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<appendix id="feature_lifecycle">
    <title>The Feature Lifecycle</title>
    <para>
        Gradle is under constant development and improvement. New versions are delivered on a regular and frequent basis
        (approximately every 6 weeks). Continuous improvement combined with frequent delivery allows new features to be made available
        to users early and for invaluable real world feedback to be incorporated into the development process. Getting
        new functionality into the hands of users regularly is a core value of the Gradle platform.
        At the same time, API and feature stability is taken very seriously and is also considered a core value of the Gradle platform.
        This is something that is engineered into the development process by design choices and automated testing, and is formalised by
        <xref linkend='backwards_compatibility'>Backwards Compatibility Policy</xref>.
    </para>
    <para>
        The Gradle
        <firstterm>feature lifecycle</firstterm>
        has been designed to meet these goals. It also serves
        to clearly communicate to users of Gradle what the state of a feature is. The term
        <firstterm>feature</firstterm>
        typically means
        an API or DSL method or property in this context, but it is not restricted to this definition.
        Command line arguments and modes of execution (e.g. the Build Daemon) are two examples of other kinds of features.
    </para>
    <section id="sec:states">
        <title>States</title>
        <para>
            Features can be in one of 4 states:
        </para>
        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <para>Internal</para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
                <para>Incubating</para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
                <para>Public</para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
                <para>Deprecated</para>
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
        <section id="sec:internal">
            <title>Internal</title>
            <para>
                Internal features are not designed for public use and are only intended to be used by Gradle itself. They can change in any way at any
                point in time without any notice. Therefore, we recommend avoiding the use of such features.
                Internal features are not documented. If it appears in this User Guide, the DSL Reference or the API Reference documentation then
                the feature is not internal.
            </para>
            <para>
                Internal features may evolve into public features.
            </para>
        </section>
        <section id="sec:incubating_state">
            <title>Incubating</title>
            <para>
                Features are introduced in the <firstterm>incubating</firstterm> state to allow real world feedback to be incorporated into the feature before it is made public and
                locked down to provide backwards compatibility.
                It also gives users who are willing to accept potential future changes early access to the feature so they can put it into use immediately.
            </para>
            <para>
                A feature in an incubating state may change in future Gradle versions until it is no longer incubating.
                Changes to incubating features for a Gradle release will be highlighted in the release notes for that release.
                The incubation period for new features varies depending on the scope, complexity and nature of the feature.
            </para>
            <para>
                Features in incubation are clearly indicated to be so. In the source code, all methods/properties/classes that are incubating are
                annotated with <apilink class="org.gradle.api.Incubating"/>, which is also used to specially mark them in the DSL and API references. If an incubating
                feature is discussed in this User Guide, it will be explicitly said to be in the incubating state.
            </para>
        </section>
        <section id="sec:public">
            <title>Public</title>
            <para>
                The default state for a non-internal feature is <firstterm>public</firstterm>.
                Anything that is documented in the User Guide, DSL Reference or API references that
                is not explicitly said to be incubating or deprecated is considered public. Features are said to be <firstterm>promoted</firstterm> from an
                incubating state to public. The release notes for each release indicate which previously incubating features are being promoted by the release.
            </para>
            <para>
                A public feature will <emphasis>never</emphasis> be removed or intentionally changed without undergoing deprecation.
                All public features are subject to the backwards compatibility policy.
            </para>
        </section>
        <section id="sec:deprecated">
            <title>Deprecated</title>
            <para>
                Some features will become superseded or irrelevant due to the natural evolution of Gradle. Such features will eventually be removed
                from Gradle after being <firstterm>deprecated</firstterm>. A deprecated feature will <emphasis>never</emphasis>
                be changed, until it is finally removed according to the backwards compatibility policy.
            </para>
            <para>
                Deprecated features are clearly indicated to be so. In the source code, all methods/properties/classes that are deprecated are
                annotated with
                “<literal>@java.lang.Deprecated</literal>”
                which is reflected in the DSL and API references.
                In most cases, there is a replacement for the deprecated element, and this will be described in the documentation.
                Using a deprecated feature will also result in a runtime warning in Gradle's output.
            </para>
            <para>
                Use of deprecated features should be avoided. The release notes for each release indicate any features that are being deprecated
                by the release.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>
    <section id="backwards_compatibility">
        <title>Backwards Compatibility Policy</title>
        <para>
            Gradle provides backwards compatibility across major versions (e.g. <literal>1.x</literal>, <literal>2.x</literal>,
            etc.).
            Once a public feature is introduced or promoted in a Gradle release it will remain indefinitely or until it is deprecated. Once
            deprecated, it may be removed in the next major release. Deprecated features may be supported across major
            releases, but this is not guaranteed.
        </para>
    </section>
</appendix>
