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Stability and versioning

Eraser follows semantic versioning from 1.0.0 onward (2.0.0 was the first major bump; see upgrading-to-2.0.md). A change that could break a working setup needs a major version (2.0). New features come in minor versions (1.x), and fixes and broker-list updates come in patch versions.

This page defines what counts as “a working setup”.

Stable: won’t break within a major version

• config.yaml: every key in the schema in commands.md. A config that works on 2.0 keeps loading and behaving the same on every 1.x. New keys are optional and default to the old behaviour. Older formats still load and are rewritten in the current shape on the next save:
  • 1.x formats are migrated on first load (the original is kept as config.yaml.1x.bak): the pre-0.11 top-level profile: block becomes profiles: [{id: default}], and a free-text country becomes an ISO code
  • email.provider is no longer read; it drops out on the next save
  • smtp.use_tls can be set explicitly
  • removed keys such as pipeline.auto_confirm are ignored
• CLI commands and flags shown by eraser --help and eraser <command> --help:
  • Names, arguments and meaning stay the same.
  • Exit codes: 0 means success and non-zero means failure. Two flags use them deliberately: update-brokers --check exits 1 when an update is available, and audit-brokers --fail-on-dead exits non-zero when a broker is dead.
  • A flag that’s retired keeps working, with a deprecation warning, until the next major version. (monitor --once, retired in 1.x, was removed in 2.0; auto --once is a different, current flag.)
• history.db: upgrades migrate automatically on first run with no manual step. Downgrading to an older version after an upgrade isn’t supported.
• brokers.yaml format (id, name, email, website, opt_out_url, region, category, notes, and the optional countries): update-brokers on any 2.x release fetches the current list from main, so the format may only gain optional fields. Your own options.broker_file lists stay valid.
• eraser export --format json field names: fields may be added, never renamed or removed. Tools that process the evidence report can rely on them. 1.3 added pipeline_set_by and the no_data_held response and pipeline value; consumers should ignore values they don’t know.

Not covered: may change in any release

• The web UI: its pages, routes, HTMX endpoints and layout. It’s a local interface, not an API.
• Human-readable CLI output: tables, emoji and wording. Use export --format json for anything machine-read.
• The removal-request templates’ wording. It’s improved as broker replies teach us what works.
• eraser mcp (the MCP server, its tool names and arguments, and its approve/pending subcommands). It is experimental and outside the stability contract until it is promoted here.
• The contents of the broker lists and of the mail-provider presets in setup. Presets only prefill fields, so a changed preset never alters a saved config.
• Hidden commands, such as guides, the project website’s page generator.
• Go packages under internal/. Eraser is a program, not a library.

Before you upgrade

Release notes in CHANGELOG.md list every change. A major version’s notes include the steps for any manual migration.