docs/api-stability.rst

API stability
=============

From its first release, ``cryptography`` has had a strong API stability
policy.

What does this policy cover?
----------------------------

This policy includes any API or behavior that is documented in this
documentation.

What does "stable" mean?
------------------------

* Public APIs will not be removed or renamed without providing a compatibility
  alias.
* The behavior of existing APIs will not change.

What doesn't this policy cover?
-------------------------------

* We may add new features, things like the result of ``dir(obj))`` or the
  contents of ``obj.__dict__`` may change.
* Objects are not guaranteed to be pickleable, and pickled objects from one
  version of ``cryptography`` may not be loadable in future versions.
* Unless otherwise documented, types in ``cryptography`` are not intended to
  be sub-classed, and we do not guarantee that behavior with respect to
  sub-classes will be stable.
* Development versions of ``cryptography``. Before a feature is in a release,
  it is not covered by this policy and may change.

Security
~~~~~~~~

One exception to our API stability policy is for security. We will violate this
policy as necessary in order to resolve a security issue or harden
``cryptography`` against a possible attack.

Versioning
----------

Version 35.0.0+
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beginning with release 35.0.0 ``cryptography`` uses a Firefox-inspired version
scheme.

Given a version ``cryptography X.Y.Z``,

* ``X`` indicates the major version number. This is incremented on any feature
  release.
* ``Y`` is always ``0``.
* ``Z`` is an integer that is incremented for minor backward-compatible
  releases (such as fixing security issues or correcting regressions in a major
  release).

This scheme is compatible with `SemVer`_, though many major releases will
**not** include any backwards-incompatible changes.

Deprecation
~~~~~~~~~~~

From time to time we will want to change the behavior of an API or remove it
entirely. In that case, here's how the process will work:

* In ``cryptography X.0.0`` the feature exists.
* In ``cryptography (X + 1).0.0`` using that feature will emit a
  ``CryptographyDeprecationWarning`` (base class ``UserWarning``).
* In ``cryptography (X + 2).0.0`` using that feature will emit a
  ``CryptographyDeprecationWarning``.
* In ``cryptography (X + 3).0.0`` the feature will be removed or changed.

In short, code that runs without warnings will always continue to work for a
period of two major releases.

From time to time, we may decide to deprecate an API that is particularly
widely used. In these cases, we may decide to provide an extended deprecation
period, at our discretion.

Previous Scheme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before version 35.0.0 this project uses a custom versioning scheme as described
below.

Given a version ``cryptography X.Y.Z``,

* ``X.Y`` is a decimal number that is incremented for
  potentially-backwards-incompatible releases.

  * This increases like a standard decimal.
    In other words, 0.9 is the ninth release, and 1.0 is the tenth (not 0.10).
    The dividing decimal point can effectively be ignored.

* ``Z`` is an integer that is incremented for backward-compatible releases.


.. _`SemVer`: https://semver.org/