HP-UX 11i Version 1.5 Release Notes, September 2001

Programming
Obsolescence and Deprecation of APIs
Chapter 7 119
Obsolescence and Deprecation of APIs
This section defines the obsolescence of core system libraries and
relocatable objects. Obsolescence of other products are covered in
separate sections.
Rationale and Objectives
The HP rational and objectives of obsolesence and deprecation of APIs
are:
• provide common, standard APIs across UNIX vendors
• facilitate portability for our ISVs
• reduce confusion for the selection of similar APIs
• reduce the size of libc, thus increasing performance of shared libc
• reduce the continued application turbulence for future architecture
changes
• remove the compatibility problems for applications which link with
shared libraries that have dependencies on archive system libraries
• reduce satisfaction issues with APIs that have specification defects,
for example, compatibility issues
• reduce support costs for APIs that are not in the strategic direction of
standards, the industry, and our customers
• minimize adoption issues for new releases on PA or IPF
The intent is that there will be NO gratuitous changes, and obsolescence
of APIs and libraries is acceptable when initiated to avoid application
breakage or duplicate functionality.
Terms and Definitions
Deprecated: A “deprecated” interface can have the following
characteristics:
• functionality is available on the system
• deprecation is a step towards obsolescence