CODEWITHSUNDEEP
protocol-buffersprotobuf-net
richard
richard

Reputation: 2053

protobuf version compatability

I am using a cloud service which is building on protobuf2.0. This cloud service cannot be changed. Now we have client to connect to this cloud service, which is built on .netcore 2.0. As I test, that .netcore only works with protobuf3.0 syntax.

And 3.0 syntax is little different with 2.0. If I deploy client with protobuf3.0 in C# .netcore 2.0, can it consume the service which is built on 2.0 protobuf?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 893

Answers (1)

Marc Gravell
Marc Gravell

Reputation: 1062520

The actual binary serialization format hasn't changed at all in this time, so there are no fundamental blockers.

The biggest feature difference between proto2 and proto3 is the treatment of default / optional values. Proto3 has no concept of "the default value is 4" (defaults are always zero/nil), and has no concept of explicitly specifying a value that happens to also be the default value (non-zero values are always sent, zeros are never sent). So if your proto2 schema makes use of non-zero defaults, it can be awkward to transition.

As I test, that .netcore only works with protobuf3.0 syntax.

That statement makes me think you're not using protobuf-net (tags), bit are in fact using Google's C# implementation - Jon's original port was proto2 only, and the version migrated to the Google codebase is proto3 only. However, protobuf-net (a separate implementation) has no such limitation, and supports both proto2 and proto3 on all platforms including .NET Core. It does have a different API, however. Protobuf-net can be found on nuget, with a .proto processing tool available here (it also provides access to all the "protoc" outputs if you want to compare to the Google version).

Upvotes: 1

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