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`.
os = <unloaded module 'os'>
os.system = <built-in function system>
os = <module 'os' from '?'>
util = <unloaded module 'util'>
util.system = <function system at 0x?>
util = <module 'mercurial.util' from '?'>
util.system = <function system at 0x?>
fred = <unloaded module 're'>
re = <unloaded module 'sys'>
fred = <unloaded module 're'>
fred.sub = <function sub at 0x?>
fred = <proxied module 're'>
re = <unloaded module 'sys'>
re.stderr = <open file '<whatever>', mode 'w' at 0x?>
re = <proxied module 'sys'>
node = <module 'mercurial.node' from '?'>