doc: add Backwards Compatibility section to COMMUNITY.md

Signed-off-by: Lou Berger <lberger@labn.net>
This commit is contained in:
Lou Berger 2017-07-11 14:58:03 -04:00
parent c75af349d7
commit e887b2b83e

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@ -380,3 +380,24 @@ CLI's are a complicated ugly beast. Additions or changes to the CLI
should use a DEFUN to encapsulate one setting as much as is possible.
Additionally as new DEFUN's are added to the system, documentation
should be provided for the new commands.
### Backwards Compatibility
As a general principle, changes to CLI and code in the lib/ directory
should be made in a backwards compatible fashion. This means that
changes that are purely stylistic in nature should be avoided, e.g.,
renaming an existing macro or library function name without any
functional change. When adding new parameters to common functions, it is
also good to consider if this too should be done in a backward
compatible fashion, e.g., by preserving the old form in addition to
adding the new form.
This is not to say that minor or even major functional changes to CLI
and common code should be avoided, but rather that the benefit gained
from a change should be weighed against the added cost/complexity to
existing code. Also, that when making such changes, it is good to
preserve compatibility when possible to do so without introducing
maintenance overhead/cost. It is also important to keep in mind,
existing code includes code that may reside in private repositories (and
is yet to be submitted) or code that has yet to be migrated from Quagga
to FRR.