Backwards compatibility (was: Re: [PATCH] ob-shell: consistent prefix)

[Matt]

 ---- On Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:10:00 +0100  Ihor Radchenko  wrote --- 

 > I do not mind changing the names, except that we must not break
 > backwards compatibility.  In particular, the non-private function
 > and variable names that were present in the latest Org stable
 > release must be either supplied with an alias or declared
 > obsolete. Otherwise, the third-party code using the old names will
 > be broken.

How far does backwards compatibility extend with regard to Org itself?  For the 
next version, for all time, or something else?  

The rule I infer from your comment is, "renamed symbols must be aliased."  This 
implies that any arguments associated with the symbol are the same after the 
name change.  How do we handle changes in function APIs?  I'm thinking of 
something like =org-babel-execute:shell= and =org-babel-sh-evaluate= where it 
would make sense to refactor the =stdin= and =cmdline= parameters.

--
Matt Trzcinski
Emacs Org contributor (ob-shell)
Learn more about Org mode at https://orgmode.org
Support Org development at https://liberapay.com/org-mode