SVID

[Brandon S. Allbery]

As quoted from <226 at ofc.Columbia.NCR.COM> by rogers at ofc.Columbia.NCR.COM (H. L. Rogers):
+---------------
| In article <1275 at sfmag.UUCP> der at sfmag.UUCP (D.Rorke) writes:
| >                                          Applications written
| >to issue n of the interface [SVID] will continue work properly on
| >a system which conforms to issue n + 1 (or any subsequent issue)
| >subject to a specific evolution mechanism.
>--^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| 
| Does this not, *by definition*, limit technical advancement by
| constraining new technology with *all* *old* technology?  You
+---------------

Note the underscored phrase above.  The "specific mechanism" in the SVID
allows features to be moved from the "permanent" category to the "may
disappear" category in a subsequent release of the SVID, and from there to a
special category in some future SVID which will phase the feature out in
something like 3 years, thus giving developers plenty of time to prepare for
such changes.

++Brandon
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery, uunet!marque!ncoast!allbery			DELPHI: ALLBERY
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