Vladimir Panteleev Wrote: > On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:58:53 +0300, foobar <f...@bar.com> wrote: > > > Recent threads discuss how D should incorporate a mechanism to version > > symbols/modules. > > E.g. std.xml[2], std.io vs. std.stdio and std.regex[p]. > > My question is WHY? > > > > D *already* employes Git and there is no point in reimplementing it > > inside the D language/tools. > > I suggest this simple zero-implementation scheme [KISS!]: > > use git tags to tag Phobos releases and advertise the decided upon > > version scheme in the docs. Make sure to document APIs with the minimum > > required Phobos release version [git tag!] and add a "Releases" web-page > > that documents API changes. > > If someone needs a specific (older) version of e.g. std.xml he/she will > > simply download the specific version of Phobos already available > > publicly online. > > What happens when you want to use two libraries which require different > incompatible versions of the same module? > > How do you suggest to tag every book/article/etc. with a module/Phobos > version to use? > > Moreso: > > Phobos pretty much walks hand-in-hand with Druntime and the compiler. > You'll find that it won't be easy to make today's Phobos version work with > DMD from two compiler versions ago. There's also the inter-dependencies > between Phobos modules themselves. > > Your advice could simply be extended to "if you don't want your code to > break when updating D, don't update D". > > -- > Best regards, > Vladimir mailto:vladi...@thecybershadow.net
Since Phobos walks hand-in-hand with Druntime and the compiler it makes even more sense to tie them together with the _same_ version number. You are correct in that if you depend on an old deprecated version of D, you shouldn't expect to update D to a newer incompatible version and expect your code to work without any changes. This is completely orthogonal to the question of which mechanism is used for release management. Corollary: How do you suggest to tag every book/article/etc. Which module name(s) would you employ? xml vs. xml2? stdio vs. io? Breaking API changes should be minimized regardless of mechanism employed.
