# PODNAME: Statocles::Help::Policy
# ABSTRACT: Development and deprecation policies

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes development and deprecation policies.

=head1 MAJOR VERSIONS

Major versions are the only time when APIs can break. Major versions
must be at least 6 months apart.

=head1 DEPRECATION

Features will be deprecated for an entire major version before they are
removed.

Deprecation will start in the current major version, but only in testing (when
the C<HARNESS_ACTIVE> environment variable set by L<the Test::Harness
module|Test::Harness> is true). All deprecations will be accompanied with the
new feature when possible so users can switch immediately.

When the next major version happens, the deprecation will warn always. When the
major version after that happens, the deprecation will be fatal. Finally, after
the next major version, the warning/exception will be removed (and so, things
will probably fail in unexpected ways).

So, for something deprecated in v1.28:

=over 4

=item *

Warning only when testing from v1.28 to v2.00

=item *

Warning in normal operation from v2.00 to v3.00

=item *

Fatal exception from v3.00 to v4.00

=item *

Exception removed in v4.00

=back

All deprecations will be recorded in L<the upgrading guide|Statocles::Help::Upgrading>
along with instructions on how to work through it.

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over 4

=item *

L<Statocles::Help::Upgrading> - Guide to fixing use of deprecated features

=back