| @c -*-texinfo-*- | |
| @c This is part of the GNU Guile Reference Manual. | |
| @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010 | |
| @c Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
| @c See the file guile.texi for copying conditions. | |
| @node Deprecation | |
| @section Deprecation | |
| From time to time functions and other features of Guile become obsolete. | |
| Guile's @dfn{deprecation} is a mechanism that can help you cope with | |
| this. | |
| When you use a feature that is deprecated, you will likely get a warning | |
| message at run-time. Also, if you have a new enough toolchain, using a | |
| deprecated function from @code{libguile} will cause a link-time warning. | |
| The primary source for information about just what interfaces are | |
| deprecated in a given release is the file @file{NEWS}. That file also | |
| documents what you should use instead of the obsoleted things. | |
| The file @file{README} contains instructions on how to control the | |
| inclusion or removal of the deprecated features from the public API of | |
| Guile, and how to control the deprecation warning messages. | |
| The idea behind this mechanism is that normally all deprecated | |
| interfaces are available, but you get feedback when compiling and | |
| running code that uses them, so that you can migrate to the newer APIs | |
| at your leisure. | |