[PROJ] Postponing removal of proj_api.h

[Kristian Evers]

All,

Removing proj_api.h from the public API of PROJ has been a controversial topic
since it was announced with the 5.0.0 release. As we’ve moved closer and closer
to the release date of PROJ 7.0.0 resistance has increased. The resistance is
coming both from the wider community and several PSC members [0]. That can’t be
ignored, so the upcoming 7.0.0 release *will* include proj_api.h allowing
downstream projects to still use the deprecated API for another release cycle.
Hopefully this decision will make life easier for both developers and packagers
and give everyone some much needed time to catch up.

Be aware though, the decision to postpone the removal of proj_api.h does not
mean that will be skipped altogether. It *will* be removed in PROJ 8.0.0. The
immediate consequence of extending the life-time of proj_api.h is that there
will not be any more maintenance releases of the 6.3 branch. The only reason we
planned on doing that was to offer a maintained version of PROJ that includes
proj_api.h. With the most recent version including the header file that is no
longer a concern. With 7.0 delaying removal of the header for one more release
cycle, this concern is eliminated. We expect no 7.x maintenance release
activity related to the old API, but it is probable there will be some related
to recent efforts.

/Kristian


[0] https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ/pull/1872
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