Problem with fn list_namespaces()

I don’t fully agree with the approach of listing namespaces in the KvStore API.

An application must be aware of the namespaces it is using and should avoid any dynamic namespaces. (An analogy would be an application requesting list_tables from a SQL db.)

Problem with fn list_secondary_namespaces()

Depending on how client has architected their storage, this could be a non-backward compatible change or could be inefficient.

Consider a client with kvstore: partition_key:namespace sort_key:secondary_namespace+key

• Requesting list of secondary namespaces might require them to list all the keys depending on implementation.
• In dynamo-db there is no way to list all partition_keys afaik, you can only list sort_keys within a partition_key

Consider a client with composite key: namespace+secondary_namespace+key, if they have functionality for prefix search.

• Requesting list of namespace / secondary namespaces might require them to list all the keys depending on implementation.

Proposal

Since the purpose of list namespaces or secondary_namespaces is to eventually list keys for migration etc.
We should directly ask for keys and extend the list api to support this.

By this i mean, either change fn list(&self, primary_namespace: &str, secondary_namespace: &str) to make secondary_namespace optional.

or introduce fn list(&self, primary_namespace: &str) -> Vec<secondary_namespace, key>

• Don't ask for list<namespaces>, this solves the dynamo-db case where we can't list partition_keys.
• Solves the case where listing secondary_namespaces require them to list all keys. (both in hash+range & composite key case.)

In short we might have complicated this by not supporting prefix listing of keys and going for 2 levels of namespaces.

An application must be aware of the namespaces it is using

Potentially, yes, but our migration logic might not be aware of all the namespaces.

and should avoid any dynamic namespaces.

Huh? That can't be a requirement as the namespaces have been explicitly introduced to allow for dynamic namespaces in MonitorUpdatingPersister?

Depending on how client has architected their storage, this could be a non-backward compatible change or could be inefficient.

I guess at this point we have pretty clear picture of the currently deployed KVStore implementations. Do any of them stand out that can't do this?

Requesting list of secondary namespaces might require them to list all the keys depending on implementation.

Yes, this is exactly what we try to do here, no?

In dynamo-db there is no way to list all partition_keys afaik, you can only list sort_keys within a partition_key

Right, that means that the implementation would need to iterate over all partitions? Same goes for a file store backend for example? I'm not sure I'm following what the problem is exactly?

By this i mean, either change fn list(&self, primary_namespace: &str, secondary_namespace: &str) to make secondary_namespace optional.

What do you mean with "make secondary_namespace optional"?

or introduce fn list(&self, primary_namespace: &str) -> Vec<secondary_namespace, key>

* Don't ask for `list<namespaces>`, this solves the dynamo-db case where we can't list partition_keys.

* Solves the case where listing secondary_namespaces require them to list all keys. (both in hash+range & composite key case.)

I think you're losing me here, what exactly is your proposal and what is it solving?

In short we might have complicated this by not supporting prefix listing of keys and going for 2 levels of namespaces.

How would prefix matching be any more efficient here? I think all (?) the most common backends would still need to do this by iterating over all keys and filtering?