Tim, is the Couch server still going from binary disk data to JSON and then you convert that to the binary format or is your work actually allowing Couch to skip any textual JSON generation such that all the REST methods are still there, but their response bodies are just MessagePack binary data instead of text?
The Couch server goes from binary Erlang terms (our default internal representation) to MessagePack right away, skipping all textual JSON generation. All the REST methods are still there, the body is just sent in MessagePack format with an application/x-msgpack header https://github.com/timanglade/couchdb/commit/b601286dae04bdc...
Ah! That is exactly what I was hoping for (skipping the JSON in/out cycle server-side).
Keeping the HTTP protocol in this case is fine for me and not require any unexpected changes to Couch. I hope that binary format work can be make configurable in the future with other formats supported.
