Re: deprecation?

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Bill Haneman">

> > a) So how do we make it clear that we do not recommend the use of these
> > parts of the platform, given that we have had no confidence in them for
> > quite some time now?
>
> If they are both "part of platform" and "broken", then the appropriate 
> course of action is to FIX them.  That's the cost of putting things in 
> platform.

How do you fix "we don't want them"? Ah, you... deprecated and remove them!

> > b) We're not removing stable ABI, or threatening to do so. We're saying
> > quite clearly that these libraries will be deprecated soon.
>
> Which, then, means what?  If this means that the implied guarantee (that
> our APIs are expected to work!) is bdeing removed or diluted, it means
> making stable API become unsupported.

Dude, it doesn't. When these libraries are deprecated, we are not going to
change their API/ABI. We've made that commitment. When we *drop* them, they
are no longer going to be relevant at all, but that's going to happen when
we make a formal API/ABI break (ie. "GNOME 3.0").

> In the real world that means "we are probably going to break this stuff by
> accident, so don't come crying when we do".  That is not acceptable in
> conjunction with an ABI stability guarantee.  "We will keep it around even
> when it breaks" is not a very reassuring "guarantee".  If bugs against
> deprecated API get closed as WONTFIX or OBSOLETE (as they do!) then
> deprecation is not an acceptable path for such ABI in a stable release
> series (i.e. gnome 2.X).

This is all wrong. For a start, we're not deprecating them just yet, we're
making it clear that we will. When we deprecate them, they will continue to
be API/ABI stable. When we finally drop them, we will not care about them at
all (that is when the word 'support' comes into play, and not before).

> > c) We're not making a deprecation announcement.
>
> Yes, you seem to be announcing impending deprecation, which is IMO just 
> as bad, when no replacement is available.

I think it's far preferable that we communicate exactly what is going on, so
our platform users can make an *educated* choice about what they're going to
do with our platform, instead of just giving them a kick in the teeth when
we finally get around to fixing this mess.

- Jeff

-- 
EuroOSCON: October 17th-20th    http://conferences.oreillynet.com/eurooscon/
 
  I wonder how many bugs have gone unfixed due to misspellings of "FIXME".