The stats command in 4 series version used to return a struct for the server statistics.
However this meant we would break client/server api if the struct was changed between releases,if we added new statistics.
In ecflow 5.0.0 we now just return a string, the server itself will format the staring, adding/removing new fields without effecting client/server compatibility.
We still retained the ability to return the struct for test purposes.
Whenever we checkpoint( i.e. the full defs must be written to disk),.
In the 5 series this we cache the checkpoint as a string. If any user requests the full defs we can return cache in defs file format. (This is very fast, i.e faster then boost and cereal).
Now support auto sync, this reduces the latency for GUI and python clients.
Auto sync allows us to make a change to the server defs, and automatically sync those changes
with the client definition. Previously these were two separate commands send to the server.
This should reduce latency and improve responsivity