Question: Individual annotations vs One large annotation (conceptual riddle for the interested)

[Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)]

Gunnar Wrobel wrote:
> Quoting "Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)" <vanmeeuwen at kolabsys.com>:
> > On 11.10.2011 10:30, Gunnar Wrobel wrote:
> >> Quoting "Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)"
> >> 
> >> <vanmeeuwen at kolabsys.com>:
> >>> Bernhard Reiter wrote:
> >>>> You could make one known annotation to contain the list of dynamic
> >>>> annotations if this is the issue. On the other hand, if a client
> >>>> wants
> >>>> to understand the contents of a configuration option, it would know
> >>>> the
> >>>> designated annotation for it as well.
> >>> 
> >>> Putting annotation paths that may or may not be known to a client
> >>> into
> >>> another, one, annotation known to all clients is quite the
> >>> work-around to
> >>> avoid having just one annotation to store (all of) the actual
> >>> configuration.
> >> 
> >> True and I don't think the clients need to have access to the list of
> >> potential annotations. But that is also the reason for not choosing
> >> one big annotation: Not all clients will require access to all of
> >> them
> >> because the corresponding features will not always be supported.
> > 
> > Again, all clients will need access to all feature specific
> > configuration data regardless of whether the client actually understands
> > one or more of them features - the least it should be able to recognize
> > is that *a* feature specific item is already configured and it can
> > *thus* not configure another feature on top of the folder - or it would
> > endanger the folder of being configured with two mutually exclusive
> > features on top of one another.
> 
> You state again that all annotations are dependent on each other and
> can potentially conflict with each other.

No, I don't state that. I state that in order to be able to safely configure 
feature $a on a folder, a client must be able to guarantee no feature $b 
through $z has already been configured on a folder, any of which *may* be 
mutually exclusive with feature $a.

If feature $b through $z were stored in annotations the client has no 
knowledge of, it is then also unable to provide such detection.

> I disagreed before and still
> do.
> 

Then again, there's no strong objections against using one annotation; it 
seems we're arguing just for the sake of arguing, and going absolutely nowhere 
while doing so.

I have yet to recognize any objections against using one annotation.

Kind regards,

Jeroen van Meeuwen

-- 
Senior Engineer, Kolab Systems AG

e: vanmeeuwen at kolabsys.com
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