RFC-5556: Write Returns Metadata

core/src/docs/rfcs/5556_write_returns_metadata.md

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+- Proposal Name: `write_returns_metadata`
+- Start Date: 2025-01-16
+- RFC PR: [apache/opendal#5556](https://github.com/apache/opendal/pull/5556)
+- Tracking Issue: [apache/opendal#5557](https://github.com/apache/opendal/issues/5557)
+
+# Summary
+
+Enhance write operations by returning metadata after successful writes.
+
+# Motivation
+
+Currently, write operations (`write`, `write_with`, `writer`, `writer_with`) only return `Result<()>` or `Result<Writer>`. 
+Users who need metadata after writing (like `ETag` or `version_id`) must make an additional `stat()` call. This is inefficient 
+and can lead to race conditions if the file is modified between the write and stat operations.
+
+Many storage services (like S3, GCS, Azure Blob) return metadata in their write responses. We should expose this information 
+to users directly after write operations.
+
+# Guide-level explanation
+
+The write operations will be enhanced to return metadata:
+
+```rust
+// Before
+op.write("path/to/file", data).await?;
+let meta = op.stat("path/to/file").await?;
+if Some(etag) = meta.etag() {
+    println!("File ETag: {}", etag);
+}
+
+// After
+let meta = op.write("path/to/file", data).await?;
+if Some(etag) = meta.etag() {
+    println!("File ETag: {}", etag);
+}
+```
+
+For writer operations:
+
+```rust
+// Before
+let mut writer = op.writer("path/to/file").await?;
+writer.write(data).await?;
+writer.close().await?;
+let meta = op.stat("path/to/file").await?;
+if Some(etag) = meta.etag() {
+    println!("File ETag: {}", etag);
+}
+
+// After
+let mut writer = op.writer("path/to/file").await?;
+writer.write(data).await?;
+let meta = writer.close().await?;
+if Some(etag) = meta.etag() {
+    println!("File ETag: {}", etag);
+}
+```
+
+The behavior remains unchanged if users don't need the metadata - they can simply ignore the return value.
+
+# Reference-level explanation
+
+## Changes to `Operator` API
+
+The following functions will be modified to return `Result<Metadata>` instead of `Result<()>`:
+
+- `write()`
+- `write_with()`
+
+The `writer()` and `writer_with()` return types remain unchanged as they return `Result<Writer>`.
+
+## Changes to struct `Writer`
+
+The `Writer` struct will be modified to return `Result<Metadata>` instead of `Result<()>` for the `close()` function.
+
+## Changes to trait `oio::Write` and trait `oio::MultipartWrite`
+
+The `Write` trait will be modified to return `Result<Metadata>` instead of `Result<()>` for the `close()` function.
+
+The `MultipartWrite` trait will be modified to return `Result<Metadata>` instead of `Result<()>` for the `complete_part()` 
+and `write_once` functions.
+
+## Implementation Details
+
+For services that return metadata in their write responses:
+- The metadata will be captured from the service response
+- All available fields (etag, version_id, etc.) will be populated
+
+For services that don't return metadata in write responses:
+- for `fs`: we can use `stat` to retrieve the metadata before returning. since the metadata is cached by the kernel, 
+this won't cause a performance issue.
+- for other services: A default metadata object will be returned.
+
+
+# Drawbacks
+
+- Minor breaking change for users who explicitly type the return value of write operations
+- Additional complexity in the Writer implementation
+
+# Rationale and alternatives
+
+- Provides a clean, consistent API
+- Maintains backward compatibility for users who ignore the return value
+- Improves performance by avoiding additional stat calls when possible
+
+# Prior art
+
+Similar patterns exist in other storage SDKs:
+
+- `object_store` crate returns metadata in `PutResult` after calling `put_opts`
+- AWS SDK returns metadata in `PutObjectOutput`
+- Azure SDK returns `UploadFileResponse` after uploads
+
+# Unresolved questions
+
+- None
+
+
+# Future possibilities
+
+- None

core/src/docs/rfcs/mod.rs

@@ -256,3 +256,7 @@ pub mod rfc_5485_conditional_reader {}
 /// List With Deleted
 #[doc = include_str!("5495_list_with_deleted.md")]
 pub mod rfc_5495_list_with_deleted {}
+
+/// Write Returns Metadata
+#[doc = include_str!("5556_write_returns_metadata.md")]
+pub mod rfc_5556_write_returns_metadata {}