[gst-devel] small API/ABI breakage

[Benjamin Otte]

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Ronald Bultje wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Thomas Vander Stichele wrote:
> > apparently between 0.8.1 and 0.8.2 of core GST_CAT_DATAFLOW was removed,
> > which is used by the switch element in 0.8.1 plugins.
> [..]
> > b) make a quick 0.8.3 core release that puts this back
>
> This one please, we committed to ABI/API stability so we should try to
> follow up on this seriously, that's better for our long-term image as
> other projects (e.g. KDE) look at us.
>
Ok, to clear this one up for everyone:
That was not API or ABI breakage. API or ABI breakage is changing stuff in
the exported headers. The missing symbol therefore was never part of the
ABI we supported.

The switch element just imported it by guessing that it was there. So it
was a grave bug in the switch element.

So the fix with 0.8.3 is just the core devels being nice to the plugin
devels and including a compatibility fix for a broken plugin.

Benjamin