Branch: refs/heads/master Author: xiota xiota@users.noreply.github.com Committer: GitHub noreply@github.com Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2021 08:35:02 UTC Commit: d8f2f14a16fe57fb1a98e767a2263846a0135431 https://github.com/geany/geany/commit/d8f2f14a16fe57fb1a98e767a2263846a01354...

Log Message: ----------- Expand ABI/API explanation in HACKING (#3027)

* Expand ABI/API explanation in HACKING

Modified Paths: -------------- HACKING

Modified: HACKING 16 lines changed, 12 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) =================================================================== @@ -126,10 +126,18 @@ the existing elements stay in place - this will keep the ABI stable.

Keeping the plugin ABI stable ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -Before the 1.0 release series, the ABI can change when necessary, and -even the API can change. An ABI change just means that all plugins will -not load and they must be rebuilt. An API change means that some plugins -might not build correctly. +In general the ABI changes as little as we can manage. The ABI number +must match exactly between Geany and plugins, so an ABI change breaks +all plugins until they are re-compiled. But sometimes it is absolutely +necessary. Removing a feature or significantly changing the semantics +of an existing feature require an ABI change since existing plugins may +no longer work with the modified version of Geany. + +The API identifying number is increased whenever anything is added to +the API so plugins can test if the feature is available. The API number +required by a plugin needs only to be lower than the API Geany provides, +so an increase in API number without a change in ABI will not stop +plugins that need a lower number from working.

If you're reordering or changing existing elements of structs that are used as part of the plugin API, you must increment GEANY_ABI_VERSION

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