Re: ✘gpsd 3.23.1 is released!

[Miroslav Lichvar]

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 10:09:21AM -0700, Gary E. Miller wrote:
> Miroslav Lichvar <mlichvar@redhat.com> wrote:
> > I think changing names of constants in a public header counts as an
> > API break. Existing software no longer builds.
> 
> Fair enough.  But too late to change the release now.  Where were you
> during the rc period?

I'm sorry, I missed the rc period.

> > I'd suggest to add the old names for compatibility, maybe like this?
> 
> Any program broken by the name change was already broken.  The point of the
> name change was to make that clear.
> 
> Programs were mistaking the "FIX" in the name as meaning the receiver
> had a valid fix.  That was never true.  Any program using the old name
> needs to have much more changed than just the constant name.  A bad
> stackoverflow answer got imbedded in a bunch of programs, and made them
> flakey.

As a general recommendation for developing libraries, if you need to
make incompatible changes, try to delay and batch them as much as
possible. For me, it's much easier to update a distro package if it
doesn't require other packages to be patched and/or rebuilt. With an
API/ABI break it usually means it has to wait for the next version of
the distribution, i.e. users that don't build it themselves will get
it later.

-- 
Miroslav Lichvar