Skip to content

API life cycle and deprecation policy in official documentation #4529

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
merged 1 commit into from
Aug 15, 2024
Merged

API life cycle and deprecation policy in official documentation #4529

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions CONTRIBUTING.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ We actively welcome your pull requests (PRs).
See the [testing section](#testing) for more information.
1. If you've changed APIs or added a new tool or feature, [update the
documentation](#updating-documentation).
1. If you added an experimental API or deprecated an existing API, follow the
[API Life Cycle and Deprecation Policy](/docs/source/api-life-cycle.md).
1. Make sure your code follows the [style guides](#coding-style) and passes the
[lint checks](#lintrunner).
1. If you haven't already, complete the [Contributor License Agreement ("CLA")](#contributor-license-agreement-cla).
Expand Down
Binary file added docs/source/_static/img/api_life_cycle.png
View file
Open in desktop
Loading
Sorry, something went wrong. Reload?
Sorry, we cannot display this file.
Sorry, this file is invalid so it cannot be displayed.
215 changes: 215 additions & 0 deletions docs/source/api-life-cycle.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
# ExecuTorch API Life Cycle and Deprecation Policy

## API Life Cycle

![name](_static/img/api_life_cycle.png)

Each API of ExecuTorch falls into one of the following life cycle states:

_Experimental_

- APIs in this stage are under active development and may change or be removed
at any time. That said, the expectation is that we will eventually promote it
to _Stable_, unless sufficient negative signals have been collected from the
community or better alternatives have been found.
- _Experimental_ APIs will be clearly marked (see the “How to Mark API State”
section below).
- _Experimental_ APIs may be changed or removed without notice, and developers
should expect no stability guarantees.

_Stable_

- APIs are considered to be _Stable_ if they are not marked as _Experimental_ or
_Deprecated._
- APIs in this stage have been thoroughly tested and are considered ready for
production use.
- The recommended best practice is to not deprecate stable APIs. When writing an
API, write it in such a way that it doesn’t need to be deprecated in the
future.
- _Stable_ APIs can be changed, but not in a breaking way. If breaking changes
have to be made, _Stable_ APIs will always transition to _Deprecated_ before
being broken/removed from the library.

_Deprecated_

- APIs in this stage are no longer recommended for use and will be removed in a
future version of ExecuTorch.
- _Deprecated_ APIs will be clearly marked (see the “How to Mark API State”
section below).
- _Deprecated_ APIs will remain functional for at least the _deprecation period_
(see the “Deprecation Period” section below) to allow developers time to
migrate to alternative APIs.

_Deleted_

- APIs whose removal are made permanent. Cleaned up from both code and
documentation.

## Deprecation Policy

Follow these steps to deprecate and remove an API:

1. Discuss the change and collect initial feedback.
2. Clearly mark the API deprecated in code and documentation (See “How to Mark
API State” below).
3. Listen to user feedback after the first release that deprecates the API.
Users who weren't involved in the original discussion may have good arguments
for not deprecating or removing the API.
4. Once the deprecation period has passed, the API may be removed (See
“Deprecation Period” below). Be sure to also remove references from the
documentation.


We also use deprecation as a way to make breaking changes to an existing
interface: for example, if adding a non-optional parameter to a method. To do
this without breaking existing users:

1. In a single commit:
- Create a new API that meets the new requirements.
- Deprecate the old API and recommend that users move to the new API.
2. Migrate use cases from the old API to the new API.
3. Delete the old API after the deprecation period.

## How to Mark API State

When possible, the ExecuTorch code uses language-standard ways to annotate API
lifecycle state in the code. This makes it easier for IDEs and other tools to
communicate state to developers.

