On Wed, 2010-12-01, Blair Zajac wrote: > On 12/1/10 4:38 PM, stef...@apache.org wrote: > > Author: stefan2 > > Date: Thu Dec 2 00:38:17 2010 > > New Revision: 1041230 > > > > URL: http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?rev=1041230&view=rev > > Log: > > Fix the svn_checksum_to_cstring() docstring to actually say what > > was intended. Also, make clear that the behavior is new for 1.7 and > > trying to use it in 1.6 will cause segfaults. > > > > * subversion/include/svn_checksum.h > > (svn_checksum_to_cstring): fix docstring > > What happens if somebody makes a svn tool that is compiled and built against > the > new 1.7 behavior and then it is backported to 1.6, it may core dump.
Any back-port effort of this kind needs to take account of all API changes, not just newly created APIs. If it doesn't, then yes it may crash. I believe that is an expected result of our compatibility rules, and not without precedent, although I can't quickly lay my hands on a good example. > Should we add a svn_checksum_to_cstring2() instead with the new behavior or > backport this change to 1.6? But even then we'll have 1.6 versions with > different behavior. It seems making a new svn_checksum_to_cstring2() is > better. We should not port this change to 1.6.x. I don't believe we need to rev the API for this reason; however, I haven't reviewed the change and so I don't know if there are other reasons. - Julian
