State of BDB FS backend

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On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 at 18:27, Nathan Hartman <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I'm glad there's a good bit of housecleaning going on around here.
> We've accumulated so much cruft over the years, it makes my
> head spin. +1 to axe the ctypes bindings.

Speaking of cleanups, another candidate comes to mind: the BDB FS backend.
I think now would be an appropriate time to remove it:

- The BDB FS backend has been deprecated since Subversion 1.8.0 (June 2013)
[1].
- Keeping BDB around may complicate developing new FS features, because any
new functionality must either be implemented and tested for the deprecated
backend or have special casing to exclude it. I don't have any specific FS
feature in mind, that is more of a generic observation.
- We don't seem to have any serious known issues with BDB [2], which could
justify fixing them before removing that backend.
- We promised that such removal would be announced in advance [1], and I
think that the release notes are a suitable place to make such an
announcement.
[[[
At some point, support for the BDB backend will be completely removed. We
will announce such removal well in advance of its happening.
]]]

So, I propose that we remove the BDB FS backend on trunk (Subversion
1.16.x) and announce this decision as part of the Subversion 1.15.0 release
notes.

Thoughts?

[1]:
https://subversion-staging.apache.org/docs/release-notes/1.8.html#bdb-deprecated
[2]:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20SVN%20AND%20status%20in%20(Open%2C%20Reopened)%20AND%20component%20%3D%20libsvn_fs_base

-- 
Ivan Zhakov

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<div dir=3D"ltr">On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 at 18:27, Nathan Hartman &lt;<a href=
=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote=
: <br>&gt; I&#39;m glad there&#39;s a good bit of housecleaning going on ar=
ound here.<br>&gt; We&#39;ve accumulated so much cruft over the years, it m=
akes my<br>&gt; head spin. +1 to axe the ctypes bindings.<br><br>Speaking o=
f cleanups, another candidate comes to mind: the BDB FS backend. I think no=
w would be an appropriate time to remove it:<br><br>- The BDB FS backend ha=
s been deprecated since Subversion 1.8.0 (June 2013) [1].<br>- Keeping BDB =
around may complicate developing new FS features, because any new functiona=
lity must either be implemented and tested for the deprecated backend or ha=
ve special casing to exclude it. I don&#39;t have any specific FS feature i=
n mind, that is more of a generic observation. <br>- We don&#39;t seem to h=
ave any serious known issues with BDB [2], which could justify fixing them =
before removing that backend.<br>- We promised that such removal would be a=
nnounced in advance [1], and I think that the release notes are a suitable =
place to make such an announcement.<br>[[[<br>At some point, support for th=
e BDB backend will be completely removed. We will announce such removal wel=
l in advance of its happening.<br>]]]<br><br>So, I propose that we remove t=
he BDB FS backend on trunk (Subversion 1.16.x) and announce this decision a=
s part of the Subversion 1.15.0 release notes.<br><br>Thoughts?<br><br>[1]:=
 <a href=3D"https://subversion-staging.apache.org/docs/release-notes/1.8.ht=
ml#bdb-deprecated">https://subversion-staging.apache.org/docs/release-notes=
/1.8.html#bdb-deprecated</a><br>[2]: <a href=3D"https://issues.apache.org/j=
ira/issues/?jql=3Dproject%20%3D%20SVN%20AND%20status%20in%20(Open%2C%20Reop=
ened)%20AND%20component%20%3D%20libsvn_fs_base">https://issues.apache.org/j=
ira/issues/?jql=3Dproject%20%3D%20SVN%20AND%20status%20in%20(Open%2C%20Reop=
ened)%20AND%20component%20%3D%20libsvn_fs_base</a> <br><div></div><br><span=
 class=3D"gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"g=
mail_signature" data-smartmail=3D"gmail_signature">Ivan Zhakov</div></div>

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