Handle Deprecations: Kibana Saved Objects APIs

[TinaHeiligers]

Most of the Kibana Saved Objects APIs were deprecated in 8.7 (released Mar 30, 2023).

The APIs that are to remain are:

/api/saved_objects/_import
/api/saved_objects/_export
/api/saved_objects/_resolve_import_errors

The provider will need to change the implementation before these APIs are removed.

[TinaHeiligers]

cc @jloleysens

[tobio]

IIUC the provider is only using the _import endpoint now (see here).

Is there something else here that I'm not aware of?

[TinaHeiligers]

IUC the provider is only using the _import endpoint now (see here).

Fantastic!

Is there something else here that I'm not aware of?

No, the _import API isn't deprecated and will be supported for the foreseeable future.

@tobio please let the Kibana Core team know if your team objects to the non-public saved object's APIs being deprecated. Closing this issue as resolved with no action needed.

[TinaHeiligers]

Reopened to discuss the follow-up action to delete the deprecated saved objects APIs.

If we plan to support terraform-provider-elasticstack, keeping deprecated APIs around runs the risk of consumers building integrations with APIs that aren't supported anymore, if they even still exist!

We strongly suggest handling the necessary changes a.s.a.p.

Current:

type OptionalFindParameters struct {
	ObjectsPerPage        int
	Page                  int
	Search                string
	DefaultSearchOperator string
	SearchFields          []string
	Fields                []string
	SortField             string
	HasReference          string
}

// KibanaSavedObjectGet permit to get saved object from Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectGet func(objectType string, id string, kibanaSpace string) (map[string]interface{}, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectFind permit to find saved objects from Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectFind func(objectType string, kibanaSpace string, optionalParameters *OptionalFindParameters) (map[string]interface{}, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectCreate permit to create saved object in Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectCreate func(data map[string]interface{}, objectType string, id string, overwrite bool, kibanaSpace string) (map[string]interface{}, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectUpdate permit to update saved object in Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectUpdate func(data map[string]interface{}, objectType string, id string, kibanaSpace string) (map[string]interface{}, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectDelete permit to delete saved object in Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectDelete func(objectType string, id string, kibanaSpace string) error

// KibanaSavedObjectExport permit to export saved objects from Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectExport func(objectTypes []string, objects []map[string]string, deepReference bool, kibanaSpace string) ([]byte, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectImport permit to import saved objects in Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectImport func(data []byte, overwrite bool, kibanaSpace string) (map[string]interface{}, error)

// String permit to return OptionalFindParameters object as JSON string
func (o *OptionalFindParameters) String() string {
	json, _ := json.Marshal(o)
	return string(json)
}
...rest

Needs to change to:

// KibanaSavedObjectExport permit to export saved objects from Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectExport func(objectTypes []string, objects []map[string]string, deepReference bool, kibanaSpace string) ([]byte, error)

// KibanaSavedObjectImport permit to import saved objects in Kibana
type KibanaSavedObjectImport func(data []byte, overwrite bool, kibanaSpace string) (map[string]interface{}, error)
...whatever remains

[dimuon]

@TinaHeiligers , thank you for the details.

Does it make sense to delete the deprecated API from the provider? What about old Kibana versions, e.g. if a consumer upgrades the provider to a version without the API, they won't be able to use it against Kibana 8.6.
Maybe it makes sense to output a deprecation warning instead if the API is called?

[TinaHeiligers]

@dimuon A deprecation warning for versions < 9 will be needed. If the terraform provider is to support kibana v9, calling these APIs will throw because they won't exist.

[dimuon]

@Kushmaro , WDYT? E.g. we can just show a deprecation warning if the API is called and let it fail if it's used against Kibana v9.

[tobio]

@dimuon in case it wasn't clear, the provider doesn't use any of the deprecated API's. It's just that the code exists in the local fork of the Kibana rest client. I imagine it would be just as much work to add the deprecation log (where? to stdout, that would be pretty annoying for someone importing this code) as it would be to remove the code.

IMO this issue is a pretty low priority compared to actual customer requests in this repo:

• This is code in a vendored library. It's a stretch to suggest importing this code as a library is supported usage
• There's no use-case where we'd use these functions within the provider itself
• The provider explicitly maintains support for 7.x. We expect some level of compatibility with legacy versions which arguably could be via these deprecated endpoints (it never will be, but there's other code paths accessing currently deprecated endpoints within the provider).

[dimuon]

@tobio , thanks for the clarification. Yeah, it makes sense to remove the API.

[Kushmaro]

+1 to @tobio here

[TinaHeiligers]

@tobio @Kushmaro what's the status of removing the API? #637 (comment)

[tobio]

@TinaHeiligers I don't think there's any immediate plans to work on this issue.

[Kushmaro]

@TinaHeiligers we will continue supporting saved objects in the provider, at the very least, until the new kibana dashboard apis are out