[geos-devel] ABI/API status and future development thougths

[Frank Warmerdam]

On 4/21/05, strk at refractions.net <strk at refractions.net> wrote:
> Enough noise, I hope someone will actually read this :P
> 
> Every contribution on the topic is highly apprieciated!

Strk,

I am in favour of having a relatively simple stable part of the API 
that should even be ABI compatible over long periods of time.

However, as noted earlier, I am generally most concerned
about API changes that make builds harder. Hence my resistance
to the exception improvement.  I don't think you should sweat
about ABI changes related to inlining and so forth, though it would
be nice if they could easily be prevented. 

PS. In GDAL I have a C API which I make a substantial effort
to keep ABI compatible over the long term but at the C++ level
I make no effort to retain ABI compatibilty, but I do try to keep
API (ie. source/build level) compatibility as best I can. 

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent