Rename the --dumps-dir CLI options

[Kerollmops]

The current CLI --snapshot-dir option should be pluralized as the --dumps-dir option is. The descriptions of this flag are plurals too.

[gmourier]

Thanks @Kerollmops

[dichotommy]

Hey, hope I'm not too late in saying this, but I would actually suggest the opposite: --dumps-dir should become --dump-dir, and --snapshot-dir should remain unchanged (or at least, not made plural).

Tagging @maryamsulemani97 and @guimachiavelli just in case I've gone temporarily insane 🙃

[gmourier]

Thanks, @dichotommy. We will follow the doc team's input on that subject!

[guimachiavelli]

I agree with @dichotommy. It sounds more natural to say "snapshot directory", instead of "a directory of snapshots". The same for dumps: "dump directory" instead of "a directory of dumps".

[gmourier]

Perhaps there is a clarification that could help.

The snapshot-dir contains only one snapshot at a time, while dumps-dir can contain multiple dumps.

[guimachiavelli]

So, IMHO, the amount of snapshots/dumps at any given time is not relevant for naming. These settings refer more to a type of folder than to its contents: we have dumps, and we have the dump folder; we have snapshots and the snapshot folder. Using the plural is probably not wrong, but I do feel it's more idiomatic to use the singular.

I think both points become more concrete once we try to pluralise these names: --snapshots-folders or --dumps-folders sound wrong, whereas --snapshot-folders or --dump-folders flow very easily. Obviously it makes no sense to refer to multiple snapshot folders in a single instance, but I can see us mentioning multiple folders in documentation and support.

[gmourier]

Thank you @guimachiavelli !

[gmourier]

If I recap so far

• dumps-dir should be renamed to dump-dir.
• MEILI_DUMPS_DIR should be renamed to MEILI_DUMP_DIR.

I looked for plural forms on other snapshot and dump options, this one seems to be the only one impacted. An extra-look would be appreciated.

Signal @nicolasvienot to have your input on that. Is this something you can manage in an upgrade process that would go from v0.29 to v1.0?

[nicolasvienot]

Hey @gmourier,
What do you mean by in an upgrade process?
I don't think this would be a big issue for the @meilisearch/cloud-team. Currently, we set MEILI_DUMPS_DIR and we can start setting MEILI_DUMP_DIR as soon as the engine-team launches a new version with this change.

[gmourier]

Hey @nicolasvienot, perfect; thanks for your answer!

I was wondering if you had the flexibility to tell the machines of such versions; "use these env var precisely" to see if it would not be a bblocker on your side.

[Kerollmops]

In fact, you could always set both MEILI_DUMPS_DIR and MEILI_DUMP_DIR, one of them will be ignored depending on the version of Meilisearch 😂

[curquiza]

Issue created: meilisearch/meilisearch#3132

[dureuill]

So I started working on meilisearch/meilisearch#3132 and it raised a few additional questions that I was to told to direct here:

1. should the default dump dir remain dumps/ or become dump/?
2. the documentation has a Dumps destination section (that is being referenced by e.g. the default config.toml), should we also change that section to be Dump destination, as it is a compound noun also?

Thanks in advance for any answer!

[dichotommy]

Hey @dureuill 👋🏻

1. The default dump dir should certainly remain dumps as it can contain multiple dump files. snapshots is a trickier question, since there will only ever be one snapshot—which FWIW does defeat the purpose of creating a folder. Regardless, it is generally more intuitive for folders to have plural names (e.g. documents, photos, snapshots, dumps) so I would recommend keeping both plural.
2. I would agree with this change, and would go further to say that it should be retitled Dump directory so that it uses the same language as the config option.

Thanks for your questions 😊

[dureuill]

Hey @dichotommy 👋

Thanks for the answer, so nothing to do for (1), and as we agree about (2) to rename to Dump directory, then I will do the PR in the meilisearch/meilisearch repository and amend my meilisearch/specifications PR to use that terminology consistently (e.g. updating the config.toml that currently references Dumps destination)

[dureuill]

the meilisearch/meilisearch PR is here, and the specification PR is up-to-date. I'm not sure when we should merge them though (at the moment the link is broken as expected since the v0.30 documentation has the original "Dumps destination" header)

[gmourier]

Hey @dureuill 👋

Thank you for being super active on that. Regarding the specifications, we can review and approve them. Generally, we merge them on the day of the release. (We already have cases where when it is merged too early, we make X PRs to make changes afterward before the release, which is not practical 🤯).

[Kerollmops]

We currently create a snapshots directory to put the snapshot in it because it is named the same as the original database i.e. data.ms. This way we avoid name conflicts.

Why not changing the default --snapshot-dir value to be the current directory and use another name for the generated snapshot like snapshot.mdb?

[gmourier]

I've changed the title to be focused on the dumps and not the snapshot as initially given

[dureuill]

thanks, that was indeed a bit confusing!