Issue #21826 has been updated by matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto). Not yet. The documentation change that landed is the right amount for now. We may remove this someday, but this is not the moment. I approved `Thread::Backtrace::Location#source_range` in [#22212](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/22212) and `#syntax_tree` in [#21795](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/21795), so the replacements are coming, but both will be new in 4.1. Warning people out of an unstable API and into an experimental one is not an improvement for them. `error_highlight` and Rails are also still on `of` and `node_id_for_backtrace_location`. Let us revisit once the replacements are no longer experimental and those users have moved. I do agree with the principle in [#note-5](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/21826#note-5): anything under `RubyVM` carries no compatibility promise. So when the time comes we will not need a long deprecation period for it. Matz. ---------------------------------------- Feature #21826: Deprecating RubyVM::AbstractSyntaxTree https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/21826#change-118428 * Author: Eregon (Benoit Daloze) * Status: Open ---------------------------------------- I think it is time to deprecate `RubyVM::AbstractSyntaxTree`. [Matz has agreed that going forward the official parser API for Ruby will be the Prism API](https://railsatscale.com/2024-04-16-prism-in-2024/) so it's clear the official Ruby parsing API is the Prism API. `RubyVM::AbstractSyntaxTree` is CRuby-specific and does not work on any other Ruby implementation, the API is unstable, inconvenient, etc:
This module is experimental and its API is not stable, therefore it might change without notice. As examples, the order of children nodes is not guaranteed, the number of children nodes might change, there is no way to access children nodes by name, etc.
Because it's under `RubyVM`, it also has the following documented caveats:
This module is for very limited purposes, such as debugging, prototyping, and research. Normal users must not use it. This module is not portable between Ruby implementations.
Given these caveats I think it could possibly be fair enough to remove it without deprecation, however I see no urgency to remove it straight away so I think having it deprecated for one release is nicer for the few gems using it. The advantages of deprecating it are: * Make it clear that this API should not be used in new code * Encourage the few usages to migrate to the Prism API, which is stable, officially supported, designed with many people to be usable and convenient for every parsing/tooling usage, etc. * Improve portability of Ruby code between Ruby implementations So, let's deprecate `RubyVM::AbstractSyntaxTree` in 4.1, and remove it in 4.2? -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/