BCD: Indicating an API with name change phased in over time

MDN
#1

I need to be sure the BCD for RTCDataChannel correctly reflects the changes in its name over time.

In Firefox, it was originally introduced in Firefox 22 under the name DataChannel. Then in Firefox 24, alternative support for the name RTCDataChannel was added as an alias, although DataChannel was still the primary name.

In Firefox 60, that is reversing: the primary name becomes RTCDataChanneland support for the old name, DataChannel, is gone.

The current version data for RTCDataChannel is:

          "firefox": [
            {
              "version_added": "24"
            },
            {
              "alternative_name": "DataChannel",
              "version_added": "22"
            }
          ],

I’m a little unsure that this is 100% correct as it stands, and am even less sure how to finish the job. Do I just add a "version_removed" line to the "alternative_name" block?

Sheppy

#2

So let’s just get this straight:

  • DataChannel was available from Fx 22 till 60, in which it was removed
  • RTCDataChannel was available from Fx 24, and is still available.

In which case yes, I’d say this structure can be fixed by adding "version_removed": 60 into the alternative name block.

It looks slightly odd, because the alternative name was available before the now-standard name, but then again alternative doesn’t necessary mean that name is less important, or at least it wasn’t back then. There are probably other ways to represent the data, but I’d say this is the easiest/simplest.

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