The Solr realtime get feature is currently documented as “Realtime-get currently relies on the update log feature”. Which is certainly true for the realtime aspect of the operation, but it happens that the /get handler works just fine when the update log feature is turned off, or if a requested ID is not in the uncommitted documents – it simply fetches committed documents rather than uncommitted documents.
So, is “direct get” a non-feature or mis-feature and should not be used when the update log is disabled, or should it be a fully advertised first-class feature that is a convenient and efficient way to directly access committed documents via a list if IDs? I think at least a couple of committers should weigh in as to whether this “apparent feature” is a true feature or a non-feature to be discouraged – and then clearly document it as such. If it is a non-feature, then the code should throw a clear exception. My vote is that it be given first-class feature status - that it be advertised as “direct get” (or similar) and that real-time get is a more specialized sub-feature of it. -- Jack Krupansky
