[llvm-dev] Explicitly spelling out the lack of stability for the C++ API in the Developer Policy?

[Chris Lattner via llvm-dev]

This sounds reasonable to me, I am generally +1 on documenting things that are well known but not written down.

Thanks Varun!

-Chris

> On Jul 21, 2020, at 5:16 PM, Varun Gandhi via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> 
> The Developer Policy document (https://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html <https://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html>) contains a Section "C API Changes". There is no corresponding section for C++ API Changes. LLVM is somewhat different from most libraries in that the main language is C++ but the C++ API is not guaranteed to be stable in any shape or form from what I understand.
> 
> I think it would be useful to have a "C++ API Changes" section to Developer Policy spelling this out. Copying the style of the C API Changes section, it could look something like:
> 
> ---
> C++ API Changes
> 
> * Stability Guarantees: The C++ API is does not guarantee any stability. Changes may be made without any notice about deprecation and alternate APIs for the same functionality may not be included. Downstream projects using the C++ API are expected to keep up with changes.
> * Release stability: The C++ API does not make any stability guarantees for the release branch.
> * Testing: Patches to the C++ API are expected to come with tests just like any other patch.
> * Including new things into the API: [TODO: I'm not sure what should go here].
> * Documentation: Changes to the C++ API are not expected to be documented in the release notes.
> ---
> 
> Clang does have a page with information about its own C++ API (https://clang.llvm.org/docs/Tooling.html <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/Tooling.html>) which is more informative, but I think it would useful to have this information on the Developer Policy page for the whole of LLVM.
> 
> Does this addition sound reasonable?
> 
> Varun
> _______________________________________________
> LLVM Developers mailing list
> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
> https://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/attachments/20200722/52f6b601/attachment.html>