> > > > The problem though is that it makes since a property of the
> > > > fields
> > > > and not of
> > > > the struct. This isn't that much of a problem as we can assume
> > > > the
> > > > earliest
> > > > version is the time when the struct was introduced.
> > >
> > > I don't like this any better than my suggestion. Aside from the
> > > fact
> > > that field
> > > ordering is important (in the data structure itself), this
> > > spreads
> > > the since
> > > information throughout the comment rather than concentrating it
> > > in a
> > > single
> > > place.
> >
> > Well, thinking about it, I don't understand why structs need to
> > have a
> > "Since" property anyway. Only verbs should have it. Structs are
> > available (by inference) since the earliest call that produces
> > them.
> >
> > All fields in a struct are optional anyway. Old versions wouldn't
> > try
> > and access them, new clients should always assume these fields may
> > not be returned anyway.
>
> All _newly_added_ fields must be optional. Fields that are part of
> the original
> definition of the type can be required fields. This reminds me that
> we will
> need to audit the schema for fields that can be made optional. For
> example,
> when creating Vm*Device objects, the VmDeviceAddress member can be
> omitted.
I think the best solution is what python is doing in it's documentation:
You have "versionadded" which is the version where the entity has been
introduced. Subsequent changes use multiple lines of "versionchanged" and a
description.
##
# @FenceNodePowerStatus:
#
# Indicates the power state of a remote host.
#
# @on: The remote host is powered on
#
# @off: The remote host is powered off
#
# @unknown: The power status is not known
#
# @sentient: The host is alive and powered by its own metabolism
#
# Since: 4.10.0
#
# Changed: 10.4.21 added the @sentient possibility.
#
##
I just noticed that the sample code is actually an enum. Enums that are
returned by VDSM can't be changed since old clients will not be able to
expect\handle them. We either need to create a new enum (as it is in this case)
where sentient either maps to @on or @unknown. Or we make @FenceNodePowerStatus
a gradient where positive values means @on and negative values mean @off, 0 is
@unknown and every value we add is a sub-state of it (@sentient >= 100,
@barelyOn = 1). This way old client just see it as @on but newer clients can
discern between classic @on and @sentient. This is similar to how log levels
work.
This means that in order for an enum to be mutable it has to document how it
might change.
It also raises the question about how to represent this in the schema, we also
need to decide whether the conversion is done by libvdsm and always return an
enum or should we return a number at let the user figure it out.
##
# @FenceNodePowerStatus:
#
# Indicates the power state of a remote host. Positive values mean on and
# negative values mean off. 0 means the state is unknown. Values over 100
# are reserved of states where the host is on and is powered by it's own
# metabolism. Values under 100 mean that the host is dead.
#
# @on: The remote host is powered on
#
# @off: The remote host is powered off
#
# @unknown: The power status is not known
#
# @sentient: The host is alive and powered by its own metabolism
#
# @dead: The host is off and can never be on again. Can only happen if
# fence node was previously in @sentient state.
#
# Since: 4.10.0
#
# Changed: 10.4.21 Added the @sentient possibility. Older versions
# are unable to return this value.
#
# Changed: 22.4.21 Added the @dead possibility due users wishing to know when
# to morn @sentient fence nodes. Older versions will return
# regular @off state and in these cases it's the caller's
# responsibility to detect if the agent is @dead or just @off.
#
##
Errors are a good example where this is a real problem, if you add a new error
old clients can be baffled by it. Taking a note from HTTP errors we need to
define error classes and all errors have to be classified.
I have no idea how to represent this in the schema.
>
> --
> Adam Litke <agl@us.ibm.com>
> IBM Linux Technology Center
>
>
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