From c465dcc1d07b520a952c4a74d1cf2f45fa4b6cdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 19:45:46 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Add major/minor release changes info to RELEASE_CHANGES file.
---
src/tools/RELEASE_CHANGES | 76 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 76 insertions(+)
diff --git a/src/tools/RELEASE_CHANGES b/src/tools/RELEASE_CHANGES
index 410d3ed5613..ee3c673f836 100644
--- a/src/tools/RELEASE_CHANGES
+++ b/src/tools/RELEASE_CHANGES
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
* Version numbers
configure.in and configure
bump interface version numbers
+ o src/interfaces/*/Makefile
o src/interfaces/libpq/libpq.rc
o src/include/pg_config.h.win32
@@ -22,3 +23,78 @@
* Update pg_upgrade to handle new version, or disable
* Update copyright year?
+
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Major Version
+=============
+
+The major version number should be updated whenever the source of the
+library changes to make it binary incompatible. Such changes include,
+but are not limited to:
+
+1. Removing a public function or structure (or typedef, enum, ...)
+
+2. Modifying a public functions arguments.
+
+3. Removing a field from a public structure.
+
+3. Adding a field to a public structure, unless steps have been
+previously taken to shield users from such a change, for example by
+such structures only ever being allocated/instantiated by a library
+function which would give the new field a suitable default value.
+
+Adding a new function would NOT force an increase in the major version
+number. When the major version is increased all applications which
+link to the library MUST be recompiled - this is not desirable. When
+the major version is updated the minor version gets reset.
+
+Minor Version
+=============
+
+The minor version number should be updated whenever the functionality
+of the library has changed, typically and change in source code
+between releases would mean an increase in the minor version number so
+long as it does not require a major version increase.
+
+Minimizing Changes
+==================
+
+When modifying public functions arguments, steps should be taken to
+maintain binary compatibility across minor PostgreSQL releases (e.g. the
+7.2 series, the 7.3 series, the 7.4/8.0 series). Consider the following
+function:
+
+ void print_stuff(int arg1, int arg2)
+ {
+ printf("stuff: %d %d\n", arg1, arg2);
+ }
+
+If we wanted to add a third argument:
+
+ void print_stuff(int arg1, int arg2, int arg3)
+ {
+ printf("stuff: %d %d %d\n", arg1, arg2, arg3);
+ }
+
+Then doing it like this:
+
+ void print_stuff2(int arg1, int arg2, int arg3)
+ {
+ printf("stuff: %d %d %d\n", arg1, arg2, arg3);
+ }
+
+ void print_stuff(int arg1, int arg2)
+ {
+ print_stuff(arg1, arg2, 0);
+ }
+
+would maintain binary compatibility. Obviously this would add a fair
+bit of cruft if used extensively, but considering the changes between
+minor versions would probably be worthwhile to avoid bumping library
+major version. Naturally in the next major version print_stuff() would
+assume the functionality and arguments of print_stuff2().
+
+
+Lee Kindness
--
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