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On Wed, Dec 18, 2002 at 01:51:22PM +0100, Eric Botcazou wrote:
> > Won't that break backward compatibility in the sense that code written
> > for Allegro 4.0.3+ will not compile on 4.0.2 and below?
>
> Well, I'd rather call that breaking forward compatibility.
I agree with you, but thought the name might be confusing ;)
> From Allegro's
> point of view, maintaining backward compatibility means ensuring that a
> program written for Allegro version 4.0.n will work with Allegro version
> 4.0.m provided that m>=n. We are commited to that, not more, the idea being
> that you could benefit by subsequent bugfixes without changing a single line
> of code.
Hmm... imagine the following scenario: Anna makes a game using Allegro 4.0.3,
in Windows, and uses the 4.0.3 DLL.
She gives the game (but not the DLL) to Bob, who has the 4.0.2 DLL installed.
Of course, Bob should upgrade his Allegro version, but since both DLLs are
called alleg40.dll, shouldn't the program work correctly with either?
Ok, hypothetical situation - Allegro hopefully isn't going to detect IRIX or
Solaris in Windows.
Anyway - my point was that the binary made with 4.0.3 should, IMHO, work
correctly with the 4.0.2 shared library. Will it if such tiny things are
added?
> Maintaining forward compatibility would mean strictly zero new features, even
> as minor as the detection of new platforms or processor models.
Obviously.