PEP 384 [1] introduced the limited API (AKA Py_LIMITED_API) and stable ABI. The main objective:
"Extension modules and applications embedding Python can work withdifferent feature releases as long as they restrict themselves to this stable ABI."
This goal is completely reasonable, particularly in 2009. Furthermore, even though there are things we would have done differently, in hindsight, the limited API mostly reaches that goal.
However, is it relevant in the current ecosystem? The burden on extension maintainers to build for each Python release is much lower now. At the same time, the maintenance burden of the current limited API (especially ABI compatibility) is relatively high, especially for our group of volunteers. It also makes some improvements harder. [2]
So the question is: Is the stable ABI still worth it? If not, what would be the impact of abandoning it?
Note that the limited API is fine on its own, though I'll argue that we should re-focus it (PEP 652?) and use a new name (to differentiate from the API tied to the stable ABI). [3]
-eric
[1] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0384/ [2] https://bugs.python.org/issue43503 [3] https://mail.python.org/archives/list/capi-sig@python.org/thread/DX2HNPMJLIF...