<table>
<tr>
<td><strong>Language</strong>
</td>
<td><strong>Code</strong>
</td>
<td><strong>Documentation</strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Python
</td>
<td>

Use the
<a href="https://typing-extensions.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#typing_extensions.deprecated">typing_extensions.deprecated</a>
decorator

<p>
Use ExecuTorch's native experimental decorator (TODO not yet implemented)

</td>
<td>

Use <code>.. warning::</code> in the docstrings of deprecated and experimental
APIs. See
<a href="https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/blob/cd8bbdc71a0258292381a7d54c8b353988d02ff4/torch/nn/utils/stateless.py#L170">example
usage</a>

</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>C++
</td>
<td>

Use <code>__ET_DEPRECATED</code> macros. See <a href="https://github.com/pytorch/executorch/blob/8e0f856ee269b319ac4195509cf31e3f548aa0e8/runtime/executor/program.h#L81">example usage</a>

<p>
<p>
Use <code>__ET_EXPERIMENTAL</code> macros (TODO not yet implemented)
</ul>
</td>
<td>

Start Doxygen comments with <code>DEPRECATED:</code> See
<a href="https://github.com/pytorch/executorch/blob/9d859653ae916d0a72f6b2b5c5925bed38832140/runtime/executor/program.h#L139">example
usage</a>

<p>
<p>
Start Doxygen comments with <code>EXPERIMENTAL:</code>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Java
</td>
<td>

Use <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/docs/api/java/lang/Deprecated.html">java.lang.Deprecated</a>

<p>
<p>

Use <a href="https://cs.android.com/androidx/platform/frameworks/support/+/androidx-main:docs/api_guidelines/annotations.md">androidx.annotation.RequiresOptIn</a>

</td>
<td>
<p>
<pre><code>/**
* @deprecated Use {@link #newMethod()} instead.
*/
</code></pre>
<p>
<pre><code>/**
* Warning: This API is experimental.
*/</code></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Objective-C
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code>__attribute__((deprecated("Use newMethod instead")));</code>
<p>
<p>
<code>__attribute__((experimental("Use newMethod instead")));</code> (TODO not yet implemented)
Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I don't know if it's possible to implement an attribute like this; they're typically defined by the toolchain.

Copy link
Contributor Author

@Olivia-liu Olivia-liu Aug 14, 2024 •
edited
Loading

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

@shoumikhin Could you comment on this please? I've chatted with Anthony offline and IIUC, there's a mapping between the Objective-C annotations and the CPP macros. So if the CPP __ET_DEPRECATED and __ET_EXPERIMENTAL can be implemented, then we can implement these.

Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Oh I meant we can use the deprecated annotation for experental features too, since there's no dedicated experimental annotation available. Thus __ET_EXPERIMENTAL is gonna be defined the same as deprecated, but with a different error message.

</td>
<td>
<p>
<pre><code>
/**
* @deprecated Use `newMethod` instead.
*/
</code></pre>
<p>
<pre><code>
/**
* @experimental This API is experimental.
*/</code></pre>
<p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Swift
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code>@available(*, deprecated, message: "Use newMethod instead")</code>
<p>
<p>
<code>@available(*, message: "This API is experimental")</code>
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code>/// - Warning: Deprecated. Use `newMethod()` instead.</code>
<p>
<code>/// - Warning: This API is experimental.</code>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

The annotations would trigger static and/or runtime warning that contains at
least these information:

1. Clearly point to the non-deprecated alternative to migrate to, or be clear if
there is no alternative;
2. Specify the earliest version in which the API may actually be removed (See
“Deprecation Period” below).

## Deprecation Period

Here we recommend waiting for at least 2 minor releases before the removal. For
example, if a function is marked as _deprecated_ in release 1.3.x, then it can
be _deleted_ in 1.5.x or later.
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions docs/source/executorch-runtime-api-reference.rst
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ The ExecuTorch C++ API provides an on-device execution framework for exported Py
For a tutorial style introduction to the runtime API, check out the
`runtime tutorial <running-a-model-cpp-tutorial.html>`__ and its `simplified <extension-module.html>`__ version.

For detailed information on how APIs evolve and the deprecation process, please refer to the `ExecuTorch API Life Cycle and Deprecation Policy <api-life-cycle.html>`__.

Model Loading and Execution
---------------------------

Expand Down
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions docs/source/export-to-executorch-api-reference.rst
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
Export to ExecuTorch API Reference
----------------------------------

For detailed information on how APIs evolve and the deprecation process, please refer to the `ExecuTorch API Life Cycle and Deprecation Policy <api-life-cycle.html>`__.

.. automodule:: executorch.exir
.. autofunction:: to_edge

Expand Down
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs/source/index.rst
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ Topics in this section will help you get started with ExecuTorch.

export-to-executorch-api-reference
executorch-runtime-api-reference
api-life-cycle

.. toctree::
:glob:
Expand Down
Loading