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    CWG Issue 223</TITLE>
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<P><EM>This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21
  Core Issues List revision 118b.
  See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official
  list.</EM></P>
<P>2025-09-28</P>
<HR>
<A NAME="223"></A><H4>223.
  
The meaning of deprecation
</H4>
<B>Section: </B>Clause Annex D&#160; [<A href="https://wg21.link/depr">depr</A>]
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Status: </B>CD3
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Submitter: </B>Mike Miller
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Date: </B>19 Apr 2000<BR>


<P>[Moved to DR at the April, 2013 meeting.]</P>

<P>During the discussion of issues <A HREF="167.html">167</A> and
<A HREF="174.html">174</A>, it became apparent that there was no
consensus on the meaning of deprecation.  Some thought that
deprecating a feature reflected an intent to remove it from
the language.  Others viewed it more as an encouragement to
programmers not to use certain constructs, even though they might be
supported in perpetuity.</P>

<P>There is a formal-sounding definition of deprecation in Annex
Clause Annex D [<A href="https://wg21.link/depr#2">depr</A>] paragraph 2:

<BLOCKQUOTE>

deprecated is defined as: Normative for the current edition of the
Standard, but not guaranteed to be part of the Standard in future
revisions.

</BLOCKQUOTE>

However, this definition would appear to say that any
non-deprecated feature <I>is</I> "guaranteed to be part of the
Standard in future revisions."  It's not clear that that implication
was intended, so this definition may need to be amended.
</P>

<P>This issue is intended to provide an avenue for discussing and
resolving those questions, after which the original issues may be
reopened if that is deemed desirable.</P>

<P><B>Proposed resolution (August, 2012):</B></P>

<P>Change Clause Annex D [<A href="https://wg21.link/depr#2">depr</A>] paragraph 2 as follows:</P>

<BLOCKQUOTE>

These are deprecated features, where <I>deprecated</I> is defined as:
Normative for the current edition of the Standard, but <DEL>not guaranteed
to be part of the Standard in</DEL> <INS>having been identified as a
candidate for removal from</INS> future revisions.

</BLOCKQUOTE>

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