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.. _versioning:
============================
Versioning and API stability
============================
Versioning
==========
There are 3 numbers in a Scrapy version: *A.B.C*
* *A* is the major version. This will rarely change and will signify very
large changes.
* *B* is the release number. This will include many changes including features
and things that possibly break backward compatibility, although we strive to
keep these cases at a minimum.
* *C* is the bugfix release number.
Backward-incompatibilities are explicitly mentioned in the :ref:`release notes <news>`,
and may require special attention before upgrading.
Development releases do not follow 3-numbers version and are generally
released as ``dev`` suffixed versions, e.g. ``1.3dev``.
.. note::
With Scrapy 0.* series, Scrapy used `odd-numbered versions for development releases`_.
This is not the case anymore from Scrapy 1.0 onwards.
Starting with Scrapy 1.0, all releases should be considered production-ready.
For example:
* *1.1.1* is the first bugfix release of the *1.1* series (safe to use in
production)
API stability
=============
API stability was one of the major goals for the *1.0* release.
Methods or functions that start with a single dash (``_``) are private and
should never be relied as stable.
Also, keep in mind that stable doesn't mean complete: stable APIs could grow
new methods or functionality but the existing methods should keep working the
same way.
.. _deprecation-policy:
Deprecation policy
==================
We aim to maintain support for deprecated Scrapy features for at least 1 year.
For example, if a feature is deprecated in a Scrapy version released on
June 15th 2020, that feature should continue to work in versions released on
June 14th 2021 or before that.
Any new Scrapy release after a year *may* remove support for that deprecated
feature.
All deprecated features removed in a Scrapy release are explicitly mentioned in
the :ref:`release notes <news>`.
.. _odd-numbered versions for development releases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning#Odd-numbered_versions_for_development_releases
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