WADL has to be downloaded

[Robert Collins]

Including a static version of the WADL from a particular release in lplib releases would be of great assistance to users on slow links: downloading 1MB, even 'just the first time' can cost as much as 10 dollars, and if you have a python application that works with (say) the 2010-01 release of launchpad, there is (given our compatibility constraints) no need to have a newer WADL.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

see also bug 521927

[Gary Poster (gary)]

This is a nice idea.

We've determined that the WADL for frozen revisions may change because it may have additional values for enumerations. This is necessary because the data itself may change.

If you are using launchpadlib with an old version of WADL for a frozen webservice version like 1.0, and it doesn't have a new value of a preexisting enumeration (that is, the value was added since the old WADL was created), what bad can happen?

I asked Leonard. He replied that you simply won't be able to see the new value in the list of all values. it will still show up in the data. You won't be able to set the new value, because wadllib will prevent you. If a program uses wadllib to determine display values for the enumeration, it may fall over.

Therefore, an old wadllib won't necessarily be bad, but is not guaranteed to be good either.

After this discussion, I'm actually going to push this to Won't Fix. The change is questionable enough in my mind that I doubt it will be scheduled. Counterarguments welcome.

[Robert Collins (lifeless)]

I'm fine with wont fix - we can always change our mind.

Performance of the API is important to me though, and downloading the
wadl is a huge imposition for some use cases, so I will likely revisit
this; firstly though we need to get our service time way down across
the board.

-Rob