openstack team mailing list archive

[Mark Nottingham <mnot@xxxxxxxx>]

On 12/10/2011, at 1:00 AM, Mark McLoughlin wrote:
> 
> We're not attempting to enumerating all the valid ways that POST can be
> used, we're trying to narrow down those possibilities to a set of
> guidelines which describe the general style and idioms of OpenStack
> APIs.


Understood. I've been involved in a few different efforts to define API conventions, and IME there's a tricky line between promoting a 'style' and neutering the power of HTTP. 

I've often seen cases where people try to proscribe a use of POST, for example, only to run into use cases later that directly called for it. So, I tend to advocate educating people about different patterns of use, rather than mandating/requiring them. People often reach for POST when they should be doing something else, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have legitimate uses in the update case.

There are cases where it's necessary to be prescriptive, of course (e.g., to have a sane approach to versioning). 

Cheers,


--
Mark Nottingham   http://www.mnot.net/