[Python-Dev] Backward compatibility (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com (Skip Montanaro)
Thu, 4 Oct 2001 21:12:21 -0500 

Aahz> As one of the frequent ranters about compatibility issues, I
Aahz> thoroughly endorse this approach WRT "batteries included" as long
Aahz> as the APIs stay the same.

I don't think APIs have much to do with this particular item. No API changed in xmlrpclib.py, but the code became incompatible with pre-2.0 releases. I checked in a change to xmlrpclib.py that used "import foo as bar". The question I raised implicitly by making an incompatible change to xmlrpclib.py was "is it okay to use all the features of the current release in a core module?". Tim's answer was a qualified "yes", the exception being for modules maintained by other authors. In PythonLabs view it's ultimately Fredrik's responsibility to maintain backward compatibility if he so chooses. I realized it about 30 seconds after I checked in the change, which was why I mentioned it. I didn't know if he maintains a separate copy for backwards compatible releases or relies on the code now in the Python CVS repository. In retrospect, I should probably have sent him a note instead of checking in the change.

Skip