Protocol buffers without additional fields: fixed size?

Question

I use Google protocol buffers and try to determine the following:

If my protocol buffer does not have duplicate fields and all fields are necessary, can it be assumed that the buffer will always be the same size regardless of its contents?

Thanks.

Answer 1

No. This is a false assumption given the information provided.

Some types (especially Base 128 Varints) use an encoding variable . Also consider Lines (with unspecified payloads) as another counter example.

Happy coding.