swift/doc/source/api/object_versioning.rst

=================
Object versioning
=================

You can store multiple versions of your content so that you can recover
from unintended overwrites. Object versioning is an easy way to
implement version control, which you can use with any type of content.

Note
~~~~

You cannot version a large-object manifest file, but the large-object
manifest file can point to versioned segments.

It is strongly recommended that you put non-current objects in a
different container than the container where current object versions
reside.

To enable object versioning, the cloud provider sets the
``allow_versions`` option to ``TRUE`` in the container configuration
file.

The ``X-Versions-Location`` header defines the
container that holds the non-current versions of your objects. You
must UTF-8-encode and then URL-encode the container name before you
include it in the ``X-Versions-Location`` header. This header enables
object versioning for all objects in the container. With a comparable
``archive`` container in place, changes to objects in the ``current``
container automatically create non-current versions in the ``archive``
container.

Here's an example:

#.   Create the ``current`` container:

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/current -X PUT -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "X-Versions-Location: archive"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 201 Created
       Content-Length: 0
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: txb91810fb717347d09eec8-0052e18997
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:28:55 GMT

#. Create the first version of an object in the ``current`` container:

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/current/my_object --data-binary 1 -X PUT -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 201 Created
       Last-Modified: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:31:22 GMT
       Content-Length: 0
       Etag: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: tx5992d536a4bd4fec973aa-0052e18a2a
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:31:22 GMT

   Nothing is written to the non-current version container when you
   initially **PUT** an object in the ``current`` container. However,
   subsequent **PUT** requests that edit an object trigger the creation
   of a version of that object in the ``archive`` container.

   These non-current versions are named as follows:

   .. code::

       <length><object_name><timestamp>

   Where ``length`` is the 3-character, zero-padded hexadecimal
   character length of the object, ``<object_name>`` is the object name,
   and ``<timestamp>`` is the time when the object was initially created
   as a current version.

#. Create a second version of the object in the ``current`` container:

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/current/my_object --data-binary 2 -X PUT -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 201 Created
       Last-Modified: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:41:32 GMT
       Content-Length: 0
       Etag: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: tx468287ce4fc94eada96ec-0052e18c8c
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:41:32 GMT

#. Issue a **GET** request to a versioned object to get the current
   version of the object. You do not have to do any request redirects or
   metadata lookups.

   List older versions of the object in the ``archive`` container:

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/archive?prefix=009my_object -X GET -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 200 OK
       Content-Length: 30
       X-Container-Object-Count: 1
       Accept-Ranges: bytes
       X-Timestamp: 1390513280.79684
       X-Container-Bytes-Used: 0
       Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
       X-Trans-Id: tx9a441884997542d3a5868-0052e18d8e
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:45:50 GMT

       009my_object/1390512682.92052

Note
~~~~

   A **POST** request to a versioned object updates only the metadata
   for the object and does not create a new version of the object. New
   versions are created only when the content of the object changes.

#. Issue a **DELETE** request to a versioned object to remove the
   current version of the object and replace it with the next-most
   current version in the non-current container.

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/current/my_object -X DELETE -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
       Content-Length: 0
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: tx006d944e02494e229b8ee-0052e18edd
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:51:25 GMT

   List objects in the ``archive`` container to show that the archived
   object was moved back to the ``current`` container:

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/archive?prefix=009my_object -X GET -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
       Content-Length: 0
       X-Container-Object-Count: 0
       Accept-Ranges: bytes
       X-Timestamp: 1390513280.79684
       X-Container-Bytes-Used: 0
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: tx044f2a05f56f4997af737-0052e18eed
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:51:41 GMT

   This next-most current version carries with it any metadata last set
   on it. If want to completely remove an object and you have five
   versions of it, you must **DELETE** it five times.

#. To disable object versioning for the ``current`` container, remove
   its ``X-Versions-Location`` metadata header by sending an empty key
   value.

   .. code::

       # curl -i $publicURL/current -X PUT -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "X-Versions-Location: "

   .. code::

       HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
       Content-Length: 76
       Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
       X-Trans-Id: txe2476de217134549996d0-0052e19038
       Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:57:12 GMT

       <html><h1>Accepted</h1><p>The request is accepted for processing.</p></html>