[TYPO3-core] "breaking" changes in minor releases?

[Helmut Hummel]

Hi!

How should we handle changes in minor releases, that fix bugs, but might 
also break third party code?

Here are two examples:

https://review.typo3.org/31694
This would break for users, that rely on the fact that all files from a 
specified directory are inlcuded, not only txt and ts files.

https://review.typo3.org/20026
This might break hooks/ XCLASSes, as a public property is removed


In the past we also had security fixes, which broke sites (sometimes 
heavily).


My proposal would be:

Allow breaking changes for private API (second example) or "edge 
usecases" (third example; whou would expect .doc files to be included as 
TS?) or security fixes, but mark every such change as breaking ([!!!]) 
in the commit message, no matter how small such breakage would be.

By doing so, we could mor easily inform users about such changes and 
they can decide whether they might be affected or not before an update.


What would you do?

Kind regards,
Helmut

-- 
Helmut Hummel
Release Manager TYPO3 6.0
TYPO3 Core Developer, TYPO3 Security Team Member

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