launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Karl Fogel <karl.fogel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Max Bowsher <maxb@xxxxxxx> writes:
> Quoting https://dev.launchpad.net/API:
>
> """
> Authenticated Access Only
>
> By design, there is no anonymous access through the API. You can do
> read-only access (through a read-only token) but not anonymous access.
> All API use is accounted to a person.
> """
>
> Why?
>
> Please feel free to respond in the form of a wiki edit :-)

I'll answer here, and see if anyone follows up with more (or more
correct) information, before we put this in the wiki.

My understanding is that it's a way to have some safeguard against
[possibly accidental] DoS.  If all accesses are authenticated, then if
someone does something that causes a problem, we can shut off just that
person's API access.  (Presumably, we'd then try to contact them and
figure out a better solution.)

Anyone know a different reason?

-Karl