Migrating from v201702 - major oversight related to google-api-ruby-client gem?

[Simon]

Hi,

We need to migrate from v201702 as it's being discontinued on 14th Feb. But there seems to be a major issue with anyone using Google's google-api-ruby-client gem. If we simply up the API version to v201705 or later in the config, we get a 'AdsCommon::Errors::Error: Environment 'PRODUCTION' does not support version 'v201705'' error. It looks like this issue is because we're using google-adwords-api V0.23.0 and google-api-client V0.8.6, and these don't support anything later than v201702. But if we upgrade google-adwords-api to V0.24.0 or above, it requires google-api-client of V0.9 or above, which is fundamentally different to previous versions and requires a major rewrite of all code.

So, basically, in order to migrate to v201705 or later, we have to completely rewrite all of our code. Is this really the case?

[Peter Oliquino]

Hi Simon,

For better assistance, as this is more related to the Ruby client library, you may get in touch directly with the library owners via this link. I hope this helps.

Thanks and regards,

Peter

AdWords API Team

[Simon]

Hi Peter,

Thanks! But this is more a Google API issue, because Google keeps sunsetting versions forcing site owners to constantly upgrade. The problem seems to be that v201705 includes something that no longer works with the V0.23.0 of the gem. And the gem is also owned by Google, so I'd like to avoid getting into a thing where the Google API guys pass me to the Google Open Source guys and vice-versa. Presumably you guys talk to each other, so are you able to please advise what has happened here and why v201705 no longer appears to be usable?

Cheers

Simon

[Peter Oliquino]

Hi Simon,

My apologies for the inconvenience you encountered when upgrading to newer versions of the AdWords API. As for the sunset of older versions, it is necessary in order to make way for more improved services and features. Our team could then provide support for migration related issues or concerns.

However, as for the incompatibility of the said services with the client libraries, the library owners should be better equipped in troubleshooting the issue.

Best regards,

Peter

AdWords API Team

[Simon]

Hi Peter,

Just to add some final detail in case anyone else comes across this with the same issue... Updating past API v201702 requires minimum version 0.24 of the google-api-ads-ruby gem, but that version removes support for p12 key files for service accounts, yet we were using them. (The issue wasn't related to any other gems in the end). So we've been forced to change how we do oauth2 authentication or else our adwords processing will stop working. It's now done, and wasn't actually too bad in the end.

I appreciate the specifics of this relate to ruby gems and not just the pure adwords API itself, but I do think that the frequency that we're forced to update the API is very poor. There should be no reason to force API users to have to upgrade that frequently. I appreciate you may want to continuously tweak functionality and fix issues, but try looking at how vendors like Stripe manage their API. Their older versions still function perfectly well. Yes, if we want to use new functionality then of course an upgrade would be necessary. But if not, we should be able to continue using older versions of the API near-indefinitely without them being disabled.