declare with force

[rlcee]

When running "metacat declare" in a recovery or repair situation, the user might find that the file record 1) does not exist, 2) exists, but is retired or 3) exists unretired. Please consider two switches

• --force which would "unretire" and "update -r" if the record was found in a retired state
• --overwrite which would include the --force feature and in addition would "update -r" if the record existed.

Providing this on the server side simply removes the logic and several server calls that it takes to implement these patterns in user code.

[marcmengel]

@rlcee Would perhaps:--overwrite=retired vs --overwrite=any be more descriptive?

I am tempted to change this entirely as an error handlier on the API client side, in a 4.0.1 client release(?)...

[rlcee]

Just thinking about it a little, what feels natural to me is "--if-needed=unretire --if-needed=overwrite". But I don't feel strongly, so please proceed. Please include this option in the python API. As for coding it as a error handler in the client, does that imply making several calls to the server? Would it be more efficient to handle it on the server side? I'm not sure how much a connection costs in time. But I wouldn't really expect this option to be activated frequently, since it is imagined for helping in cleanup of a non-optimal situation. Thanks

[marcmengel]

Yes, the client would be making several calls to the server, if the file exists, but it keeps the server simpler, and thus a smaller change overall.

[marcmengel]

Okay, I googled for similar phrases, and I've come up with --unretire-as-required and --overwrite-as-required. I think that flows better.

[marcmengel]

Okay, so I ended up with --as-required=overwrite or --as=required=unretire.

[rlcee]

Thanks very much!