Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] LADPSA v1.1 SDK Provisional Release
From: Kai Vehmanen (kai.vehmanen_AT_wakkanet.fi)
Date: Fri Jul 12 2002 - 02:40:36 EEST
On Thu, 11 Jul 2002, Paul Winkler wrote:
>> Without breaking binary compatibility,
> Can someone explain to me why that's important at this point in time?
Well, it's not _that_ important, but there are a few good reasons...
1) The LADSPA API was not designed for ABI changes (most notably the
interface version is not exported by plugins). This means that
old plugins that you didn't remember to delete/recompile can
cause segfaults in hosts. And unfortunately when you get a seg.fault,
you probably manage to try at least n+1 other things, send
bug reports, drive the host developers insane, etc, etc before
you notice that you had an old pluing lying around. ;)
2) Marketing. Only way to make developers believe that your
ABI is truly stable and will not change all the time is
to keep it stable. Just saying that "after this change there
won't be any modifications" every six months just doesn't cut it.
Whether this is a problem for LADSPA is another issue.
-- http://www.eca.cx Audio software for Linux!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Fri Jul 12 2002 - 02:43:45 EEST