[collectd] collectd 4.1.0 available

[Florian Forster]

Hi Thorsten,

On Thu, Sep 06, 2007 at 09:33:39AM -0700, Thorsten von Eicken wrote:
> I just started to build a web interface around 4.0.6

oh, nice :) Please let us know when you have a demo :)

> However, I could find any information on compatibility.

Oh, right, that might be better documented.. I'll see into that
tomorrow..

> Can a 4.0.6 client talk to a 4.1.0 server? And vice-versa?

Yes and yes. The protocol was designed with forward-compatibility in
mind to that `old' servers will ignore new stuff sent by `new' client.
That means that a 4.1 client sending stuff to a 4.0 will word - but the
`interval' information will be ignored, i. e. the same interval as the
server will be assumed for the client.
If an `old' client sends data to a `new' server basically the same
happens, just for other reasons: Since the packet will not contain the
`interval' information the server's setting will be used as a default.

> I think it's very important that the server be backwards compatible
> with older clients. Do you have a stated policy for that?

So do I..  The general policy is that new minor versions need to be
backwards compatible. Of course, that's a bit tricky for formulate when
there are two versions communicating. However, the major aspects have
been dealt with and future additions will likely only address a minor
issue. So the poolicy network wise is that the server needs to ignore
unknown options and continue as if they were not present.
In other words: Whatever the server expects now should be the default
value for future options so that `old' servers will continue working as
they have in the past and that `new' servers provide expected defaults
for old client.

Regards,
-octo
-- 
Florian octo Forster
Hacker in training
GnuPG: 0x91523C3D
http://verplant.org/
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