exchange: support sorting URLs by client-side preferences
Not all bundles are appropriate for all clients. For example, someone
with a slow Internet connection may want to prefer bz2 bundles over gzip
bundles because they are smaller and don't take as long to transfer.
This is information that a server cannot know on its own. So, we invent
a mechanism for "preferring" server-advertised URLs based on their
attributes.
We could invent a negotiation between client and server where the client
sends its preferences and the sorting/filtering is done server-side.
However, this feels complex. We can avoid complicating the wire protocol
and exposing ourselves to backwards compatible concerns by performing
the sorting locally.
This patch defines a new config option for expressing preferred
attributes in server-advertised bundles.
At Mozilla, we leverage this feature so clients in fast data centers
prefer uncompressed bundles. (We advertise gzip bundles first because
that is a reasonable default.)
I consider this an advanced feature. I'm on the fence as to whether it
should be documented in `hg help config`.
(binary:application/octet-stream)