The intent is to make data returned by queries always conform to a
single schema version, which is requested by the client. For CQL
queries, for example, we want to use the same schema which was used to
compile the query. The other node expects to receive data conforming
to the requested schema.
Interface on shard level accepts schema_ptr, across nodes we use
table_schema_version UUID. To transfer schema_ptr across shards, we
use global_schema_ptr.
Because schema is identified with UUID across nodes, requestors must
be prepared for being queried for the definition of the schema. They
must hold a live schema_ptr around the request. This guarantees that
schema_registry will always know about the requested version. This is
not an issue because for queries the requestor needs to hold on to the
schema anyway to be able to interpret the results. But care must be
taken to always use the same schema version for making the request and
parsing the results.
Schema requesting across nodes is currently stubbed (throws runtime
exception).
The goal is to provide various test cases with a way of iterating over
many combinations of mutaitons. It's good to have this in one place to
avoid duplication and increased coverage.
Since bytes is a very generic value that is returned from many calls,
it is easy to pass it by mistake to a function expecting a data_value,
and to get a wrong result. It is impossible for the data_value constructor
to know if the argument is a genuine bytes variable, a data_value of another
type, but serialized, or some other serialized data type.
To prevent misuse, make the data_value(bytes) constructor
(and complementary data_value(optional<bytes>) explicit.
