2008-08-23 22:25:40 +00:00
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=============
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API stability
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=============
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2015-06-20 12:58:10 +00:00
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Django promises API stability and forwards-compatibility since version 1.0. In
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a nutshell, this means that code you develop against a version of Django will
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continue to work with future releases. You may need to make minor changes when
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upgrading the version of Django your project uses: see the "Backwards
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incompatible changes" section of the :doc:`release note </releases/index>` for
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the version or versions to which you are upgrading.
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2008-08-23 22:25:40 +00:00
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What "stable" means
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===================
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In this context, stable means:
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2013-02-19 23:19:50 +00:00
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- All the public APIs (everything in this documentation) will not be moved
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or renamed without providing backwards-compatible aliases.
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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- If new features are added to these APIs -- which is quite possible --
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they will not break or change the meaning of existing methods. In other
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words, "stable" does not (necessarily) mean "complete."
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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- If, for some reason, an API declared stable must be removed or replaced, it
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will be declared deprecated but will remain in the API for at least two
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2015-06-20 12:58:10 +00:00
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feature releases. Warnings will be issued when the deprecated method is
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called.
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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See :ref:`official-releases` for more details on how Django's version
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numbering scheme works, and how features will be deprecated.
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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- We'll only break backwards compatibility of these APIs if a bug or
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security hole makes it completely unavoidable.
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2008-08-23 22:25:40 +00:00
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Stable APIs
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===========
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2008-09-02 18:45:33 +00:00
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In general, everything covered in the documentation -- with the exception of
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2013-02-19 23:19:50 +00:00
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anything in the :doc:`internals area </internals/index>` is considered stable.
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2008-09-02 18:45:33 +00:00
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Exceptions
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==========
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There are a few exceptions to this stability and backwards-compatibility
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promise.
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Security fixes
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--------------
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If we become aware of a security problem -- hopefully by someone following our
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:ref:`security reporting policy <reporting-security-issues>` -- we'll do
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2013-01-29 15:45:40 +00:00
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everything necessary to fix it. This might mean breaking backwards
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compatibility; security trumps the compatibility guarantee.
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2008-09-02 18:45:33 +00:00
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APIs marked as internal
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-----------------------
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Certain APIs are explicitly marked as "internal" in a couple of ways:
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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- Some documentation refers to internals and mentions them as such. If the
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documentation says that something is internal, we reserve the right to
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change it.
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2010-11-01 00:52:58 +00:00
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2011-10-14 00:12:01 +00:00
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- Functions, methods, and other objects prefixed by a leading underscore
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(``_``). This is the standard Python way of indicating that something is
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private; if any method starts with a single ``_``, it's an internal API.
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