[Development] Qt XML and Qt Xml Patterns

[Kai Köhne]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Development <development-bounces at qt-project.org> On Behalf Of
> Bernhard Lindner
> Subject: Re: [Development] Qt XML and Qt Xml Patterns
> 
> > It's good that Bernhard has received an official statement.
> 
> I agree! Thank you!

Indeed, thanks for bringing this up here! We quite obviously should improve
the processes here.

> > In general, I think the Qt Company could make a little more effort to
> > communicate such decisions, educate its user community, and attract
> > new potential maintainers. Actually, communication should start before
> > a problem results in a decision. Isn't that an important aspect of community
> building?

No question about that. I can assure you though there was no ill-intend.
Let's try to do better in the future.

> Agreed as well.
> 
> 
> Assuming that Qt Xml is deprecated as well (still not sure) this is the fourth
> time a deprecated component tears major holes in my applications. Regarding
> Qt Xml and Qt Xml Patterns it surprises me a lot since I consider them essential
> components. I will use the stream classes under no circumstances. This means
> in my book Qt does not support one of the most important techniques (XML)
> anymore. Hard to believe.

I'm with you on Qt XML; Uploaded 
https://codereview.qt-project.org/c/qt/qtbase/+/262779 for improving 
the documentation.

But maybe some approver wants to step up and become the official maintainer
of Qt XML?

For Qt XML Patterns, the situation is IMO a bit different. The module has
some architectural problems, and there are good alternatives out there (check
out e.g. https://xml.apache.org/xalan-c/ for XSLT).  So I think it's more honest
to our users to mark it deprecated, than to assume it's in a good state and should
be used for new projects.

> Obviously "no maintainer" is enough for a deprecation. 

No, there's no automatism here. We have other areas without an official maintainer, 
and they are not deprecated (nor do I expect them to be any time soon):

https://wiki.qt.io/Maintainers

Having no official maintainer is obviously not a very satisfying situation though.
 
But in the end we should consider each case individually.

My 2 cents,

Kai