diff --git a/docs/misc/api-stability.txt b/docs/misc/api-stability.txt index 3c265be04f..8517866769 100644 --- a/docs/misc/api-stability.txt +++ b/docs/misc/api-stability.txt @@ -4,17 +4,19 @@ API stability :doc:`The release of Django 1.0 ` comes with a promise of API stability and forwards-compatibility. In a nutshell, this means that code you -develop against Django 1.0 will continue to work against 1.1 unchanged, and you -should need to make only minor changes for any 1.X release. +develop against a 1.X version of Django will continue to work with future +1.X releases. You may need to make minor changes when upgrading the version of +Django your project uses: see the "Backwards incompatible changes" section of +the :doc:`release note ` for the version or versions to which +you are upgrading. What "stable" means =================== In this context, stable means: -- All the public APIs -- everything documented in the linked documents below, - and all methods that don't begin with an underscore -- will not be moved or - renamed without providing backwards-compatible aliases. +- All the public APIs (everything in this documentation) will not be moved + or renamed without providing backwards-compatible aliases. - If new features are added to these APIs -- which is quite possible -- they will not break or change the meaning of existing methods. In other @@ -35,77 +37,7 @@ Stable APIs =========== In general, everything covered in the documentation -- with the exception of -anything in the :doc:`internals area ` is considered stable as -of 1.0. This includes these APIs: - -- :doc:`Authorization ` - -- :doc:`Caching `. - -- :doc:`Model definition, managers, querying and transactions - ` - -- :doc:`Sending email `. - -- :doc:`File handling and storage ` - -- :doc:`Forms ` - -- :doc:`HTTP request/response handling `, including file - uploads, middleware, sessions, URL resolution, view, and shortcut APIs. - -- :doc:`Generic views `. - -- :doc:`Internationalization `. - -- :doc:`Pagination ` - -- :doc:`Serialization ` - -- :doc:`Signals ` - -- :doc:`Templates `, including the language, Python-level - :doc:`template APIs `, and :doc:`custom template tags - and libraries `. We may add new template - tags in the future and the names may inadvertently clash with - external template tags. Before adding any such tags, we'll ensure that - Django raises an error if it tries to load tags with duplicate names. - -- :doc:`Testing ` - -- :doc:`django-admin utility `. - -- :doc:`Built-in middleware ` - -- :doc:`Request/response objects `. - -- :doc:`Settings `. Note, though that while the :doc:`list of - built-in settings ` can be considered complete we may -- and - probably will -- add new settings in future versions. This is one of those - places where "'stable' does not mean 'complete.'" - -- :doc:`Built-in signals `. Like settings, we'll probably add - new signals in the future, but the existing ones won't break. - -- :doc:`Unicode handling `. - -- Everything covered by the :doc:`HOWTO guides `. - -``django.utils`` ----------------- - -Most of the modules in ``django.utils`` are designed for internal use. Only -the following parts of :doc:`django.utils ` can be considered stable: - -- ``django.utils.cache`` -- ``django.utils.datastructures.SortedDict`` -- only this single class; the - rest of the module is for internal use. -- ``django.utils.encoding`` -- ``django.utils.feedgenerator`` -- ``django.utils.http`` -- ``django.utils.safestring`` -- ``django.utils.translation`` -- ``django.utils.tzinfo`` +anything in the :doc:`internals area ` is considered stable. Exceptions ========== @@ -121,23 +53,6 @@ If we become aware of a security problem -- hopefully by someone following our everything necessary to fix it. This might mean breaking backwards compatibility; security trumps the compatibility guarantee. -Contributed applications (``django.contrib``) ---------------------------------------------- - -While we'll make every effort to keep these APIs stable -- and have no plans to -break any contrib apps -- this is an area that will have more flux between -releases. As the Web evolves, Django must evolve with it. - -However, any changes to contrib apps will come with an important guarantee: -we'll make sure it's always possible to use an older version of a contrib app if -we need to make changes. Thus, if Django 1.5 ships with a backwards-incompatible -``django.contrib.flatpages``, we'll make sure you can still use the Django 1.4 -version alongside Django 1.5. This will continue to allow for easy upgrades. - -Historically, apps in ``django.contrib`` have been more stable than the core, so -in practice we probably won't have to ever make this exception. However, it's -worth noting if you're building apps that depend on ``django.contrib``. - APIs marked as internal -----------------------