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| 1 | +# Azure Versioning Guidelines |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +## History |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +<details> |
| 6 | + <summary>Expand change history</summary> |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +| Date | Notes | |
| 9 | +| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| 10 | +| 2024-Nov-14 | Azure Service Versioning & Breaking Change Guidelines | |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +</details> |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Guidelines |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +This document provides a "Dos and Don'ts" list for complying with the Azure Versioning and Breaking Change Policy, |
| 17 | +as documented [internally](aka.ms/AzBreakingChangesPolicy) and [externally](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/developer/intro/azure-service-sdk-tool-versioning). |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** thoroughly ensure/test the API contract is entirely correct before merging it into a production branch of the specs repo. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +Testing helps avoid "BugFix" changes to the API definition. Testing should be done at the HTTP level as well as through generated SDKs. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** retire all prior preview API versions 90 days after a new GA or preview API version is released. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** contact the Azure Breaking Change Review board to coordinate communications to customers |
| 26 | +when releasing an API version requiring the retirement of a prior version. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** create a new preview API version for any features that should remain in preview following a new GA release. |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** use a date strictly later than the most recent GA API version when releasing |
| 31 | +a new preview API version. |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** deprovision any API version that has been retired. Retired APIs versions should behave like |
| 34 | +an unknown API version (see [ref](https://aka.ms/azapi/guidelines#versioning-api-version-unsupported)). |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** remove retired API versions from the azure-rest-api-specs repo. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +:white_check_mark: **DO** review any change to service behavior that could disrupt customers with the Azure Breaking Changes review board, even if the change is not part of the API definition. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +Some examples of behavior changes that must be reviewed are: |
| 41 | +- Introducing or changing rate limits to be more restrictive than previously |
| 42 | +- Changing the permissions required to successfully execute an operation |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +:no_entry: **DO NOT** change the behavior of an API version that is available to customers either in public preview or GA. |
| 45 | +Changes in behavior should always be introduced in a new API version, with prior versions working as before. |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +:no_entry: **DO NOT** introduce breaking changes from a prior GA version just to satisfy ARM or Azure API guidelines. |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +Avoiding breaking changes in a GA API takes precedence over adherence to API guidelines and resolving linter errors. |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +:no_entry: **DO NOT** keep a preview feature in preview for more than 1 year; it must go GA (or be removed) within 1 year after introduction. |
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