More info about resource deprecation?

[mdavis-xyz]

The Resources docs say:

The AWS Python SDK team is no longer planning to support the resources interface in boto3. Requests for new changes involving resource models will no longer be considered, and the resources interface won't be supported in the next major version of the AWS SDK for Python. The AWS SDK teams are striving to achieve more consistent functionality among SDKs, and implementing customized abstractions in individual SDKs is not a sustainable solution going forward. Future feature requests will need to be considered at the cross-SDK level.

I just had several issues closed because of this.

Can you please provide more information about this deprecation?

What is the "next major version"? Is that boto4? Or will it one day be whatever pip install boto3 gives?

Will the resource methods eventually be deleted from the codebase? Or will they remain frozen as is, until they break?

Will this impact S3 functions that read/write a filename, file-like object etc, instead of a byte array?
(upload_file, upload_fileobj etc)

Has any third party proposed the maintenance of this functionality in a separate library? (Especially for dynamodb, since the low-level API is very difficult to use.)

[quiver]

+1

On top of that, it would be great if you beef up the documentation by providing alternatives to this deprecated feature.

For example, many colleagues are using human-friendly DynamoDB resource interfaces.

[tim-finnigan]

Hi @mdavid-xyz and @quiver, thanks for reaching out. I’ll try to help clarify a few things regarding this.

The boto3 team is no longer planning to support updates to the resources interface. This isn't a deprecated interface, it is just no longer receiving new features and is very unlikely to get non-trivial bug fixes. The resource interface and functionality will remain intact going forward. It will remain in Boto3 and will operate the same for the lifetime of Boto3. I don’t have any details to share at this point regarding the next major version, but there will announcements with more information in the future.

For newer functionality, improvements will primarily be focused on the client interfaces. The current resource methods will provide their existing abstractions but may not be updated. The client methods map to service APIs and feature requests for new API functionality will get redirected to the appropriate service team.

[quiver]

Hi, @tim-finnigan
Thank you for your reply.

If you read Reddit(here & here), it's apparent how developers interpreted your warning.

• The next major version will not support the resources interface
• The next major version will be boto3 2.x.
• We have to stop using this deprecated resources interface.

But from what you said, it looks like

• The next major version will not support the resource interface
• boto3 keeps supporting the resource interfaces and won't break existing codes although new features and non-critical bug fixes are unlikely.
• The next major version will not be released under boto3.

Is this what you meant?

In the PR(#3539) for this warning, you used the branch name "resource-interface-deprecation-warning" and you also said "This isn't a deprecated interface".
Your wording is not consistent.
But, this is not an important point.

What users are concerned about is if they can keep using the resources interface.

[nateprewitt]

Hi @quiver, thanks for bringing those other threads to our attention. I agree the original message reads unnecessarily alarmist. Your second set of bullet points represents the intended message fairly accurately.

The points I'll highlight are:

• All existing code using resources is supported and will continue to work for the remaining Boto3 lifecycle. No action is needed from users of the library.
• There is no decision on resources in a possible future major version of Boto3. If we have information on these kinds of changes it will be well circulated through a blog post or another official announcement source.

We're currently working on more succinct messaging to convey resources are now under a feature freeze which should be updated shortly. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

[kentwongg]

You might want to clarify the warning in the AWS SDK For Python documentation then. https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/guide/resources.html it is very alarming at a first read.

[nateprewitt]

Thanks @kentwongg, this is currently underway and will be updated shortly.

[nateprewitt]

Wanted to quickly follow up that #3564 has been merged and updates are deployed at https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/guide/resources.html.

[quiver]

@nateprewitt

Thank you for your clarification.