X-Git-Url: https://git.hcoop.net/bpt/guile.git/blobdiff_plain/7e2cb69cbc7af40c54c0eeb88c2221e715a6a416..079abb952d624348616b3f86e5df54ed3a66f7d6:/HACKING

diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index cfba946de..1c244e987 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ CVS log entries from that.
 
 Coding standards =====================================================
 
+- Before contributing larger amounts of code to Guile, please read the
+documents in `guile-core/devel/policy' in the CVS source tree.
+
 - As for any part of Project GNU, changes to Guile should follow the
 GNU coding standards.  The standards are available via anonymous FTP
 from prep.ai.mit.edu, as /pub/gnu/standards/standards.texi and
@@ -157,6 +160,32 @@ function properly on systems where they are missing.  This usually
 entails adding a test to configure.in, and then adding #ifdefs to your
 code to disable it if the system's features are missing.
 
+- The normal way of removing a function, macro or variable is to mark
+it as "deprecated", keep it for a while, and remove it in a later
+release.  If a function or macro is marked as "deprecated" it
+indicates that people shouldn't use it in new programs, and should try
+to remove it in old.  Make sure that an alternative exists unless it
+is our purpose to remove functionality.  Don't deprecate definitions
+if it is unclear when they will be removed.  (This is to ensure that a
+valid way of implementing some functionality always exists.)
+
+When deprecating a definition, always following this procedure:
+
+1. Mark the definition using
+
+#if (SCM_DEBUG_DEPRECATED == 0)
+...
+#endif
+
+2. Write a comment at the definition explaining how a programmer
+can manage without the deprecated definition.
+
+3. Add an entry that the definition has been deprecated in NEWS
+
+4. At the top of release, there is a list of releases with reminders
+about what to do at each release.  Add a reminder about the removal of
+the deprecated defintion at the appropriate release.
+
 - When you make a user-visible change (i.e. one that should be
 documented, and appear in NEWS, put an asterisk in column zero of the
 start of the ChangeLog entry, like so: