Solum/CLI

Solum Command Line Interface

Overview

As of 2014-01-13 Solum does not yet have a CLI. It is required for our initial release, and efforts to code one are underway. A number of options for developing the tool are under discussion. This wiki page identifies and detail the options under consideration, and describes our intended approach.

Goals

1. Produce a prototype to satisfy the solum-minimal-cli blueprint
2. Produce a complete CLI for Solum that allows simple interaction with the Solum API service, satisfying the solum-cli blueprint
3. Adjust the CLI (if needed) to conform to the prevailing OpenStack CLI tools, and underlying resources, such as any prevailing SDK resources and client libraries.

Blueprints

• https://blueprints.launchpad.net/solum/+spec/solum-cli
• https://blueprints.launchpad.net/solum/+spec/solum-minimal-cli

See the diagram showing how the CLI relates to the rest of the ecosystem

Mailing List Threads

• http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/2013-November/018505.html

Minimal CLI Options

Argparse

• WIP pull request - https://review.openstack.org/66065

Pro

• Fast-track to completing an M1 CLI
• Relatively simple Python standard argparse library-based code
• No external (potentially changing) code dependencies
• Modeled after Trove architecture recommendations

Con

• May be the largest porting effort to the eventual OpenStack client of any options
• No authentication handling built in (likely need to make a dependency on the python keystone client - https://github.com/openstack/python-keystoneclient)

Cliff

• (no pull request)
• https://cliff.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
• Cliff Demo App: https://github.com/dreamhost/cliff/tree/master/demoapp

Pro

• Future direction planned for OSC
• Cliff is maintained by Stackers

Con

• OSC Does not yet use cliff, and we are uncertain when it will.

OSC

• WIP pull request/hack - https://review.openstack.org/#/c/64703/
• Note: dtroyer is the technical lead for OSC

Pro

• Considered by many to be the best path for integration into the future OpenStack CLI architecture
• Integrates authentication already
• dtroyer agreed to implement two Solum plugin features to provide an example

Con

• Not complete - some APIs may change, especially around authentication
• The plugin documentation is not complete - https://github.com/dtroyer/python-oscplugin
• No other project has implemented the OSC plugin yet (core OpenStack projects add their features directly into the OSC without plugins)
• There are discussions about potential OSC architectural changes within OpenStack; want to verify that we will not be chasing large code changes

Proposed Plan

• Pursue a prototype based on simple argparse pull request to satisfy the solum-minimal-cli blueprint as part of M1 (short term, considered disposable).
• Pursue a complete client based on WIP OSC pull request that can integrate with OSC to satisfy the solum-cli blueprint
• The "prototype" client will be completed first, and will only implement the minimum needed to address solum-minimal-cli.
• OSC client obviates the argparse client, implementing everything in solum-cli once it is done.
• When OSC is adapted to use Cliff, we will adapt our OSC plugin to conform.