maas-devel team mailing list archive

[Julian Edwards <julian.edwards@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday 28 May 2014 11:27:16 Newell Jensen wrote:
> * Currently, for every single node related operation (other than updating
> hostname), we need to obtain the system_id. This is affecting usability.  

I presume you are talking about the usability of maas-cli here?

> * Every single operation that currently requires a node's system_id, should
> accept the hostname (other than when updating a node's hostname of course).

I think we need to discuss this problem some more before jumping to a hasty 
change.

Some background is required here:

1. The API was designed as a machine interface, it was never intended to be 
exposed directly to end users

2. maas (used to be maas-cli) was designed as a convenience method to access 
the API from the command line, mostly for testing purposes.  It is a *very* 
raw interface that is auto-generated from the API capability itself, so 
reflects changes in the API as soon as they happen.  It was not really 
designed to be used as a serious API client for end users.

For this reason, I think we need to look at this in the context of some of the 
upcoming work on general usability.

My opinion is that changing the API is the wrong thing to do here.  If we want 
to make the command line more usable, I think we need to move maas back to 
maas-cli and write a wrapper (called maas) around it to add a sugary layer for 
end users.  This can include something that accepts hostnames for operations 
involving nodes.  It can also include something that makes the parameters to 
some of the operations a lot easier to understand.

Now would be a great time to start this work!  Those who attended the Austin 
sprint will have more details on what was discussed for the command line 
client.