Re: prefixing interface identifiers (X...)

[Torsten Schulz <Torsten Schulz germany sun com>]

Hi Ali,

Thursday, October 26, 2000, 3:37:16 AM, you wrote:

> I have a question. When is it acceptable for OpenOffice/StarOffice/Sun to
> "break" its API?

  'Breaking a public API' is - from SUN's view point - losing a feature
of a product from one version to another. This is not acceptable in sense
of SUN's policies. The way out of this problem is:

  - extend existing API by new interfaces, still supporting the old
    ones,
  - announce the 'end of life' of the feature/API for day X in
    future
  - stop the support of old feature/API on day X

> To me, it doesn't make sense to have the API from a version 1.0 exist in version 6.0?

> Doesn't it make sense that when you GPL a project and plan to make major
> changes it, to also be able to break/change the API as your needs arise?

  The above policies will become a really hard problem as soon as SUN will
no longer be the one and only contributor to OpenOffice - what I hope
is coming soon. This will be a challenge to our sales and marketing guys :-)

<just a guess>

  What could happen, if a real conflict between OpenOffice(.org) and
StarOffice(.com) will appear, is that SUN will ship its products with
additional code for compatibility or from a source branch.

</just a guess>

> Regards,
> Ali

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-- 
Best regards,
 Torsten                            mailto:Torsten Schulz germany sun com