On Monday, 3 July 2017 at 13:14:02 UTC, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
So, in general, I think that it's a big mistake to keep deprecated stuff along on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Keeping it around for about two years like we do now is already quite a long time in that regard. As long as the symbol doesn't require any maintenance, then it's not a big deal, but too often, _some_ maintenance does end up being required.
For Phobos, changing the name would be less about keeping the function around for a long time than about offering an easy fix once the code does break. The current approach to deprecations is that you get a warning that at some point the function might be removed, then you update the compiler and you have broken code without an obvious fix. A broken build gets your attention, but you have a short-term fix. The total length of the deprecation cycle wouldn't have to change.
