KIP-625 — Richer encodings for integral-typed protocol fields

Discussion Protocol

Extends the Kafka binary protocol to allow variable-length integer encodings (`varint`/`varlong`) for regular (non-length, non-tagged) integer fields in message schemas, complementing the unsigned varint encoding already used for array lengths in flexible versions (KIP-482). Fixed-width 4-byte or 8-byte integers in protocol fields waste bytes for small values; variable-length encoding can reduce wire size significantly for fields that predominantly carry small values.

Protocol Impact

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