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Backward Compatibility (BC) Promise

I try to develop my libraries to be as backward compatible (BC) as possible. This file describes my backward compatibility promise, along with:

  • Changes that are (or are not) allowed in minor or patch versions.
  • Exceptions to this promise.
  • How deprecations are handled.
  • Tags and branches in the Git repository.
  • ...etc.

Further restrictions (and/or allowances) might be added in the future.

Document Information
Effective Date 05/04/2024
Last Updated 05/04/2024
Version 1.0.0

Semantic Versioning

This project follows Semantic Versioning (<major>.<minor>.<patch>). In general, this means that the version number is incremented based on the type of changes made:

  • Patch version for backward-compatible bug fixes.
  • Minor version for backward-compatible additions.
  • Major version for backward-incompatible changes.

Major Version Changes

Any backward-incompatible changes will only occur in a new major version. Users should expect to update their code to accommodate these changes.

Minor Version Changes

Minor versions may include new features and improvements but will maintain backward compatibility with previous minor versions within the same major release.

Patch Version Changes

Patch versions will only include backward-compatible bug fixes. Users can safely update without fear of breaking changes.

Public API Stability:

  • All public classes, interfaces, methods, and properties are subject to our backward compatibility promise.
  • Any changes to the public API that are not backward-compatible will result in a new major version release.

Exceptions

There are some exceptions which are not covered by the backward compatibility promise.

Security fixes and Critical bug fixes

Backward compatibility can be ignored in security bug fixes or critical bugs. In this case, all the incompatible changes are described in the CHANGELOG.

Internal Code

  • Classes, interfaces, properties and methods that are tagged with the @internal annotation.
  • The classes located in the *\Tests\ namespace.

They are meant for internal use only and should not be accessed by your own code. They are subject to change or removal even in minor or patch versions.

Unreleased

  • Generally, any code found within a *-dev* branch is not covered by this backward compatibility promise.
    • Normally, only major versions will be assigned their own dev branch.
  • Unreleased versions will be tagged with [Unreleased] in the CHANGELOG.md.

See Branches for more information.

Named Arguments

Named arguments are not covered by the backward compatibility (BC) promise. I may choose to rename method/function parameter names when necessary in order to improve the codebase.

Deprecations

  • Deprecated features will be clearly marked with @deprecated annotations or documented in the changelog.
  • Deprecated features will continue to function without issues for at least two minor versions before being removed.
  • Users are encouraged to migrate away from deprecated features to maintain compatibility with future releases.

Composer Dependencies:

  • I will strive to minimize direct dependencies on external libraries as much as possible.
  • Any changes to dependencies that could impact users will be clearly documented in the changelog, with guidance on how to adapt.

Changelogs

  • I will strive to format the changelog to adhere to Keep a Changelog.
  • Changelogs will clearly indicate whether a release contains backward-incompatible changes, deprecated features, or backward-compatible bug fixes.

Version Control

Tags

Tags in this project's Git repository are immutable. I do not change published tags to point to a different revision, for example.

In very rare cases I may delete a tag in order to remove a broken release. The new release that fixes what was broken will always have a different tag than the one that was removed.

Branches

Branches in this project's Git repository are private implementation details. For example, I delete branches for versions of Esi\SimpleTpl that are no longer supported. In general:

  • The master branch will contain the currently released major version (and <minor> or <patch> versions that fall under it).
  • Previous major versions will be under a <major>.x branch.
  • Next or development code of a new major version will be under a <major>.x-dev branch.

For example, let's say the latest released version of this project is 3.0.0, the last major version is 2, and the next major version is 4.

  • The master branch will be all version 3 code, which includes: 3.0.1, 3.1.0, 3.2.0, etc.
  • The previous major version, version 2, will be under 2.x (which includes: 2.0.1, 2.1.0, 2.2.0, etc.).
  • The Next or development code for a new major version, version 4, will be in 4.x-dev.
    • Once v4.0.0 is officially released, it will be merged into master and the 4.x-dev branch will be deleted.
    • Which then makes version 3 the previous major version, so it would have a new branch created for it: 3.x

Updates

I will keep the backward compatibility promise updated as this project evolves and new use cases emerge. The last updated date and version of this document under Document Information at the beginning of this file will be updated if any changes are made.

Acknowledgements

This backward compatibility promise was highly inspired by, and borrows from, the BC promises of: