207 lines
8.2 KiB
Plaintext
207 lines
8.2 KiB
Plaintext
=============
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API stability
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=============
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:doc:`The release of Django 1.0 </releases/1.0>` comes with a promise of API
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stability and forwards-compatibility. In a nutshell, this means that code you
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develop against Django 1.0 will continue to work against 1.1 unchanged, and you
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should need to make only minor changes for any 1.X release.
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What "stable" means
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===================
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In this context, stable means:
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- All the public APIs -- everything documented in the linked documents below,
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and all methods that don't begin with an underscore -- will not be moved or
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renamed without providing backwards-compatible aliases.
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- If new features are added to these APIs -- which is quite possible --
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they will not break or change the meaning of existing methods. In other
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words, "stable" does not (necessarily) mean "complete."
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- If, for some reason, an API declared stable must be removed or replaced, it
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will be declared deprecated but will remain in the API for at least two
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minor version releases. Warnings will be issued when the deprecated method
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is called.
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See :ref:`official-releases` for more details on how Django's version
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numbering scheme works, and how features will be deprecated.
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- We'll only break backwards compatibility of these APIs if a bug or
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security hole makes it completely unavoidable.
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Stable APIs
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===========
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In general, everything covered in the documentation -- with the exception of
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anything in the :doc:`internals area </internals/index>` is considered stable as
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of 1.0. This includes these APIs:
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- :doc:`Authorization </topics/auth>`
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- :doc:`Caching </topics/cache>`.
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- :doc:`Model definition, managers, querying and transactions
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</topics/db/index>`
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- :doc:`Sending e-mail </topics/email>`.
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- :doc:`File handling and storage </topics/files>`
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- :doc:`Forms </topics/forms/index>`
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- :doc:`HTTP request/response handling </topics/http/index>`, including file
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uploads, middleware, sessions, URL resolution, view, and shortcut APIs.
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- :doc:`Generic views </topics/http/generic-views>`.
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- :doc:`Internationalization </topics/i18n/index>`.
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- :doc:`Pagination </topics/pagination>`
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- :doc:`Serialization </topics/serialization>`
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- :doc:`Signals </topics/signals>`
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- :doc:`Templates </topics/templates>`, including the language, Python-level
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:doc:`template APIs </ref/templates/index>`, and :doc:`custom template tags
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and libraries </howto/custom-template-tags>`. We may add new template
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tags in the future and the names may inadvertently clash with
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external template tags. Before adding any such tags, we'll ensure that
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Django raises an error if it tries to load tags with duplicate names.
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- :doc:`Testing </topics/testing>`
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- :doc:`django-admin utility </ref/django-admin>`.
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- :doc:`Built-in middleware </ref/middleware>`
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- :doc:`Request/response objects </ref/request-response>`.
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- :doc:`Settings </ref/settings>`. Note, though that while the :doc:`list of
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built-in settings </ref/settings>` can be considered complete we may -- and
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probably will -- add new settings in future versions. This is one of those
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places where "'stable' does not mean 'complete.'"
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- :doc:`Built-in signals </ref/signals>`. Like settings, we'll probably add
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new signals in the future, but the existing ones won't break.
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- :doc:`Unicode handling </ref/unicode>`.
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- Everything covered by the :doc:`HOWTO guides </howto/index>`.
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``django.utils``
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----------------
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Most of the modules in ``django.utils`` are designed for internal use. Only
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the following parts of :doc:`django.utils </ref/utils>` can be considered stable:
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- ``django.utils.cache``
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- ``django.utils.datastructures.SortedDict`` -- only this single class; the
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rest of the module is for internal use.
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- ``django.utils.encoding``
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- ``django.utils.feedgenerator``
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- ``django.utils.http``
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- ``django.utils.safestring``
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- ``django.utils.translation``
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- ``django.utils.tzinfo``
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Exceptions
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==========
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There are a few exceptions to this stability and backwards-compatibility
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promise.
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Security fixes
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--------------
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If we become aware of a security problem -- hopefully by someone following our
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:ref:`security reporting policy <reporting-security-issues>` -- we'll do
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everything necessary to fix it. This might mean breaking backwards compatibility; security trumps the compatibility guarantee.
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Contributed applications (``django.contrib``)
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---------------------------------------------
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While we'll make every effort to keep these APIs stable -- and have no plans to
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break any contrib apps -- this is an area that will have more flux between
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releases. As the Web evolves, Django must evolve with it.
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However, any changes to contrib apps will come with an important guarantee:
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we'll make sure it's always possible to use an older version of a contrib app if
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we need to make changes. Thus, if Django 1.5 ships with a backwards-incompatible
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``django.contrib.flatpages``, we'll make sure you can still use the Django 1.4
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version alongside Django 1.5. This will continue to allow for easy upgrades.
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Historically, apps in ``django.contrib`` have been more stable than the core, so
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in practice we probably won't have to ever make this exception. However, it's
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worth noting if you're building apps that depend on ``django.contrib``.
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APIs marked as internal
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-----------------------
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Certain APIs are explicitly marked as "internal" in a couple of ways:
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- Some documentation refers to internals and mentions them as such. If the
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documentation says that something is internal, we reserve the right to
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change it.
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- Functions, methods, and other objects prefixed by a leading underscore
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(``_``). This is the standard Python way of indicating that something is
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private; if any method starts with a single ``_``, it's an internal API.
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.. _misc-api-stability-localflavor:
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Local flavors
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-------------
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.. versionchanged:: 1.3
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:mod:`django.contrib.localflavor` contains assorted pieces of code
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that are useful for particular countries or cultures. This data is
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local in nature, and is subject to change on timelines that will
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almost never correlate with Django's own release schedules. For
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example, a common change is to split a province into two new
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provinces, or to rename an existing province.
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These changes present two competing compatibility issues. Moving
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forward, displaying the names of deprecated, renamed and dissolved
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provinces in a selection widget is bad from a user interface
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perspective. However, maintaining full backwards compatibility
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requires that we support historical values that may be stored in a
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database -- including values that may no longer be valid.
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Therefore, Django has the following policy with respect to changes in
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local flavor:
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* At the time of a Django release, the data and algorithms
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contained in :mod:`django.contrib.localflavor` will, to the best
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of our ability, reflect the officially gazetted policies of the
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appropriate local government authority. If a province has been
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added, altered, or removed, that change will be reflected in
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Django's localflavor.
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* These changes will *not* be backported to the previous stable
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release. Upgrading a minor version of Django should not require
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any data migration or audits for UI changes; therefore, if you
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want to get the latest province list, you will either need to
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upgrade your Django install, or backport the province list you
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need.
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* For one release, the affected localflavor module will raise a
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``RuntimeWarning`` when it is imported.
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* The change will be announced in the release notes as a backwards
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incompatible change requiring attention. The change will also be
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annotated in the documentation for the localflavor module.
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* Where necessary and feasible, a migration script will be provided
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to aid the migration process.
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For example, Django 1.2 contains an Indonesian localflavor. It has a
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province list that includes "Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD)" as a
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province. The Indonesian government has changed the official name of
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the province to "Aceh (ACE)". As a result, Django 1.3 does *not*
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contain "Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD)" in the province list, but
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*does* contain "Aceh (ACE)".
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