Possible requirement: allow discovery to return metadata in different formats

[mmccool]

• Should a directory service support content negotiation and return metadata in different formats, eg. Vorto, OpenAPI, WoT TDs?
• What formats? How can a directory service state which formats it supports? What is the minimal set? What is the canonical form? How can a requestor request a particular format?

Please comment on Pros and Cons in comments.

[mmccool]

From 06.04.2020 meeting

Pros:

• Integrate with systems and ecosystems that already support other metadata formats, etc. OpenAPI

Cons:

• Implementation complexity
• Interoperability downside: don't know in advance what formats are supported (although we could make WoT TDs mandatory as a minimal set).
• We should focus on supporting W3C standards; if a service already exists to support other formats that can remain and be used as needed... whether or not they share backends is an implementation issue and need not be visible at the network API level

[mmccool]

In 06.04.2020 meeting
resolution: a WoT discovery service should support only WoT TDs. Content negotiation, if supported, should only be used to select between different versions of TDs (when there is more than one...)

• Issue closed; conclusion is NO.