doc: add guide about abi stability

Re: https://github.com/nodejs/abi-stable-node/issues/332#issuecomment-418379903
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/23229
Reviewed-By: Gireesh Punathil <gpunathi@in.ibm.com>
Reviewed-By: Michael Dawson <michael_dawson@ca.ibm.com>

1 files changed, 113 insertions, 0 deletions

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+# ABI Stability
+
+## Introduction
+An Application Binary Interface (ABI) is a way for programs to call functions
+and use data structures from other compiled programs. It is the compiled version
+of an Application Programming Interface (API). In other words, the headers files
+describing the classes, functions, data structures, enumerations, and constants
+which enable an application to perform a desired task correspond by way of
+compilation to a set of addresses and expected parameter values and memory
+structure sizes and layouts with which the provider of the ABI was compiled.
+
+The application using the ABI must be compiled such that the available
+addresses, expected parameter values, and memory structure sizes and layouts
+agree with those with which the ABI provider was compiled. This is usually
+accomplished by compiling against the headers provided by the ABI provider.
+
+Since the provider of the ABI and the user of the ABI may be compiled at
+different times with different versions of the compiler, a portion of the
+responsibility for ensuring ABI compatibility lies with the compiler. Different
+versions of the compiler, perhaps provided by different vendors, must all
+produce the same ABI from a header file with a certain content, and must produce
+code for the application using the ABI that accesses the API described in a
+given header according to the conventions of the ABI resulting from the
+description in the header. Modern compilers have a fairly good track record of
+not breaking the ABI compatibility of the applications they compile.
+
+The remaining responsibility for ensuring ABI compatibility lies with the team
+maintaining the header files which provide the API that results, upon
+compilation, in the ABI that is to remain stable. Changes to the header files
+can be made, but the nature of the changes has to be closely tracked to ensure
+that, upon compilation, the ABI does not change in a way that will render
+existing users of the ABI incompatible with the new version.
+
+## ABI Stability in Node.js
+Node.js provides header files maintained by several independent teams. For
+example, header files such as `node.h` and `node_buffer.h` are maintained by
+the Node.js team. `v8.h` is maintained by the V8 team, which, although in close
+co-operation with the Node.js team, is independent, and with its own schedule
+and priorities. Thus, the Node.js team has only partial control over the
+changes that are introduced in the headers the project provides. As a result,
+the Node.js project has adopted [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/).
+This ensures that the APIs provided by the project will result in a stable ABI
+for all minor and patch versions of Node.js released within one major version.
+In practice, this means that the Node.js project has committed itself to
+ensuring that a Node.js native addon compiled against a given major version of
+Node.js will load successfully when loaded by any Node.js minor or patch version
+within the major version against which it was compiled.
+
+## N-API
+Demand has arisen for equipping Node.js with an API that results in an ABI that
+remains stable across multiple Node.js major versions. The motivation for
+creating such an API is as follows:
+* The JavaScript language has remained compatible with itself since its very
+early days, whereas the ABI of the engine executing the JavaScript code changes
+with every major version of Node.js. This means that applications consisting of
+Node.js packages written entirely in JavaScript need not be recompiled,
+reinstalled, or redeployed as a new major version of Node.js is dropped into
+the production environment in which such applications run. In contrast, if an
+application depends on a package that contains a native addon, the application
+has to be recompiled, reinstalled, and redeployed whenever a new major version
+of Node.js is introduced into the production environment. This disparity
+between Node.js packages containing native addons and those that are written
+entirely in JavaScript has added to the maintenance burden of production
+systems which rely on native addons.
+
+* Other projects have started to produce JavaScript interfaces that are
+essentially alternative implementations of Node.js. Since these projects are
+usually built on a different JavaScript engine than V8, their native addons
+necessarily take on a different structure and use a different API. Nevertheless,
+using a single API for a native addon across different implementations of the
+Node.js JavaScript API would allow these projects to take advantage of the
+ecosystem of JavaScript packages that has accrued around Node.js.
+
+* Node.js may contain a different JavaScript engine in the future. This means
+that, externally, all Node.js interfaces would remain the same, but the V8
+header file would be absent. Such a step would cause the disruption of the
+Node.js ecosystem in general, and that of the native addons in particular, if
+an API that is JavaScript engine agnostic is not first provided by Node.js and
+adopted by native addons.
+
+To these ends Node.js has introduced N-API in version 8.6.0 and marked it as a
+stable component of the project as of Node.js 8.12.0. The API is defined in the
+headers [`node_api.h`][] and [`node_api_types.h`][], and provides a forward-
+compatibility guarantee that crosses the Node.js major version boundary. The
+guarantee can be stated as follows:
+
+**A given version *n* of N-API will be available in the major version of
+Node.js in which it was published, and in all subsequent versions of Node.js,
+including subsequent major versions.**
+
+A native addon author can take advantage of the N-API forward compatibility
+guarantee by ensuring that the addon makes use only of APIs defined in
+`node_api.h` and data structures and constants defined in `node_api_types.h`.
+By doing so, the author facilitates adoption of their addon by indicating to
+production users that the maintenance burden for their application will increase
+no more by the addition of the native addon to their project than it would by
+the addition of a package written purely in JavaScript.
+
+N-API is versioned because new APIs are added from time to time. Unlike
+semantic versioning, N-API versioning is cumulative. That is, each version of
+N-API conveys the same meaning as a minor version in the semver system, meaning
+that all changes made to N-API will be backwards compatible. Additionally, new
+N-APIs are added under an experimental flag to give the community an opportunity
+to vet them in a production environment. Experimental status means that,
+although care has been taken to ensure that the new API will not have to be
+modified in an ABI-incompatible way in the future, it has not yet been
+sufficiently proven in production to be correct and useful as designed and, as
+such, may undergo ABI-incompatible changes before it is finally incorporated
+into a forthcoming version of N-API. That is, an experimental N-API is not yet
+covered by the forward compatibility guarantee.
+
+[`node_api.h`]: ../../src/node_api.h
+[`node_api_types.h`]: ../..src/node_api_types.h