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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/COUCHDB-2052?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=13894677#comment-13894677
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Jens Alfke commented on COUCHDB-2052:
-------------------------------------

> The replicator attempts to use optimized endpoints of source and target nodes 
> and, on a 404, falls back to less optimal endpoints

This is definitely elegant and Web-like, but not optimal over slow mobile 
connections with high latency. If multiple resources need to be preflighted 
this way, it can start to add noticeable delay to the replication. I'm not 
saying that this approach is unacceptable; just be aware that it has a cost 
(one that CouchDB developers may not be keeping in mind since they're used to 
thinking of replication as being between two _servers_ with fast Ethernet 
connections :)

> Add API for discovering feature availability
> --------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: COUCHDB-2052
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/COUCHDB-2052
>             Project: CouchDB
>          Issue Type: Improvement
>      Security Level: public(Regular issues) 
>          Components: HTTP Interface
>            Reporter: Jens Alfke
>
> I propose adding to the response of "GET /" a property called "features" or 
> "extensions" whose value is an array of strings, each string being an 
> agreed-upon identifier of a specific optional feature. For example:
>       {"couchdb": "welcome", "features": ["_bulk_get", "persona"]}, "vendor": 
> …
> Rationale:
> Features are being added to CouchDB over time, plug-ins may add features, and 
> there are compatible servers that may have nonstandard features (like 
> _bulk_get). But there isn't a clear way for a client (which might be another 
> server's replicator) to determine what features a server has. Currently a 
> client looking at the response of a GET / has to figure out what server and 
> version thereof it's talking to, and then has to consult hardcoded knowledge 
> that version X of server Y supports feature Z.
> (True, you can often get away without needing to check, by assuming a feature 
> exists but falling back to standard behavior if you get an error. But not all 
> features may be so easy to detect — the behavior of an unaware server might 
> be to ignore the feature and do the wrong thing, rather than returning an 
> error — and anyway this adds extra round-trips that slow down the operation.)



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