Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Routines for registering dissectors with a "portnumber", and

From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:00:11 -0800
On Dec 19, 2010, at 10:37 PM, news.gmane.com wrote:

> Well, that meens, any dissector DLL that uses this function stops working 
> with the next revision of libwireshark.dll

We have never guaranteed that a dissector built for Wireshark major version 1.x will work with the development version 1.{x+1} or the next major release 1.{x+2}.  We only guarantee that a dissector built for 1.x will work with 1.x.y, i.e. that stability will be preserved for all minor releases corresponding to a given major release.

> I hope the new function names become stable, so that someday a Wireshark API 
> can be defined.

It takes more than just stable function names for a stable API.  It requires that:

	for any function, its signature not change (no added or removed parameters);

	no function be removed;

	no incompatible change to any arguments for a function be made.