[vlc-devel] [RFC] Slimming LibVLC down

[Olivier Aubert]

On Mon, 2010-02-01 at 15:04 +0100, Rémi Denis-Courmont wrote:
> In other words, backward compatibility is a property of a whole shared
> object.
> You can't split it to exported symbols, LIKE IT OR NOT. If we wanted
> mediacontrol to be stable independent of LibVLC, the only way would have
> been to ship it as a separate shared object. Now, it's too late. So
> mediacontrol will go through its second breakage, just like LibVLC. And
> mediacontrol shall become a separate library so as not to break again next
> time LibVLC breaks.
I will not repeat the same arguments as 2 years ago, just read the
following messages.
http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2007-October/035918.html
http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2007-October/035920.html
http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2007-October/035921.html

You are persistent in your convictions (about API stability), which is
deeply honourable. However, the situation has not really changed from 2
years ago: the mediacontrol *source* API has remained stable (for my
definition of stable that is) for the last 6 or 7 years, while the
libvlc source API (not even talking about the binary API) is still
moving.

Well, anyway, it looks like a dialogue of the deaf, I will not spend
anymore time on this. Just try to do any change you intend to make
(regardless of other people's opinions[1]) properly, by testing your
changes and correctly updating involved sources (including language
bindings).

Regards,
Olivier

[1] I am tempted to add "as usual" but it would look too much like
trolling. OK, I will not write it. Ooops, did I?