(web) service revision - turning relation between service and software

[lzehl]

Currently a WebServiceVersion links through "hasPart" to a SoftwareVersion.

I would like to turn this relation around, because I would argue that having a "web service" is an optional feature of a software. We could even apply some inheritance rules to make the curation of such instances easier. Those rules should like the others be overwrite-able, so in case a software is not registered within the same system, the web service could still exist on it's own.

Side note: Experience in EBRAINS also shows that web services rarely have a separate code base from the software they belong to.

[apdavison]

I disagree with this proposal.

A web service is typically composed of multiple pieces of software. A given web service version depends on 1...n specific software versions. Turning it around, a given software version can be deployed in multiple versions of multiple different web services.

[lzehl]

I would disagree with "typical" because this is not reflecting the use cases EBRAINS has at the moment. There is currently one web service version for one software version. And the code of that web service version is nearly always part of the sotware version release.

In the case you are describing the code base of the web service would be it's own software (version). And that software (version) would have hasPart other software (version).
I think the problem is that we currently see a web service as a specific standalone software type which it is apparently not always. Let's discuss this further in today's meeting.