SharePoint 2010 REST API to get entry permissions

Question

Using the SharePoint 2013 REST API, I am able to get file\folder permissions using GetFileByServerRelativeUrl or GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl and then expanding RoleAssignments to get all the information I need about both Members of the RoleAssignments as well as the BasePermissions of each.

The SharePoint 2010 REST API seems definitely less developed but is there a way to obtain this information in 2010? Is there a really good source of documentation for the SharePoint 2010 REST API?

What I have found for both 2010 and 2013 seems very basic with 2010 documentation being even more scarce. Through web searches I've discovered single references to very valuable features that weren't documented anywhere I could find in Microsoft documentation (ie. $expand).

FWIW, I should mention parenthetically that I'm using Java in my successful SharePoint 2013 implementation work. I see a lot of C# and CSOM library examples when doing web searches but, for me, the biggest advantage of a RESTful service is that I can choose whatever language I want. Of course that means I'm also solely reliant on what's in the REST API which seems like it could be a disadvantage, especially in my SharePoint 2010 work.

So general guidance is also appreciated.

Answer 1

Answser from MSDN forum (Mike Smith TechTrainingNotes.blogspot.com):

"SP 2010 REST can be best thought of as an experiment, with the SP 2013 REST the final product. 2010 REST was only available from LISTDATA.SVC and obviously focused on lists and list items. You will have better luck with the Client Side Object Model (CSOM) for getting the kind of info you are looking for. But as you said, you are using Java and there is no CSOM Java library. Everything done in CSOM is being done through web service calls, so you could use those from Java. They are SOAP style web service calls and not RESTful calls."