[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v3] doc: policy on the promotion of experimental APIs

[Jerin Jacob]

On Sat, Jul 10, 2021 at 12:46 AM Tyler Retzlaff
<roretzla at linux.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jul 09, 2021 at 11:46:54AM +0530, Jerin Jacob wrote:
> > > +
> > > +Promotion to stable
> > > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > +
> > > +Ordinarily APIs marked as ``experimental`` will be promoted to the stable ABI
> > > +once a maintainer and/or the original contributor is satisfied that the API is
> > > +reasonably mature. In exceptional circumstances, should an API still be
> >
> > Is this line with git commit message?
> > Why making an exceptional case? why not make it stable after two years
> > or remove it.
> > My worry is if we make an exception case, it will be difficult to
> > enumerate the exception case.
>
> i think the intent here is to indicate that an api/abi doesn't just
> automatically become stable after a period of time.  there also has to
> be an evaluation by the maintainer / community before making it stable.
>
> so i guess the timer is something that should force that evaluation. as
> a part of that evaluation one would imagine there is justification for
> keeping the api as experimental for longer and if so a rationale as to
> why.

I think, we need to have a deadline. Probably one year timer for evaluation and
two year for max time for decision to make it as stable or remove.