Replace float with Decimal

Having float type as a base type for floating point parameters in
ipalib introduces several issues, e.g. problem with representation
or value comparison. Python language provides a Decimal type which
help overcome these issues.

This patch replaces a float type and Float parameter with a
decimal.Decimal type in Decimal parameter. A precision attribute
was added to Decimal parameter that can be used to limit a number
of decimal places in parameter representation. This approach fixes
a problem with API.txt validation where comparison of float values
may fail on different architectures due to float representation error.

In order to safely transfer the parameter value over RPC it is
being converted to string which is then converted back to
decimal.Decimal number on a server side.

https://fedorahosted.org/freeipa/ticket/2260

1 files changed, 4 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/ipalib/rpc.py b/ipalib/rpc.py
index 8ec3a2f27..5a59ae654 100644
--- a/ipalib/rpc.py
+++ b/ipalib/rpc.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Also see the `ipaserver.rpcserver` module.
 """
 
 from types import NoneType
+from decimal import Decimal
 import threading
 import sys
 import os
@@ -86,6 +87,9 @@ def xml_wrap(value):
         )
     if type(value) is str:
         return Binary(value)
+    if type(value) is Decimal:
+        # transfer Decimal as a string
+        return unicode(value)
     assert type(value) in (unicode, int, float, bool, NoneType)
     return value