Propose adding feature flags to velero

Signed-off-by: Nolan Brubaker <brubakern@vmware.com>
pull/1759/head
Nolan Brubaker 2019-08-12 17:52:05 -04:00
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# Feature Flags
Status: Accepted
Some features may take a while to get fully implemented, and we don't necessarily want to have long-lived feature branches
A simple feature flag implementation allows code to be merged into master, but not used unless a flag is set.
## Goals
- Allow unfinished features to be present in Velero releases, but only enabled when the associated flag is set.
## Non Goals
- A robust feature flag library.
## Background
When considering the [CSI integration work](https://github.com/heptio/velero/pull/1661), the timelines involved presented a problem in balancing a release and longer-running feature work.
A simple implementation of feature flags can help protect unfinished code while allowing the rest of the changes to ship.
## High-Level Design
A new command line flag, `--features` will be added to the root `velero` command.
`--features` will accept a comma-separated list of features, such as `--features EnableCSI,Replication`.
Each feature listed will correspond to a key in a map in `pkg/features/features.go` defining whether a feature should be enabled.
Any code implementing the feature would then import the map and look up the key's value.
For the Velero client, a `features` key can be added to the `config.json` file for more convenient client invocations.
## Detailed Design
A new `features` package will be introduced with these basic structs:
```go
type FeatureFlagSet struct {
flags map[string]bool
}
type Flags interface {
// Enabled reports whether or not the specified flag is found.
Enabled(name string) bool
// Enable adds the specified flags to the list of enabled flags.
Enable(names ...string)
// All returns all enabled features
All() []string
}
// NewFeatureFlagSet initializes and populates a new FeatureFlagSet
func NewFeatureFlagSet(flags ...string) FeatureFlagSet
```
When parsing the `--features` flag, the entire `[]string` will be passed to `NewFeatureFlagSet`.
Additional features can be added with the `Enable` function.
Parsed features will be printed as an `Info` level message on server start up.
No verification of features will be done in order to keep the implementation minimal.
On the client side, `--features` and the `features` key in `config.json` file will be additive, resulting in the union of both.
To disable a feature, the server must be stopped and restarted with a modified `--features` list.
Similarly, the client process must be stopped and restarted without features.
## Alternatives Considered
Omitted
## Security Considerations
Omitted