Java compatibility checking library

[Pablo Estrada via dev <de...@beam.apache.org>]

Hi folks!
I learned about this library: https://lvc.github.io/japi-compliance-checker/

It looks like it's able to check API compatibility between versions of
libraries. We could instate checks that use this library to be more aware
of backwards incompatibilities that we may introduce accidentally, and at
least be forced to make a deliberate decision about them.

LMK what you think about adding checks with this utility : )

-P.

Re: Java compatibility checking library

[Kenneth Knowles <ke...@apache.org>]

Aha!

I found a reference to using japicmp for this purpose even earlier, at our
first stable release :-)
https://lists.apache.org/thread/8chz1pp3drg8kbv84yfq9mct31ohcvvd

I just noticed on dev@flink that there's a proposal to use it there (
https://lists.apache.org/thread/jkk87ls2lc17q6bqz5b1xzh67pk4x663 /
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=225152857)

Kenn

On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 4:10 PM Kenneth Knowles <ke...@apache.org> wrote:

> I think this is still worth considering. We would need to see how well it
> does at avoiding false alarms. It was brought up by Andrew a while back at
> https://lists.apache.org/thread/kq2w6rw0oorcj037ygjvfsqw1l9l55jj and I
> know we had another discussion of it even further back. I thought also that
> the Flink project had discussed it and had some learnings, but I have
> failed to find the thread.
>
> We'll need it to be configurable to exclude experimental and internal
> stuff. And we will need to be a lot more careful about making sure things
> go through an incubation phase than we usually are.
>
> Kenn
>
> On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 1:23 PM Pablo Estrada via dev <de...@beam.apache.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks!
>> I learned about this library:
>> https://lvc.github.io/japi-compliance-checker/
>>
>> It looks like it's able to check API compatibility between versions of
>> libraries. We could instate checks that use this library to be more aware
>> of backwards incompatibilities that we may introduce accidentally, and at
>> least be forced to make a deliberate decision about them.
>>
>> LMK what you think about adding checks with this utility : )
>>
>> -P.
>>
>

Re: Java compatibility checking library

[Kenneth Knowles <ke...@apache.org>]

I think this is still worth considering. We would need to see how well it
does at avoiding false alarms. It was brought up by Andrew a while back at
https://lists.apache.org/thread/kq2w6rw0oorcj037ygjvfsqw1l9l55jj and I know
we had another discussion of it even further back. I thought also that the
Flink project had discussed it and had some learnings, but I have failed to
find the thread.

We'll need it to be configurable to exclude experimental and internal
stuff. And we will need to be a lot more careful about making sure things
go through an incubation phase than we usually are.

Kenn

On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 1:23 PM Pablo Estrada via dev <de...@beam.apache.org>
wrote:

> Hi folks!
> I learned about this library:
> https://lvc.github.io/japi-compliance-checker/
>
> It looks like it's able to check API compatibility between versions of
> libraries. We could instate checks that use this library to be more aware
> of backwards incompatibilities that we may introduce accidentally, and at
> least be forced to make a deliberate decision about them.
>
> LMK what you think about adding checks with this utility : )
>
> -P.
>