Edit File: api-stability.rst
API stability ============= From its first release, ``cryptography`` will have 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. * 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. 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.Y`` the feature exists. * In ``cryptography X.Y+1`` using that feature will emit a ``PendingDeprecationWarning``. * In ``cryptography X.Y+2`` using that feature will emit a ``DeprecationWarning``. * In ``cryptography X.Y+3`` the feature will be removed or changed. In short, code that runs without warnings will always continue to work for a period of two releases.