KDE 4 beta: The road ahead

[Dirk Mueller]

Hi, 

as there seem to be ongoing confusion about what and what not is still 
allowed, I want to stress some points: 

a) We do not require binary compatibility at the moment. It is still fine to 
break binary compatibility (preferably on mondays, but thats not a 
requirement) if that is needed to make KDE 4.0 a better, easier to maintain 
and BC-maintainable platform

b) We do not require exact source compatibility at the moment, so it is still 
fine to change the API to 

  - make porting from KDE3 applications easier
  - fix major (!) API glitches that cannot be fixed in a binary compatible way
   later
  - remove parts from the public API that is intended to be added at a later
   point in the KDE 4.1 release cycle as public API again, when it was matured
   and fixed. 

c) It is not fine to unnecessarily break the API to fix some stylistic issue 
or some EBN check *if* it requires significant additional porting effort for 
applications. If 3rd party applications port to Beta1 API, don't put stones 
into their way by completely changing major aspects for Beta2. 

d) in case of doubt: post it for discussion here. 

Please concentrate on getting the desktop ready, and do whatever is necessary 
for it. Just stop breaking the API into pieces on a weekly basis. 


Thanks for listening,

Dirk